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This is a sponsored post in partnership with JCPenney. However, all opinions are my own. #SoWorthIt
Trick or treating with tweens and older kids can be a lot of fun but things have changed from when the kids were little and now they enjoy different things about Halloween. Because our kids are now more independent this year we have decided to bring the Halloween trick-or-treating tradition to the whole family including the four-legged members and the kids are so excited and willing to help out!
To get ready for trick-or-treating as a family we headed to JCPenney where the kids picked their Halloween costumes and we got some awesome and super cute pet costumes for our fur babies too! Here are a few tips for making sure trick-or-treating with older kids and pets is lots of fun and goes off without a hitch!
Choose A Theme
Costumes are more fun when you choose a theme and everyone can participate. We love Star Wars and we found some fantastic Star Wars themed Halloween costumes at JCPenney so we decided to with the Star Wars theme. My daughter got a Darth Vader costume (she’s really into villains) and we also got a Darth Vader pet costume for our Yorkie Mickey and for our springer spaniel Sally we got a Princess Leia pet costume, she looked adorable and our Star Wars fans were ready for trick or treating!
Let the Kids Get Involved
Let the kids participate and make decisions regarding what costumes they want to wear and what they want to do that night. The great thing about having older kids is that you can all decide together to ensure everyone has a great time. Not everyone in the family may be into the “theme” this year but that’s ok too. Let kids express their personality and have some flexibility. Our youngest wanted to dress up in a spooky costume this year and he’s loving his skeleton costume!
Keep Your Pets Safe While Trick-or-Treating
Going out trick-or-treating with your fur babies means you need to be prepared and take some safety precautions. Here are some things you should take into consideration:
1. Take everything you will need for your dog including water, snacks, toys, and bags to pick up his waste.
2. Check your dog’s harness and leash and make sure they fit snugly. Our little Yorkie, Mickey, can squeeze out of his harness if we don’t put it on correctly!
3. Your pooch may get tired from walking around the neighborhood and the excitement may be too much for him or her so be prepared to call it a night and head back home when your four-legged baby has had enough.
4. Trick-or-treating is not for all dogs. If your dog gets nervous around people or is not great at walking on a leash you may want to stay home. You can always show off everyone’s awesome costumes at home by recruiting your pooch and your kids to help you hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
5. Keep candy and chocolate away from your dog. Let your kids know they should never share their candy with their pets and make sure that any candy leftovers are thrown away in a safe place out of reach of your furry friends. You can bring some dog treats along.
Include Some Family Traditions
For our family including traditions into all of our celebrations is really important. We will be celebrating and although Halloween and Day of the Dead are completely different celebrations we’re taking some sugar skull inspiration for our décor at home for the season. We created some sugar skull inspired pumpkin. This is a fun activity that you can do before the big night and use to decorate your front door for trick or treaters who are visiting.
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