Thirteen things for a boo basket that aren't candy
A boo basket is a small basket of treats left out for a child in the week before Halloween. It does not need any candy in it — the thirty-first will see to that. Here is what I put in instead, by age.
I make one of these for each grandchild and leave it on the kitchen table the weekend before. My rules are short. Nothing in it is sugar, because that part of Halloween takes care of itself. Nothing in it is junk that will be in the trash by Tuesday. And the whole basket should come to less than one nice toy would — it is a handful of small pleasures, not a second Christmas. Four or five things from the right shelf below is plenty.
For the babies
They cannot have the candy and do not know it is a holiday. Soft, washable, and nothing smaller than their fist.
A board book with a pumpkin in it
The one present a baby can use on the day. Sturdy pages, something to lift or pat, and short enough to read twice before bed.
Halloween pajamas
Worn for the whole second half of October, which makes them the best value in the basket. Size up; they will still fit at Thanksgiving.
A small plush pumpkin
Soft all over, with stitched features rather than buttons. It will be chewed on, so it should survive the wash.
Bath toys with no holes in them
The sealed kind, so water cannot get inside and sit there. A new thing in the tub is a real event when you are nine months old.
For the toddlers
Old enough to be thrilled by a basket, young enough that the basket itself is half the present.
Bubbles, and a good wand
Still the best dollar-for-dollar toy there is. The no-spill tumblers are worth the extra if you value your porch.
Chunky crayons
Thick enough for a fist grip and washable for the wall. Tuck in a small pad of paper so there is somewhere intended for them to go.
A few small tubs of Play-Doh
Orange, black, white and green, if you can find them. An afternoon at the kitchen table for the cost of one candy bar.
A reusable sticker pad
The kind where the stickers peel off and go back on. Ordinary stickers are finished in four minutes and found on the dog in five.
Pumpkin and ghost cookie cutters
Not really a present for them — a present for the afternoon you spend together using them. They work on Play-Doh and toast, too.
For the big kids
They are getting plenty of candy elsewhere. These are the things they will still have on November first.
Glow sticks, a whole tube
Bracelets for the walk, and the rest for a dark bathtub or a bedroom fort afterward. Nothing else on this list is as popular.
A flashlight of their own
A real one, small enough for their hand. It goes trick-or-treating and then lives under the pillow for reading after lights-out, which I pretend not to know about.
Temporary tattoos
Bats and pumpkins up one arm for the school party. They wash off by the weekend, which is the right length of time for a tattoo at six.
A picture book with a small shiver in it
By this age they want to be a little bit scared, safely, on somebody's lap. Start with the one about the carrots.
And for the bowl at the door
Some of the children who come up your steps cannot eat what is in the candy bowl. A second bowl with things that are not food means nobody goes away with nothing, and a teal pumpkin on the porch is how families with food allergies know to knock. Stickers, glow bracelets, small tubs of bubbles, pencils and stamps all do nicely and cost about what the candy does. Leave out anything small enough to swallow — the littlest trick-or-treaters put everything in their mouths — and anything with a button battery in it.
- Sticker sheets
- Glow bracelets
- Mini bubbles
- Halloween pencils
- Stampers
- Nothing smaller than a ping-pong ball
A handful of small pleasures, and no sugar. October will supply that.
If you would rather buy the second bowl in one go, there are mixed boxes of non-candy treats sold for exactly this. And nearly everything on the three shelves above is the sort of thing an independent toy shop keeps by the register — our boutique directory will find you one.
For the book in the basket, see the thirteen I would choose from.
Children's boutiques near you
Independent children's boutiques and toy stores across the country, city by city — the places that will let you feel the fleece before you buy the lamb.
