2. Halloween Tricks and Treats
It may not be a haunted hayride that is as brutal as Dead End Hayride at Pinehaven Pumpkin Patch but a Halloween themed hayride or Corn Maze is a great way to get eager Trick or Treaters a dash of the event before October 31st. I admit, I haven’t been to Dead End Hayride in about ten years. But what I remember from the last time I went was that the character actors, many of whom are my students, are willing to push the edge right up to the guests without touching them. The ultimate creep factor.
In haunted houses and hayrides my go to reaction is to laugh in the actors’ faces – so I am definitely not the target audience for this type of event.
It’s also definitely not kid friendly. Most local communities offer smaller, less scary options for kids. In my community we are very lucky to have to such offerings at a local camp, Camp Ojiketa. They do a daytime Halloween event, Falloween, that uses the cabin to set up kid friendly “scary” things like cobwebs to crawl under and Halloween songs playing. Maybe a witch cackle and a floating Casper. Then they open each cabin for Trick-or-Treating and the kids can parade in their costumes from cabin to cabin to grab candy.
At night, Camp Ojiketa transforms into a much more low key haunted walk through towering trees to get a few scares at Ojiketa Haunt.
We also do a Trick or Treat on Mainstreet where the sidewalks are decorated with friendly ghosts and Jack O’Lanterns and the businesses and organizations give candy to the kids. They involve the high school students to give out candy and decorate and then the younger ones can seek candy.
There are always churches, as well, on the October 31st that do a Trunk or Treat if that is all you need for scares and treats in your Halloween celebration.