We have recently moved from our village home into our nearest small town and Halloween is on my mind.  We’ve always decorated our house and had fun on Halloween but never had any Trick or Treaters due to our isolated location.  This year we might actually get some visitors and I’m so excited!  We plan to decorate our home, carve some pumpkins and be ready with some sweet treats for our visitors but we don’t have a fortune to spend so here are my tips for Trick or Treaters on a tight budget.

Don’t spend a fortune on costumes!   The best costume we ever made was for my youngest daughter and she wanted to be a ‘Traditional Ghost’.  We wrapped her up in an old white bedsheet, holes cut for eyes, and a white painted face underneath.  She had a fabulous time scaring everyone and making ghostly noises all evening.  Better still was to come when we met at Chard Town Halloween Event a chap dressed to the nines as a Ghostbuster and they posed together amid lots of laughter and fun.  It was Spooktacular!  The point being that it’s cool to look ghoul and a bit of ghastly make up, maybe a mad wig or some scary hair gel, ripped shirt or trailing bandages is all you need to join in.  

Here in Chard we are very lucky that our Town Team put on an event with all our independent traders to make Halloween a safe and fun evening.  Lots of the shops join in, dressing up, having a little game or two to take part in and handing out sweets to our kids.  John Barron’s is famous for their Ghastly Dip where you might find an eyeball or a treat!  

If you plan to spook your neighbourhood, check out who is decorated for Halloween, who has a pumpkin out and is looking forward to visitors.  Not everyone wants to be visited by a parade of visitors from beyond the veil and it’s important to recognise this.  We make little paper pumpkins and stick them to the windows and doors, a few black cats and witches hats too and its all cheap and recyclable afterwards.

I’m also looking forward to carving Pumpkins with my kids, I’ve grown one at my allotment this year again and it’s ripening nicely.  Pumpkins will be available pretty much everywhere again and lots of places are now growing a Pumpkin Patch where you can go and Pick Your Own.  Look out for these on our The Best of Taunton and Bridgwater events listing. Here are some of our favourites: Frogmary Green Farm, Schmooks, and Riverside.

We are planning on doing something that my best friend Donna always did, we will be Apple Bobbing for sweets, we have a bowl with water and apples, and then we have a bowl with flour and sweets.  You need to bob for the first to get the chance to dip for the second, it all gets very messy and makes us all laugh.  I will make a tray of cupcakes and have a few little bags of sweets for any zombies, witches or wizards that pass by.   Whatever you do, remember that it doesn’t have to be expensive to be fun, it shouldn’t cause you a headache and when you’ve done, bring your pumpkins in and have a Pumpkin Juice to wind down with.  I say Pumpkin Juice, I really mean Gin and Tonic but the choice is yours!