Tag: Halloween

Give guising a miss this Halloween

Advice on safe and enjoyable Halloween celebrations

Families and children are being urged to avoid guising this Halloween to minimise the risk of spreading Coronavirus (COVID-19). Deputy First Minister John Swinney says the move is necessary to ensure people stay within the current restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings.

Advice on the Parent Club website suggests ways for families to have a safe Halloween at home including ideas around party games, fancy dress and storytelling.

For Bonfire Night, the advice includes guidelines around group sizes, distancing and FACTS precautions to reduce the temptation for people to hold gatherings and firework displays in their back gardens.

Mr Swinney said: “Under the current restrictions it is not possible to meet up indoors or in large groups outdoors, so the safest thing to do this year is to stay at home.

“I know guising is a big part of Halloween and children will be sad to miss out, but as door-to-door guising brings an additional and avoidable risk of spreading the virus, our clear advice for families is to avoid it.

“Children can still get dressed up and share jokes with their families, and our Parent Club guidance has lots of fun and creative ideas for families to enjoy a safe celebration at home.

“On Bonfire Night it is vital the public adhere to the rules on meeting up with other households to help stop the spread of the virus. We know that some people may consider using fireworks in their back gardens  If you do plan on using fireworks this Bonfire Night, please do so responsibly and safely.

“Adapting alternative celebrations and sticking to the rules in place can go a huge way to ensuring everyone’s safety.”

Parent Club

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service fireworks safety advice

A Healthy Halloween

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK

Halloween is approaching fast and the shops are filling up with spooky costumes, decorations, pumpkins and sugary treats. It can be difficult to avoid overindulging on sweets and chocolate at Halloween, but there are some healthy swaps you can make.

Before you head out to buy bags of sugary and fatty Halloween treats, why not consider celebrating Halloween in a healthier way.

Here’s some ideas to help you enjoy a healthier Halloween:

• Whizz up some ‘vampire blood’ smoothies by blending strawberries, raspberries and blueberries that are packed full of antioxidants to keep your heart and arteries healthy.

• Pumpkin is high in fibre, vitamins and minerals and low in calories. When hollowing out your pumpkin lantern, save the flesh to make tasty pumpkin soup and call it ‘witches’ brew’. You can find many more healthy pumpkin recipes here

• Swap some of the sweets for ‘bat droppings’ of dried fruit and unsalted nuts and give your little monsters a boost of vitamins, minerals and fibre, as well as plenty of energy to run around in their scary costumes.

• Buy Halloween-themed toys, puzzles, magazines or stationery to give the kids, instead of sweets and chocolate.

Halloween Drive-in Movies at Edinburgh Airport

Struggling with Halloween ideas? Fear (no) more – Drive-in Movies at Edinburgh Airport offers the best Halloween entertainment for people of all ages in a safe, family-friendly environment!

Book your tickets now: www.edinburghdrivein.co.uk

Sarah Drummond and Louise Montgomery enjoy a Drive-in screening of Scream with the Ghostface himself… PIC: Lloyd Smith

Featuring a spine-chilling selection of family favourites, cult classics and blockbusters, Drive-in Movies at Edinburgh Airport transports its audiences into a fright-filled world of cinema this Halloween!

The event takes place between Thursday 29 October and Sunday 1 November and presents 12 fantastic horror classics to choose from, including The Lost Boys, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jaws and Scream, plus family favourites Hocus Pocus, E.T, Coco, Ghostbusters and much more ­– all in a safe, socially-distant, outdoor environment with strict health and safety measures in place.

The pre-screening entertainment includes Halloween-themed sing along, film quiz with spot prizes, competition for best costumes and carved pumpkins displayed on the dashboard, all run by the event’s MC, Edinburgh DJ Stewart Calverto who becomes Count Calverto …

Edinburgh’s Drive-in Movies truly is the place to go for Halloween fun this year!

Ticket and full line-up information available here: www.edinburghdrivein.co.uk

Ghosts needn’t be toast!

How to enjoy Halloween during lockdown 

With different parts of the country under different lockdown rules, the idea of celebrating Halloween may seem an impossibility. But Catherine Lynch of education experts PlanBee says you can keep your children spooked out – and stay within the law.

Halloween 2020 is going to be a bit different to previous years. Groups of children putting their hands into several bowls of communal sweets feels like something from another life. But we can incorporate dressing up, community spirit, an evening walk and trick or treating while observing social distancing. Here’s how…

Many communities are organising a Halloween trail for their young trick-or-treaters. Instead of knocking door to door, why not take your children on a trail, too? If you would like to take part in a Halloween trail, or organise one yourself, you could put this spooky picture from PlanBee in your window.

Parents can scan the QR code in the picture to receive a free Halloween activity pack with colouring sheets, puzzles and activities.

Qr code Description automatically generated

Take your children on walks around your local area and see how many Halloween pictures you can spot. You could give your child the chance to pick a treat from your own selection each time they spot a picture on the Halloween treasure hunt. 

And while you’re at it, this short guide to the history of Halloween will ensure you can answer any questions your youngsters might have about the origins of this popular autumn celebration.

  • It all started with Samhain, an ancient Celtic pagan religious festival that marks the end of the harvest and the start of winter. The celebrations included lighting bonfires and wearing costumes to ward off ghosts. This festival is thought to date back to Neolithic times, pre 2500 BC. 
  • In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III decided 1st November should be a time to honour all saints. The evening before All Saints Day was known as All Hallows’ Eve, and later Halloween. All Hallows’ Eve, is a Christian religious observance that includes going to church and lighting candles on the graves of the dead. Traditionally, Christians didn’t eat meat on this day and Potato Pancakes were a popular choice of food. 
  • Over time, Halloween became the more commercial and secular celebration we have today that includes trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, wearing costumes and eating treats.

