Halloween is a classic American kid’s holiday, full of mischief, dress-up, and candy. In recent years, however, this night of fun has spread much more; both to adults, and to other countries. We love Halloween, and as such we’d like to offer suggestions on how to use Photo to Movie to spook up your Halloween, whether you’re a parent, a child, or a fun-loving adult.

Halloween is one of the most popular holidays for kids, a chance for them to do exciting, out of the ordinary activities with full parental approval. That kind of enthusiasm always makes for a great show. And you can harness it also in the creation of the show–get your kids involved in taking the pictures and putting the slide show together on Photo to Movie.

It’s yet another way for you to share the fun and games with your kids, creating good family memories even as you record them. Preparations start well before the actual day, and this gives you plenty of time and opportunity to take pictures. There are several ways to organize your slide show, as we’ve written about in past newsletters. However you do it, though, be sure to take great pictures and have fun.

• Costumes Start with the first trips to the store to get costumes–if you’re anything like most families, your kids will go through several ideas about their costumes, tempered only by practicality and your budget. Get shots of them trying on different outfits, or just having fun in the seasonal Halloween superstores that spring up.
• Pumpkins Next, the pumpkins: whether you grow your own or buy them at a pumpkin patch, this is a fine chance to get both Halloween–and fall season–pictures. You can throw a small pumpkin carving parties, inviting just a few of their children’s good friends. Be sure to get pictures of each kid carving, and all of them posing together at the end with their jack o’ lanterns.
• Trick or Treating Do we even need to mention trick or treating? While taking photographs in low-light conditions can be tricky, a number of guides and how-tos can be found on the web, and modern digital cameras often have sophisticated automatic settings that take the guess-work out. As ever, getting a bit of practice before the main event is surely helpful.
• More Photos If you prefer that your children not go trick-or-treating or if you participate in any other activities, then bring a camera along with you and snap away.
• Candy Counting And that would be the end, right? Not quite; after the kids come home, laden with candy, it’s guaranteed you’ll have more opportunities to get great Halloween-themed pictures. Kids love candy–they love counting their haul, organizing it, trading pieces with each other, deciding what piece to eat and when (again, tempered by your parental oversight.)
• Halloween Stories Another idea, good for younger kids, is to create a slide show picture-book to help them get into the Halloween mood: ghosts and goblins abound at this time of year, and you can find a great number of pictures and sound effects on the web. Try making a story about your child and their adventures on Halloween night. Or you can create your own version of the classic Great Pumpkin story, featured in so many Charlie Brown cartoons and comic strips over the years.
• Answering the Door If you stay home to pass out candy, you can take pictures of all the kids who come to trick or treat. Make sure you ask their parents’ permission, of course, if they are along. You can add this to your main slide show, or make a quick one as a side-project, and post it online for the whole neighborhood to see.

That’s about it! As always, if you like our ideas, and put any of them into effect, send us an email with a link to your finished video. We love seeing them, and love sharing them with our readers.