Stories at Night

We have a wonderful Halloween tradition we’ve practiced for the last 4 or 5 years: For bedtime stories in October we gather in the living room, light spooky candles and read scary stories in the flickering light. At the end of the stories each child gets to blow out a candle. I can’t believe how much my kids look forward to this ritual. And I do too. Bedtime stories around our house can get a little out of control — sometimes filling an hour or more and eating up that precious evening worktime — and our October tradition helps me reign things in without being a mean mom.

We’ve attempted to do something similar, in November with Thanksgiving stories and in December with Christmas stories, and met with limited success. What is it about October?

Our Halloween story collection is quite small and added to irregularly, so we supplement with library books. Some books we like: Pumpkin Moonshine, Jeb Scarecrow’s Pumpkin Patch, The Spider and the Fly, and In a Dark, Dark Wood.

 

13 thoughts on “Stories at Night”

  1. Our favorite Halloween story is Mousekin’s Golden House, not scary but very cute about what happens to a pumpkin after Halloween and how a mouse inhabits it.

    I loved your ghosts in your windows!

  2. I'm going to have to try stories at night. It's something my children, ages 8,6 and 2 would all love. Our FAVORITE halloween book is John Pig's Halloween. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is super fun to read aloud.

  3. This is a great tradition! My kids favorite Halloween book is actually more of a Day of the Dead book. It’s Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale by Yuyi Morales. The story is funny, it teaches kids to count to ten in Spanish and the illustrations are amazing! We’ve inspired us to read it by candle light tonight.

    Sue Kirchner
    http://www.ChocolateCakeMoments.com – Simple, Creative & Memorable Family Fun Ideas

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  6. We do the same thing! Every night of the year we read bedtime books by either candle light or flash light (if the book has glow in the dark items we use the flash light) But each year I spend a chunk of money on used Halloween and Christmas books for the respective seasons :) I find myself wondering if, later in life, my daughter will always equate the sent of candle smoke with books, sleep, and cozy evenings :) I hope so!

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