My friend Nicole is amazingly like me in lots of the ways that I feel make me a little “different” in my ward (She does happen to be in my Stake so she’s not too far away). She and I share many of the same opinions about extra-curricular activities, family traditions and a few other things. It’s very fun to sit and chat with her. While we were discussing how much we love to decorate for the holidays and how holiday traditions bind families together in a very special way, she shared with me her own family’s tradition of having “Spooky Hour” once a week in October before Halloween. She has a household of boys so I know why this would be a big hit at her house. She suggested having some kind of “spooky” named food and just candles lit for atmosphere (she also has Halloween dishes but I haven’t found any that I love so I’m waiting to get some of those).
I thought it would be really fun to try having our own “Spooky Hour” so I used my Halloween tablecloth along with some candlesticks I got for our wedding for a little atmosphere.
I actually did “Spooky Hour” for three of the Fridays in October and the kids loved it! The best thing about it was that the kids ate their food really fast. I think only being able to see their food in front of them had something to do with it. Usually they have a difficult time not being distracted at meal times but they did great.
The first time I did spooky hour, we had mummy hot dogs, the second time was meat loaf (so we called it monster meat) the third time was soup (or witches brew). The kids got so excited for dinner it was kind of a magical thing…it makes me think that since we usually have our date nights on Saturdays, maybe we should try to have more “family nights” on Fridays and do something a little extra special to bind our family together.
We used edible markers to make the faces on the hot dogs…the kids really liked helping me make them.
The next two photos are just from that same night so I thought I’d add them at the end. It cracked me up the way Vivian was playing around with her wand while Jared was trying to read to her.
That's so fun! I should do "Spooky Hour" next year. This Halloween was kind of a drag for me. I used to love it, so I guess maybe what I need is something to get excited about again and to plan. I kept thinking of doing a Halloween party, but it just didn't seem to make sense because none of our friends ever are free on Halloween night or the weekends in October. This would give me something to plan (I just love to make plans) and I would love to do something to make it more fun for the kids and bind our family closer. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and those pictures of Vivian with her wand? . . . Adorable!
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