HALLOWEEN BEDTIME SLEEP TIPS
It’s that time of year again when candy is at a surplus and cute little ones dressed up in costumes go door to door in search of sweet treats.
It’s an exciting night full of great memories but can also result in chaos at bedtime due to overstimulation and all the bubbling excitement that comes with Halloween. A proper bedtime routine is important on any night of the year, but even more so on nights where regular schedules have been shifted to accommodate thrilling holiday activities, like trick-or-treating.
To ensure this night of adventures goes just as smoothly as other nights, we’d like to treat you with some tips and tricks:
Carve out some quiet time. Depending on the age of your little one, this could either be emphasizing the importance of nap time earlier in the day or creating a peaceful space for your older one to relax and practice mindfulness. Plan some quiet activities or even use one of our soothing sounds to make certain their little bodies are well rested for the exciting evening to come.
Craft a spooktacular plan ahead of time. Plan out the route you want to take, with a start time and end time in mind, then talk it over with your kiddos. Letting them know what to expect beforehand helps minimize the risk of an evening tantrum. If you have more than one child with different bedtimes, take into consideration staggering their trick-or-treating times. This allows you to make sure bedtimes are more easily stuck to and sleep routines aren’t shifted too much. Arrange to meet in the middle so both your little ones can still have a great time trick-or-treating together before the youngest goes home for the night.
Stick to your bewitching bedtime routine. Holidays are always tricky when it comes to settling in for the night. It’s even more important on days like these to make sure to stick to your bedtime routine as closely as possible, so your little ones can get to sleep on time and the rest of the week stays as planned. Be sure to go through your normal steps, even if they need to be sped up a bit, to bring normality back into the day and signal it’s time to wind down and get some rest. We recommend finishing off the routine with one of our enchanting Halloween inspired bedtime stories, Thumpkin’s Pumpkin Parade or Marsha the Boggy Swampling.
Thumpkin’s Pumpkin Parade is a tuneful tale about a Moshling who loves Halloween but struggles to get ‘normal’ Moshlings to attend his annual party. So he organizes a street parade starring all his spooky pals to show nervous neighbors that looking different or odd is awesome and that Halloween is fun, not scary.
Our newest Moshi Story features Marsha the Boggy Swampling, a lonely Moshling in search of a Halloween date. She is desperate to attend the Halloween ball but cannot find a friend to accompany her because she looks pretty kookie and retro. Thankfully, Glob the Gone-Wrong Blob helps Marsha become the belle of the ball with some very special Moshi science.
Your kiddos will be asleep in no time, freeing up some time for you to sneak a sweet treat or two from their trick-or-treating candy pile. You definitely deserve it.
Limit those fang-tastic treats. After a fun evening of trick-or-treating, it’s likely your kids will want to dive headfirst into their candy stash the moment you get back home. Pick a number of candies allowed that night to make sure your little ones aren’t running around on a sugar-high come bedtime.
Help make monsters funny. It’s not uncommon for kids to get scared or worried before bedtime, especially on a night like Halloween when things are known to go bump in the night. If your child does have a hard time settling in because of this, try recreating their scary image into a funny one. Monsters can have hot pink tutus, too!
And finally, don’t forget to take a breath and enjoy Halloween. While this is a super fun night for kids, it’s also a wonderful night filled with memories and laughter for parents. Halloween only comes around once a year, and your precious little angels won’t be that young for very long. It can definitely be draining with the change in routine and all the running around, but remember to take a deep breath and enjoy yourself.