Three dates for Halloween week, no sitter and no party
Halloween week is loud. Costumes, class parties, somebody crying over a missing glove at 7:40 in the morning. These three happen once the house goes quiet with nothing to buy but one pumpkin.
Pick one. Do not do all three.
1. The Second Pumpkin
Category: Make · 30 minutes · after bedtime · under $5
One pumpkin that is only yours, carved at the kitchen table after everyone else's are done.
You need: one small pumpkin, bought with the others. A paper grocery bag. One sharp knife, one spoon, one tea light.
Split the grocery bag open across the table. One pumpkin, one knife, one spoon between you.
One of you draws the face. The other carves it. No discussing the design first.
Scoop together. It is the part that takes longest and the only part worth talking through.
Tea light in, kitchen light off.
Ask: what were you scared of at twelve that makes you laugh now?
2. Three Sentences Each
Category: Story · 20 minutes · after bedtime · free
Build one scary story together, a sentence at a time, in a whisper.
You need: one phone with a flashlight. The other phone goes in a drawer in another room.
Every light off. Sit on the floor, close enough that whispering works.
Whoever holds the flashlight says one sentence of a scary story, then passes the light.
Three sentences each, six total. The one rule: the story has to happen in this house.
Do it once more, with the other person starting.
Ask: which room in this house do you still not like at night?
3. Next Year's Costume
Category: Play · 20 minutes · after bedtime · free
Plan next year's couples costume from what is already in the closet.
You need: two sheets of paper, two pens.
Separately, write down three couples costumes you could make from things already in the house.
Trade lists. Each of you crosses one off the other's.
Argue for the four that survive. Pick one.
Write it somewhere you will find it next October.
Ask: what costume did you want as a kid and never get?
And the one for the day after
The best Halloween date in the house happens on Sunday, November 1, while the candy is still a mountain on the living room floor. It lands in the newsletter that evening at 5:00pm, along with one new at-home date every Sunday after it.
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