Come the 31st October, your little monsters will want to get up to all kinds of fiendish fun. Give them a helping – ideally amputated – hand with these ghoulish toys…
Haunted House Magic Puzzle
What makes ghosts so scary is that you never know where the pesky blighters are going to turn up next. Take this Haunted House jigsaw. Once your little puzzler has fitted all the 50 pieces together, they’ll discover a whole den of spooky characters and ghoulish going-ons. But there’s more to this fiendish jigsaw than meets the eye – rub one of the 15 magic (well, heat-sensitive) patches, and a bloomin’ spook appears out of no where, only to sneakily merge back into the background as soon as your back is turned. Creepy and addictive fun for any pint-sized poltergeist fan.
Haunted House Magic Puzzle (age 4+): £9.99. Galttoys.com
Horrid Practical Jokes
Tween tricksters and those with a seriously sick sense of humour will be keen to get their mitts on this box of icky jokes. As well as timeless classics such as a self-inflating whoopee cushion, plastic pile of dog poo and charming splatter of vomit, your pranksters will be delighted to find Halloween faves, including the nail through finger trick and a set of gross gnashers to put over their own pearly-whites. The set comes with full instructions and props to carry out a whole host of vulgar tricks on whatever poor hapless victim takes their fancy. What more could your little darlings ask for?
Horrid Practical Jokes (age 8+): £9.99. drumondpark.com (Currently £7.98 Amazon)
Oglee Poglee Little Scary Box of Crafts
While tweens and teens may love nothing more than scaring the bejesus out of one another, little ’uns and those with a gentler disposition may not appreciate a blood-dripping axe through the head or zombies screaming for brains. But that doesn’t mean they can’t join in the Halloween fun – just let them loose with the Oglee Poglee Little Scary Box of Crafts. The box of tricks contains everything your mini monsters need to create spooky masks and creepy decorations – from a cardboard Oglee Pip (strange but cute little yellow fella), masks and googly eyes to glitter glue, feathers and ghost sequins. And the best bit? It’s a much cosier alternative to trudging the kids through the cold, dark streets in search of trick or treats.
Spooky Craft Bags (age 4-8): £4.00. ogleepoglee.co.uk
Monster High Gore-Geous Ghoul
The TV show that features the spookily stylish offspring of infamous creepy characters such as Dracula and The Mummy has a cult following of kids, and this spooky time of year belongs to them. To celebrate Halloween, Monster High fans will freak out over this Gore-Geous Ghoul ‘anti-styling’ head. With over 30 accessories – including monstrous tats, neon hair extensions, and far from subtle make-up – budding stylists will be thrilled to the bone with all the different gory looks they can create on the disembodied head, before proudly displaying said head in its Bell Jar. And that’s when things get even eerier – turn the light off and the bodiless head glows in the dark, scaring annoying brothers who may dare to enter their sister’s lair.
Monster High Gore-Geous Ghoul (ages 6+): £29.99
Bouncy Eyeballs
A diligent parent will always try to introduce an educational element to their child’s activity – even if that said activity makes them gag in its sickening display. Welcome to the Horrible Science Bouncy Eyeballs kit. Inside the box, your budding Victor Frankensteins will discover packs of crystals, moulds, plastic pot, funnel, measuring spoon and a Horrible Info leaflet – everything they need to create one large eyeball and three small glow-in-the-dark eyeballs. Once your mini mad doctors have created their revolting orbs, they can refer back to the instruction leaflet and learn how to – oh dear lord – juggle them.
Horrible Science Bouncy Eyeballs (age 8+): £5.99. galttoys.com
Skullz Kurve
If you’re going to take your tiny terrors trick or treating, then one way to make sure they stand out from the creepy crowd is if they’re cruising the neighbourhood on this Skullz Kurve balance bike. Sans pedals, balance bikes are designed to teach young kids to balance and steer, so they can make a natural progression to a pedal bike, and totally skip the stabilisers part (find out more at Three Of The Best Balance Bikes). So not only will your little ’un win the award for coolest spook on the street – especially if they complete the look with the matching skeleton gloves and helmet – they’ll also grow more confident on two wheels as they prepare for the mega-bucks big bike with pedals they’ve got ear-marked for Christmas.
Skullz Kurve (age 3-6): £74.99. Skullz Helmet: £29.99. Skullz Bell: £5.99. kiddimoto.co.uk
Mr Creepy Magic
Mini magicians with a worrying interest in the macabre will be made up with this box of really quite terrifying tricks. There are 25 of them in all, with satisfyingly spooky names such as Head Case, Gourmet Guts, Eerie Ear and Cryptic Coffin. And as each devilishly devious trick comes with illustrated step-by-step instructions, your budding creepy Copperfields will soon be terrifying – sorry, entertaining – unsuspecting victims. Sensitive siblings, nervous dads and little ol’ ladies should steer clear until the witching hour is over (and probably for a good few months after, too).
Mr Creepy Magic (age 7+): £22.99 (various retailers)
Updated: Oct 2017
