Programs

Spotlight Program: How to Have a Haunted Halloween

At CMLE, we so enjoy all our different types of libraries, archives, and other members! Seeing all the work you are doing is so inspiring; and we want to return the favor by helping you to find some of the great programming going on around the profession.

Each week we will share an interesting program we find. It may inspire you to do exactly the same thing; or to try something related; or just to try out some different programming ideas. (On November 9, 2017, we will drop a podcast episode on Library Programming; you can tune in here to check it out! Or, of course, subscribe or stream to enjoy any of the episodes!)

Halloween is approaching, and we are going to look at some holiday programs you may want to try in your library.

How to Have a Haunted Halloween

By Kimberli Buckley, Library Manager, Concord Library, Contra Costa County (Calif.) Library

About five years ago, I created a program called Haunted Library. Our Teen Advisory Group (TAG) really looked forward to this program every year. They absolutely loved planning this event, making up different themes each year and going all out from the beginning of the school year until Halloween. It was so awesome because they were fully invested.

TAG’s main goal was to create a haunted house for the younger children in the community. The parks and recreation department in San Pablo used to put on a great haunted house, but after they discontinued their program, my TAG felt that it was up to them to put on a great program for the kids. We did the Haunted Halloween program every year for four years, and the teens outdid themselves and did an amazing job.

This year, I am at a different library, but I am carrying on the tradition of the Haunted Library program. My staff and I are planning a Halloween event for tweens and teens and are very excited to share our ideas. We now have an even bigger room to create a haunted house, and we have recruited a brand new TAG to help plan and coordinate. After meeting and discussing ideas for our Halloween event, we came up with a long list of fun things to do. Here are some of our ideas:

Hauntingly Terrific Crafts

Spooky Candy Hands: These candy hands are creepy looking, but they’re a super yummy treat for teens.

Faux Horror Chains: These faux chains are inexpensive to make and great for indoor or outdoor decorating.

Creepy Spell Book: Put those weeded books to good use. These creepy spell books look complicated, but they’re actually easy to make.

Witch’s Potion Bottles: It’s amazing that these started as plain plastic pill bottles.

Spooktacularly Tasty Morsels

Candy Corn Punch: Sweet, colorful and fun. Drink up, my pretties!

Halloween Spaghetti: Here’s a horrible-looking twist on your grandma’s spaghetti recipe.

Poison Apples: This poison apple recipe was inspired by Evie from Disney’s “Descendants.”

Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups: These would be fun to serve at a Halloween-themed party.

(Read the rest of this great blog here!)