Complete Halloween Guide: Fun facts, history, riddles, printables and crafts for kids

With Halloween right around the corner, help your kids get into the spooky spirit with some fun facts, free Halloween printables, riddles and craft ideas for kids, plus learn about the history of Halloween.

Halloween Fun Facts:

U.S. consumers spend 1.5 billion on Halloween costumes and 2.5 billion on candy, crafts and decorations.
Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.
Halloween is the third biggest party day of the year, behind New Year’s and Super Bowl Sunday.
86% of Americans decorate their homes at Halloween.
Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
Of all the candy sold annually, one quarter of it is sold during Halloween time.
Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1 and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups #2. Chocolate makes up about ¾ of a trick-or-treaters loot.
Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!
The next full moon on Halloween night will be October 31, 2020.
Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926.
One-third of all U.S. adults don costumes and participate in Halloween activities.
The first "Jack-O-Lanterns" were not pumpkins - they were hollowed-out turnips and originated in Ireland.
Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
If you see a spider on Halloween, it’s believed to be the spirit of a loved on watching over you.
The common little brown bat of North America has the longest life span for a mammal its size, with a life span averaging 32 years.
The Ouija Board ended up outselling the game of Monopoly in its first full year at Salem. Over two million copies of the Ouija Board were shipped.
“Halloween” movie facts: 'Halloween" was made in only 21 days in 1978 on a very limited budget. The movie was shot in the spring and used fake autumn leaves.
Trick or Treat for UNICEF started in 1950 in Philadelphia.

The History of Halloween:

Halloween, referred to as All Hallows Eve, was originally a pagan holiday in which they honored the dead. It was celebrated on October 31 since this was the last day of the Celtic calendar. The celebration dates back some 2,000 years. ? ?
The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts wondered the streets on all Hallows Eve so they began wearing masks and costumes in order to not be recognized as human. ?
The jack-o-lantern tradition comes from an old Irish folk tale about a man named Stingy Jack. It was said that he was unable to get into heaven and was turned away from the devil because of his tricky ways. So he set off to wander the world looking for a resting place. For light, Stingy Jack used a burning coal ember in a hollowed out turnip. When the Irish immigrated to the U.S. during the Great Potato Famine of 1845-1850, they found that turnips were not as readily available like they were in the homeland. So they started carving pumpkins as a replacement for their tradition. ??
On Halloween, Irish peasants would beg the rich for food. For those that refused, they would play a practical joke. So, in an effort to avoid being tricked, the rich would hand out cookies, candy, and fruit – a practice that morphed into trick-or-treating today.

Halloween Riddles for Kids:

Q: What is the favorite health insurance for ghosts and goblins? A: Medi-Scare
Q: What do goblins and ghosts drink on Halloween? A: Ghoul-ade
Q: What’s a mummy’s favorite kind of music? A: Wrap!
Q: What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A: A sand-witch
Q: Why is a ghost such a messy eater? A: Because he is always a goblin.
Q: What do you get when you cross a black cat with a lemon? A: A sour puss.

Free Halloween Printables: Get your kids in the spirit of Halloween by printing out a free Halloween coloring page and then having them color it. Below are several good resources for free Halloween printable coloring pages:

Kaboose.com – Offers free coloring pages of vampires, zombies, witches, haunted houses and more, plus word puzzles and games for kids.
Family Fun – Enjoy printable games and coloring fun, including Jejyll & Hyde, Dracula, monster and witch coloring pages, plus a Halloween card to color and give.
Activity Village – Features a huge assortment of coloring pages, games, activities, cards and invitations for Halloween.
The Teachers Corner – Offers Halloween crossword puzzles, word searches, word scrambles and coloring sheets.
Halloween.com – Includes a pumpkin coloring sheet, a haunted house maze, Halloween word search, bookmarks, crosswords, puzzles and much more.

Quick and Easy Halloween Crafts: Making a Halloween craft is quick and easy. Be sure to check out some of these ideas:

Spiderweb Pictures by How Stuff Works.
Pumpkin Seed Necklace by Activity Village.
Halloween Luminaries by All Free Crafts.
Flower Pot Pumpkins by Family Fun.
Pasta Skeleton by Enchanted Learning.

Sources: rexann.com, Halloween-website.com, humormatters.com

For fun Halloween things to do with kids in Atlanta, be sure to check out these articles:

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