7 days ago

a family boo bash! new game ideas for 2024!

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Welcome back to Our Grand Lives…

a place where we offer ideas

for activities and adventures that can then be shared

with Littles (grandkids), Middles (grown children)

and other Grands (friends and contemporaries) in life!

We’re on a mission to equip GRANDS like us

(as well as ANYONE who loves family and fun)

with resources that are

simple & easy

(we want something that is quick and uncomplicated),

cost effective

(we don’t want to spend lots of $$$)

AND

worthwhile & meaningful

(we ask ourselves, will we have fun? or will we learn something?)!

We like getting a lot of BANG for our buck!

After all, we are two retired kindergarten teachers, so we are practical!

Our motto,

is at the heart of it all!

❤ 🧡 ❤ 💛 ❤ 🧡 ❤

Today, Laurie is revisiting one of her family’s favorite traditions,

A Family Boo Bash!

She reflects on what this celebration means to her family

and then we’ll suggest 3 new ideas for games

that your family can play together!

Head back here tomorrow when we’ll add our final details

by sharing new meal ideas!

Before you know it, you’ll be all set for your own Halloween Boo Bash, 2024!

It’s definitely that time of year

when I start to think about our family’s upcoming annual Boo Bash!

Let's take a quick look back to find out how our Boo Bash first began!

Last October, I first shared details about this tradition with our readers..

From year to year, our gathering stays pretty consistent

as there are favorite activities family members look forward to!

You can check out the nuts and bolts of this highly anticipated family event

outlined here in the post,

A Family Boo Bash! Celebrating Halloween with Your Loved Ones!

Our first Boo Bash took place in the fall of 2020.

If you recall, there was a lot of controversy over trick-or-treating that year.

At that time there were four young Littles in our extended family!

We had a 5-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old and an older baby

and they were excited for Halloween!

I wanted to make sure that none of them missed out on trick-or-treating

due to the virus.

And, of course, we Grands (my sister and I)

welcomed any chance we got to see our Littles all dressed up!

(Can any Grands out there relate?)

So I did what I love to do - I threw a party!

I threw a family party, one that included trick or treating!!!

To be safe, the whole party - from beginning to end - was held outside.

The Littles came in their costumes, we played games, we ate lunch,

and then I provided a unique way for the Littles to trick-or-treat!

An Added Bonus…

Our family is close and before we started our annual Boo Bash, the Middles would run their Littles around to the various homes of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on Halloween so we could all ooh & aah over how precious the Littles looked in their costumes.

As these Littles got older, they wanted to stay in their own neighborhoods with friends, and even though we all live fairly close to each other, it still required a lot of driving to visit each household.

We decided after 2020 and a very successful Boo Bash, that we would continue this get-together every year on the Saturday before Halloween!. Each year we are reminded of the rewards our Boo Bash offers! - October 31 is far less hectic for our Middles, we still get to see our Littles dressed in their adorable costumes, and we enjoy a relaxed family time together!

Not much has changed over the five years since that first Boo Bash took place! We still have sloppy joes for lunch, we always play a few games and we always trick-or-treat with our family tagboard doors strung across a rope in the backyard! (You’ll also find all the details about our outdoor trick-or-treating ritual in last year's post!.

Oh yes, over the years, we have added 2 more Littles

and new adult family members have joined in the fun, too!

Last year’s Boo Bash - 2023!

Little P was only 6 days old!

As mentioned above,

we typically play the same games each year.

We love playing Wizards & Magicians as well as Spider Toss

(these two games plus EEK! BOO! are described in last year's post.)

As a reminder, our very favorite game is EEK! BOO! Check it out!

This action packed, quick thinking game is loved by all ages!

In fact, surprisingly, your Littles might do better than the adults around them!

For several years, we played the game, using markers as shown above,

reaching for them whenever the word “SNATCH!” was yelled!

However, we found that the markers would often roll around on the tables

which would cause lots of frustration from the players

who were busy trying to concentrate

as the directions of this fast paced game were being called out!

We now use Jenga pieces which don’t roll

and… it’s been a game changer!

This game - Eek! Boo! - never gets old!

We ❤️ it!

As retired Kindergarten teachers, we have a catalog of simple and engaging Halloween games, compiled from years of hosting classroom holiday parties! In addition to the 3 ideas outlined in last year’s post, today Laura is sharing three new options here - your young Littles will enjoy each! Any would be perfect for a Halloween party or even adapted to play anytime anywhere!

Our New Game Ideas - Boo Bash 2024!

Laurie has inspired me so I prepped materials for 3 games.

I plan to bring them with me when we head to the lake next week!

I'll be ready when the Littles need to get some energy out!

👻 Boo Bottle Bowling!

Dig into your recycling bins and repurpose empty plastic bottles into these cute bowling pins that your Littles can even help you create!

Remove any labels from 6 empty water/soda bottles (use 10 for older Littles). Wash and dry the bottles.

We used black electrical tape and cut out two eye shapes and a mouth for each bottle. (You can also use a black permanent marker to draw two eyes and a mouth on each bottle.) Fill each bottle with cotton balls.

You are ready to play! Let your Littles take turns rolling a small plastic ball or similar object towards the Boo Bottle pins that you’ve lined up. NOTE: While tennis balls work, we’re using soft dog toys that will eventually be a gift for our grandpup once we’ve played the game!

👻 Skeleton Scavenger Hunt!

This game requires groups of people to work in teams as they hunt for skeletons bones and then piece them together to win the game! It’s a fun game to play with multigenerational teams!

Do you have an old skeleton decoration or two lying around collecting dust? Or, you can often find jointed skeletons at a dollar store, as we did! A third option is to make your own basic skeleton out of white construction paper (in fact, some older Littles might have fun taking on this challenge)!

Ahead of time, pull the sections of the skeleton apart at the joints (or cut each skeleton into pieces/parts). You decide how many pieces/parts based on the number of people playing the game! Label pieces/parts for each skeleton by using a permanent marker and then writing a number “1” on one set of pieces and “2” on another and so on. (I wrote these numbers on the back of each piece/part.)

Hide the skeleton pieces/parts. You can play inside or outside… It’s fun to play with flashlights outside if your party takes place at night and the weather cooperates!!

Players are divided into teams (for instance, Team 1 and Team 2) and when the signal is given, everyone searches for their team’s skeleton pieces/parts.

Once all the pieces have been collected, each team works together to be the first group to put their skeleton together!

👻 Pumpkin Ring Toss!

This game is an oldie but a goodie! Following the same premise as a classic Ring Toss game, players try to toss rings onto the stem of a pumpkin! We cut rings from the edges of seasonal paper plates for a Halloween touch but you could also use glow in the dark necklaces that you’ve looped into rings!