All around my neighborhood, kids are getting BOOed. Don’t worry, this isn’t the kind of BOOing that ends in tears or hurt feelings. This type of BOOing is actually a good thing. In this case BOOing is when one family leaves an anonymous treat for another family in their neighborhood and directs that family to leave an anonymous treat for someone else who directs that family to leave a treat for someone who…well, you get the picture I’m sure. Before long the BOO has traveled across that neighborhood creating a treat train of goodwill and happy kids.
It’s easy to start the BOO rolling where you live. All you need to do is create a small package to leave for your neighbors. The package generally consists of a treat of some kind, a cute poem telling the family they’ve been BOOed, a sign to hang on their front door to let other people in the neighborhood know that they’ve already been BOOed, and a note directing them to get out and BOO someone else. You can find a printable note and other materials at this website. Then you let your kids sneak up to your neighbor’s door, leave the treat, and run.
For the treat portion most people use either candy or trinkets. Cute pencils or spider rings or other inexpensive Halloween toys are common, although one family once left my family a 6 pack of Halloween themed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme and I have to tell you, that family was our heroes.
BOOing has become one of my favorite parts of Halloween. There is something so exciting to my family about making someone happy anonymously. My daughter loves to ring the doorbell and then hide and secretly see her friends’ reaction when they find the package. The kids in my neighborhood never want to admit to each other who BOOed who and it is exciting to see the “We’ve Been BOOed” signs go up throughout your neighborhood.
Have I convinced you to try it? I sure hope so. If you are looking for some other tricks for enhancing your family’s Halloween experience, be sure to check out the October issues of Babybug, Ladybug, Spider, and https://shop.cricketmedia.com/subscriptions/CRICKET-Magazine-for-Kids.html, each of which have Halloween themed stories sure to delight the young readers in your family.
