Thumbs down on Halloween

Written by Eileen Wacker

We are still in the middle of back to school nights, sports are ramping up and homework is starting to roll in. I feel like I’m losing time because every store I go into already has Halloween decorations and candy. Since I have four kids, I really love and embrace holidays as a chance to celebrate and create happy childhood memories.

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I’m going to make a confession. I don’t like Halloween. Orange and black with a hint of green don’t go together for me as a kid color palette. They are perfect for a tiger. Too harsh and scary for little kids. And I don’t like pumpkin carving at all. There are tools for sale at every store and almost every classroom across the U.S. holds a pumpkin carving event. My son summed up the insides of a pumpkin quite correctly, “Pumpkin guts are gross!” Ninety percent of the mush gets thrown away and then the trash smells. Room moms count on dads taking a half day off to come in and help carve the pumpkins. The kids are not carving them. So the dads either ask the mom to fill in for this gruesome task or enter into a massively competitive pumpkin carving war with each other.

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The night of Halloween, my children attempt to collect massive amounts of candy. I don’t mind the sweets. And, there are two elements of Halloween that I adore. I love homemade costumes and that my child can be anyone he wants to be for that day. I also love the ‘pause for humanity’ when a porch light on signifies an individual is behind his or her door waiting with a smile, compliment and a treat for every neighbor or stranger who knocks. I also find Jimmy Kimmel’s annual video of children’s responses to their parent’s telling them they ate all of their Halloween candy to be hilarious.

Jimmy Kimmel Makes Kids Cry (Again) With This Year's Hilarious Halloween Candy Prank

One of my favorite parts about Halloween comes after the holiday has already passed. It’s the YouTube challenge known as “Hey Jimmy Kimmel I ate all my kids’ Halloween candy.”

 Every year Jimmy Kimmel makes kids around the country cry by challenging parents to tell the poor candy lovers that all of their hard work has been for nothing because they have eaten every last piece of their beloved Halloween candy. Of course this is not true, but the kids don’t know that. Witness crying, tantrums, knocking over chairs, and the adorable but heart breaking “oh, it’s okay” during this hilarious segment. Even after its fourth year, the prank hasn’t gotten any less funny- at least for the adults anyway. 

Click below to watch the hilarious 2014 segment of "Jimmy Kimmel I Ate All My Kids' Halloween Candy":

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

Watch This Hilarious Jimmy Kimmel YouTube Challenge: “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy”

A few years ago, Jimmy Kimmel challenged parents to take the trick part of “trick or treating” literally to trick their kids in the meanest (and most hilarious) way possible. He had parents tell their children that after all their hard work walking from house to house collecting candy on Halloween night, the parents had done the unthinkable and eaten every single hard-earned piece. 

Kimmel then requested that the parents film their kids reaction and send the results to him to put together into one hysterical clip. Reactions range from despair to temper tantrums, but each as cute and funny as the one before (some of them even make you feel guilty for laughing!). The prank was so successful and popular that Kimmel has continued to challenge viewers to participate in this post-Halloween trick each year since. 

Click below to watch last year’s YouTube challenge and hopefully we can expect another clip from Kimmel in the next few weeks after this year’s night of Trick or Treating (at the expense of our poor little candy collectors)

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Celebrate Valentine’s Day as a Family

Valentine's Day is celebrated in Asia, specifically Japan and Korea, just as it is in the United States and throughout many areas of the world as a day on which people give presents, candy, chocolate or flowers to people they like as a sign of affection, romance and love. 

However, families can celebrate together.   For a fun Valentine's Day activity, the kids could be asked to prepare a meal for their parents. Ideally this would be breakfast in bed. This can be the start of an annual event on Valentine's Day and become a fun tradition.

Another fun family game for Valentine's Day is a kind of family trivia. Parents prepare a trivia game that consists of a series of cards with a bit of family trivia on each card. One family member draws a card and tries to answer the given question correctly. If correct, the family member gets a point. The one with the most points will get a prize or some extra chocolate sauce on their dessert. Questions might be like:

• Who suffered a broken arm at the age of 9?
• Which of us measured the length of tooth paste at the age of 4?
• Which one of us slipped into mom and dad's room every night until the age of 6

Last, but not least, a fun family activity for Valentine's Day is to create cards for other people. The kids can handprint cards for their grandparents or for their friends. Handmade cards are much more meaningful than the ones you will buy in a shop. And additionally kids get a lot of experience of literally putting their hearts into crafting the cards for beloved ones.