Special events for October Half Term at Conifox Adventure Park

Grandparent’s Day

Conifox invites the young – and young at heart! – to come and celebrate their favourite people at their favourite place!

Grandads and Grandmas, Nanas and Papas, Pops and Grannies, whatever they are called, we want to join you in showing them some love!

So, on 4th October for every child’s ticket purchased, grandparents will gain entrance for free; all they need to do, is have some fun!

Halloween

Especially for the most spooktacular month of the year, the bravest of the brave can follow the Spooky Trail around the park, with kids of all ages winning a goodie bag filled to the brim with Halloween treasures (£2 per child, plus park entry). 

Open from 17th October to 1st November, you can also enjoy Pumpkin Carving after walking the trail, choosing your perfect pumpkin from the Conifox haunted field, ready to carve into the most wickedly magnificent monster …

James Gammell, director of Conifox, is thrilled to prepare for the October half-term buzz: “We are so excited to welcome our friends and family back to Conifox.

“The months leading up to October will have been tough for everyone, not least because of a certain global pandemic, but because after so much time off, kids will be back to school and parents back to work. We want to remind you that fun is always just a hop, skip and a pedal-tractor away, so to keep your chin up and we will hope to see you soon!

He continues, “As a family run business, we are passionate not only about what we do, but also about delivering the absolute best in customer experience. No matter if you are 8 or 80 you are welcome here and we will do everything in our power to make it a day that stays with you as an everlasting, happy memory.”

Constantly innovating and improving their customer offering, Conifox is the perfect spot for a full day out with family and friends. Although the Stables Bistro is closed to ensure compliance with social distancing measures, there is still a selection of delicious food available, including a sizzling BBQ (weather permitting) and all-day breakfast baps, as well as coffee and tea when you need a little refresh.

Situated on the outskirts of Kirkliston, just five minutes from Edinburgh Airport, Conifox is the ideal venue for kids on half term.

To keep visitors safe, tickets are currently only available to pre-book and some attractions will be closed at certain times throughout the day for deep cleaning.

To find out more visit the Conifox Facebook page @conifoxadventurepark or www.conifox.co.uk.

Special Halloween programme for October Drive-in Movies announced!

Picture: Lloyd Smith

Edinburgh International Film Festival and Unique Events, organisers of Drive-in Movies at Edinburgh Airport, are pleased to announce a special Halloween programme for the next four-day outdoor cinema extravaganza, supported by Edinburgh Live, taking place between 29 October and 1 November.

Packed-full with scary movies and fright-filled pre-film activities with ghoulish prizes, this special event is the perfect Halloween celebration in a safe, socially-distant environment.

Tickets for the Drive-in Movies – Halloween edition are now on sale at edinburghdrivein.co.uk with another fantastic programme of cinema classics including Ghostbusters, Jaws, The Lost Boys and Halloween alongside family favourites such as E.T., Coco and Jurassic Park.

Following a very successful opening weekend in August which saw over 4,000 people enjoying the event in a safe and family-friendly environment, Drive-in Movies fun continues this October with a scarily fantastic programme of Halloween-themed films and activities.

Edinburgh DJ Stewart Calverto will once again warm-up the crowds as ‘Count Calverto’ with Halloween-themed sing-along car disco and quizzes with spot prizes. There will also be ghoulish prizes for the best Halloween costumes and best Car-ved Pumpkins displayed on dashboards.

Edinburgh’s Drive-in Movies truly is the place to go for Halloween fun this year!

Audiences are being asked to vote on social media on their Fright Night Favourite horror film for the late Sunday slot: Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic Psycho (1960), John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror The Thing (1982), William Friedkin’s supernatural The Exorcist (1973) or Wes Craven’s first of the slasher series, Scream (1996). To cast a vote, check out Edinburgh International Film Festival’s poll on Twitter and Facebook.

SCHEDULE

THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER

6.30pm GHOSTBUSTERS, 1984 (captioned)

10pm ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, 1975 (captioned)

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER

6.30pm THE LOST BOYS, 1987 (captioned)

10pm DONNIE DARKO, 2001

SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER

10.30am COCO, 2017 (captioned)

2pm E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, 1982 (captioned)

6pm JAWS, 1975 (captioned)                   

10pm HALLOWEEN, 1978                

SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER

10.30am HOCUS POCUS, 1993 (captioned)

2pm LABYRINTH, 1986 (captioned)

5.30pm JURASSIC PARK, 1993 (captioned)

9.30pm public vote film: PSYCHO / THE THING / THE EXORCIST / SCREAM       

Tickets are available now at www.edinburghdrivein.co.uk, priced from £27.50 to £35.00 (+ booking fee) per vehicle for up to 5 persons.

This top-notch selection of films will be shown on a state of the art 100sqm LED screen, one of the largest mobile screens in the world with the audio broadcast straight to cars, for audiences to control the soundtrack.

Prior to each film, audiences will be able to sample some of the best fish and chips in the country from seafood specialists Alandas and for those not behind the wheel, Edinburgh-based award-winning brewery Cold Town Beer will be on site to serve beers and cocktails, as well as burgers and nachos.

Mercat Tours issue public appeal to help save Scotland’s Halloween traditions

Taking on the role of Scotland’s chief guisers (or galoshans), Edinburgh’s award-winning storytellers at Mercat Tours are launching a public appeal and programme of events to save some of Scotland’s great Halloween traditions. Continue reading Mercat Tours issue public appeal to help save Scotland’s Halloween traditions