Halloween is huge at our house. The other day as I opened one of our boxes, my daughter keenly watched. She loved that I hung up some of the stuff around the laundry room. Every chance she gets, she will sneak back and find her favorite Halloween accessory.
I can't wait until she's old enough to really help on Halloween. Until then she and her brother go to their grandparents' to pass out candy.
At what age, have any of you had your kids start to assist?
What do you mean by assist ? I have a 4 and a 6 year old and they help by letting me practice my airbrushing on them. The 4 year old was born Oct. 18th, that's my excuse for a Halloween Party. They are over being scared of my decorations but, haunts still scare them a bit. In a couple of years my 6 year old will make a great Samara from The Ring.
I have considerable interest in Halloween at our house also. I think the Halloween bug is really beginning to bite my kids too. Over the past several weeks my oldest daughter (8) has been saying that she can't wait for Halloween. My son, (soon to be 7) is also wanting to help build props. I will involved when and where I can but I'm not sure how much help I'll get out of them on the big night.
Last year they seemed to want to go trick or treating but last year was also the first time I put forth a big effort to decorate the house and scare the kids in the neighborhood. When they got back from going around the block, my son was too scared to even come to the front door of his own house. My son had stated that he wanted to pose as one of the skeletal props out front because he was the same size. But he couldn't stand the lighting, creepy sound, fog and scary props so he wasn't able to help. My daughter on the other hand was more than willing to help out with scaring the little kids.
Aside from getting over the fear factor, I think it just all depends on how interested the children are in helping create the Halloween experience for other children. Not everyone is into the making the experience for others, but would rather experience it themselves. Sort of like we all like to watch movies, but very few of us actually want to direct and produce them.
If the child wants to get involved by all means let them. But as kids go, their minds can change quickly so you never know how long they will want to help out. I say let her help out and see how it goes. I would think about ages 6 or 7 might be about right if they really want to get involved. Maybe when the child begin to start tiring of trick or treating.
By the time mine were in Kindergarten 4/5 yrs old they were helping with our haunt. They would help set up and then go TOTing with Dad then when they got back they would help scare. They would fight over who got to get in the coffin lol. They've never been afraid of any of our decorations or props. Guess I just have scary kids lol.
Sadly my children do not help me But then they are 17 and 18 years old. They do however bring 50 of their closest friends to our haunt and me and my haunt crew get to scare the crap out of them. They are also very supportive in my weirdness. The other day I was working on relining an antique coffin when my son came over kissed me on the forehead and said "I love you mom, you know it's home when you have to climb over a coffin to get to the computer"
My daughter told me she wants to be an actor in our haunt this year and when it's not Halloween my kids take their friends through the haunt and video it trying to scare each other. So there does seem to be a little hope on the horizon.
My youngest (soon to be 8th grader) went to the mall yesterday with a couple of her friends and brought home two mannequin torsos (1 male, 1 female) for me from a store that was going out of business. She got them for free....
Sadly my children do not help me But then they are 17 and 18 years old. They do however bring 50 of their closest friends to our haunt and me and my haunt crew get to scare the crap out of them. They are also very supportive in my weirdness. The other day I was working on relining an antique coffin when my son came over kissed me on the forehead and said "I love you mom, you know it's home when you have to climb over a coffin to get to the computer"
My daughter told me she wants to be an actor in our haunt this year and when it's not Halloween my kids take their friends through the haunt and video it trying to scare each other. So there does seem to be a little hope on the horizon.
kloey74 , your daugther is such a cutie love the big hands on her
my daugther is 6 , she loves halloween and loves to help out (or feels like she is helping out) at halloween she goes trick or treating for awhile either with friends or her aunt and when she comes back she gives out the treats , or show the people around the display outside, last year she had fun telling the manor's story like i do when people entered the house lol , it is fun to watch and she love to watch all the you tube videos of props and haunts with me .
oh and Dave in the grave , Elizabeth also started emailing you this week (imaginary) on HER barbie pc about getting her some halloween props LOL very funny thing LOL
My daughter was about seven when she started helping me. My stepdaughter starts in on me about september saying..when are we going to go steal some corn stalks to make fodder shocks? I like to think of it as liberating them for halloween. My grandkids usually help set up the outside decorations.
Kloey, what a cutie she is. When my step granddaughter and her cousin were 5 years old and saw my "murder bathroom" for the the first time you could hear the screams and the little feet running down the stairs. I thought, Oh, maybe it's too much for them? But, a few minutes later, those little feet were going back upstairs to steal a closer look! They're teens now and they bring their friends to see their crazy step grandmothers haunt.
My birthday's in October and being a little kid as long back as I can remember, I always asked for a Halloween Brithday Party.
But then they are 17 and 18 years old. They do however bring 50 of their closest friends to our haunt and me and my haunt crew get to scare the crap out of them. They are also very supportive in my weirdness. The other day I was working on relining an antique coffin when my son came over kissed me on the forehead and said "I love you mom, you know it's home when you have to climb over a coffin to get to the computer" 
