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As August draws to a close and we enjoy the bank holiday weekend any of us are reminded that love it or loathe it, it’s nearly time for the kids to get back to school.

There is something special about the month of September and the promise of newness it brings for children, like having another New Year’s Day or fresh start. 2021 has been another strange year so how can we help our children step into the new school year with excitement and confidence? Here are 5 ways to help you celebrate getting back to school.

1. Buy New Stationary

There is something magical about a brand new pencil case, notebook and set of pens and all the possibilities they bring (or perhaps that’s just me!) Depending on the age of your child or children you could add a little sparkle to this necessary task.

If you have young children you could have their school supplies magically bought by your house Elf on the Shelf (they’re always watching!) if you follow this tradition, or maybe create your own Back to School Fairy and have them leave the supplies or a special note or poem for the first day back.

You could also adopt the German tradition of a ‘schultute’ (or ‘school cone’) a large cone shaped container made of paper, card or plastic. The cone is filled with school supplies, chocolate, sweets or even toys and other special treats. The cone is given to make the return to school a little sweeter.

2. Count Down the Days

Children love to count down to special occasions and events, like birthdays or Christmas so why not count down the days until school begins.

You could make and decorate a special calendar to cross off the days or repurpose a fillable advent calendar to make a back to school count down calendar. This will help build the fun and excitement.

3. Make New School Year Resolutions

A little like making New Year’s resolutions, why not encourage you child or children to make a list of things they would like to achieve or do over the next school year. If you have younger children you could help them to write their ideas in a new notebook or display them as a poster on their bedroom wall.

4. Take New School Year Photos

Fast becoming a tradition on social media why not take a photo of your children in their new uniform on the first day of the school year. You could even take a picture in the same place on the last day of the school year to mark your child’s growth.

Another popular social media trend is to buy a school t-shirt or jumper for the year your child will leave their school in the size they might be at that age. Then photograph them in it each year to show their growth.

5. Have a Special After School Family Dinner

A lovely way to celebrate the beginning of the school year is to have a special family dinner with a favourite meal. Then you can all discuss your day and your child can tell you all about their new class and teacher.

However you decide to celebrate I hope your child has a happy, healthy and fun start to the school year!

Halloween is one of my favourite celebrations of the year, happy memories of parties and fun with family and friends come flooding back as I look forward to making new ones. But 2020 has been a difficult year and we face ever more restrictions on what we are allowed to do, so what would a safe, socially distanced Halloween look like?

I know not everyone is a fan, but personally I love seeing children dressed up trick or treating, but is this even possible this year? Close contact with lots of people is certainly to be avoided. I did think about leaving a bucket of treats at the end of our drive for anyone who does venture out, but find myself questioning if this is wise. I know we wont be going out and the Halloween and fireworks party we usually attend wont be happening.

This doesn’t mean we wont be celebrating though. This year, more than ever I think we need things to look forward to and reasons to celebrate and stay connected. We will just do it in a twenty twenty way.

I’d like to share some of my ideas with you!

1. Movie Night

There are so many spooky films to watch, Halloween is a great excuse to have a movie marathon. Here are some of my favourites to watch with children:

For Very Young Children (6 and under, rated U)

Room on the Broom

Pooh’sHeffalump Halloween Movie

Toy Story of Terror

For Junior Children (7+, rated U and PG)

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit

ET

Hotel Transylvania

Casper

The Addams Family (2019)

For Older Juniors and Above (9+, rated PG)

Frankenweenie

The Witches

Ghostbusters (1984)

Goosebumps

Hocus Pocus

You could make your movie night that bit more special by wearing your Halloween costumes and having Halloween themed snacks.

2. Halloween Snacks

What better way to celebrate Halloween than to create some spooky snacks. You could make spider or ghost biscuits, eyeball pizzas or spooky hot dogs. There are some amazing ideas out there for snacks and food to bake and create and most of the supermarkets share ideas for a Halloween feast through their websites or magazines. It can be great fun to get the whole family involved in the making, baking and cooking.

3. Turn Your House (or a room) into a Haunted House

For many of us it might be difficult to get out and about this year so why not bring the magic in and create a haunted room in your own home!

You could set up the entrance with crepe paper of tissue paper strips to walk through, then decorate the room with cobwebs, banners, pumpkins, a witches cauldron full of ‘magic potion’ to try and Halloween games.

You could even create a Halloween scavenger hunt for your children in the decorated room like the one below.

4. Play Halloween Party Games

Many of us wont be able to get together with family and friends at parties this year but that doesn’t mean we can’t play some party games as a family or bubble!

Wrap a Mummy

You really need at least four of your to play this game in two teams so it ideal for a family of four (unless you use teddies rather than people to be wrapped!) All you need is a timer and some toilet roll. Split into teams and decide who will be the wrapper and who will be the mummy. Set a timer for two minutes and see who can wrap and create the best mummy in the time.

Pin the Spider on the Web

This is a Halloween version of pin the tail on the donkey. All you need is a spider’s web poster, some different spiders, a blindfold and some blu tack.

You can download a spider’s web and spider’s here:

Each player takes turns to wear the blindfold, be spun round and then tries to place the spider as close to the centre of the web as possible.

Roll a Pumpkin

Based on the beetle drive game. All you need for this activity is a pumpkin and pumpkin parts picture, dice score sheet and dice. Each player takes turns to roll the dice and selects the item they have rolled. The first to build a complete Halloween pumpkin is the winner.

Download a pumpkin template to cut out and a dice score sheet here:

Ghostbusting Game

For this game you will need; 6 (or you could even use 10) toilet rolls, black paper, glue or blu tack and a bean bag.

Turn the 6 toilet rolls into ghosts by cutting out and sticking on eyes and a mouth. Then stack them into a pyramid shape. Players take turns to throw the bean bag to bust (or knock down) as many ghosts as possible. The winner is the person who knocks over the most ghosts.

5. Halloween Dance off

Create a spooky playlist (or find a suitable, age appropriate Halloween playlist). You could include songs like Witch Doctor, the Time Warp, the Monster Mash, ET, Thriller or Ghostbusters. Have everyone pick the name of a Halloween character from a hat i.e. a mummy, vampire, werewolf, witch, zombie, or ghost. Then each person dances in the style of their character. Award sweets for the best (or most outrageous!) dance moves.

While things may be very different this year I hope this post has helped you with some new and safe ways to celebrate. Have fun, keep connected and stay safe.