Family Halloween Costume Ideas: For Big-ish Families & Charcuterie
We do a family Halloween costume each year! I started doing this when Anaya and Malachi were babies and it’s been fun for Fred and me to get involved in the costume too.
However, as the kids get older it seems to be more challenging because they now have their own ideas on the best theme. We’ve started taking turns and each year a different kid gets to pick our theme. Now that we have 8 kiddos, we have to get really creative on what we are going to dress up as because we need a theme with a lot of characters.
I don’t have a lot of time to over complicate things, so our costumes are pretty basic and easy—just getting 10 people to dress up is a win in my book. Some years I’ve made our costumes and other years they were store bought and super basic.
Here’s a blast from the past from some of our costumes over the years.
The greatest thing about Halloween costumes that are themed is that they can be as simple or as over the top as you want them to be. You can also get costumes on a budget by checking out secondhand shops if you start looking ahead of time!
In addition to family costumes, we love to make a big family charcuterie board to munch on Halloween day. This year, I wanted to make a charcuterie board that my kids would love but that wasn’t just a bunch of candy. So, I chose to do a combination of sweet and salty foods. The great thing about charcuterie boards is that you can make them as fancy or as simple as you want.
*PRO TIP* Create a cohesive look to your charcuterie board by choosing a color scheme.
After gathering the different food items together, I got out a 2 large cutting boards and a couple of large platters (I used a small plastic cauldron and some small bowls) I started by placing the containers diagonal from each other and then added some candy to one and popcorn to the other. Then I continued adding different foods to the board, making sure to distribute the colors, shapes and sizes throughout. For the finishing touches, I placed a few small Halloween decorations around the food (plastic bones, a large spider and a small pumpkin). The kids love to help out but Abram and Levi mostly enjoy eating all the cookies and pigs in a blanket. Anaya likes to help me put the finishing touches on and add the pumpkins to make it look pretty.
photo credit: Janel Gion Photography and Design
*PRO TIP* I’ve found that if I put food out in small containers or arrange it in a fun way instead of just setting them out in a bag, box or uncut, my kids are more likely to eat what’s there. (This goes for healthy foods as well as treats.)
If you’re interested in putting a Halloween charcuterie board together for your family or some other Halloween gathering, check out the list below for all the items I included, plus a few more that I didn’t have space for:
I hope I’ve convinced you to give it a try! What kind of goodies would you add to your Halloween charcuterie board?