Stress-free Halloween celebrations at school

Halloween can be expensive for families, thanks to a scary combination of costumes, sweet treats and school discos or parties. However, as Miller Primary School in Glasgow has shown, with a bit of thought and creativity schools can take the pressure off and make sure the children have a great time.

A teacher at Miller Primary said that:

“Our Halloween parties are always set during the school day. The reasons behind that is we want to take the pressure off them having them after school."

Miller Primary School pupils in halloween costumes

"We want to make sure that the parents don’t feel that they have to go over the top with costumes, that they have to pay a lot of money for costumes. When it’s run during the day we can make sure that every child has a costume, that they can participate. We can provide the games and the food, and we just feel it’s a much calmer experience.”

So how does it feel for the children? They know that if they need a costume, they can get one. One girl in P4 described how the school helps:

“The school gets some extra costumes and brings them in and then the people who do not have costumes they get to go in and get a costume.”

Head Teacher Lorraine Booth is keen to make sure that costs are never a barrier. She says that:

“Cost of the School Day has given children access to resources, experiences and to school life that in other places it might cost.”

“And I think it’s really important to take account of Cost of the School Day because you don’t realise the barrier that that can be for certain families to be able to access what other people take for granted.”