At Halloween and Fireworks Night, a vivid imagination can be more of a worry than a wonder – especially for toddlers or those who can’t yet distinguish between what’s real and what’s not.

But there’s still fun to be had. Here are a few of our favourite tips for mums and dads with little worriers:

Harmless Halloween

1. Throw a Witchy tea party: Borrow some of the fabulous Meg and Mog stories by Jan Pienkowski. The bright pages and bold graphics are fantastic for toddlers who love Meg and her long-suffering cat Mog.
2. Instead of your usual fairy cakes make some witchy cakes with your kids and tell stories of witches having parties at Halloween. Green icing, orange glitter and black stars make a change!
3. Costume department: As happily as toddlers believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy, they equally unhappily presume that witches, skeletons and vampires are real too. This is a great time to get the dressing up box out and help them understand that Trick or Treaters are just wearing costumes. Start with some non-Halloween get-ups and work your way towards pumpkins, autumn sprites and then maybe ghosties and witches if you think they’re up for it.
4. Mask-making. Being unable to see someone’s face goes against all our instincts of trust and masks are most likely to spook our munchkins. Practise using masks at home. Start with ones that just cover your eyes, then half your face working your way towards full masks. Have fun putting them on and taking them off in front of a mirror; your toddler might be spooked when you cover your face but find it interesting when they see themselves peeking out from behind a mask.
5. Savoury spiders: Your eight year-old might like those black plastic spiders dangling on elastic but try this for your toddler. Get him or her to pull a cheese string into 8 thin strands and one thick strand. Add a couple of black olives for eyes and smile. Sing Itsy Bitsy Spider while they dangle their cheesy spider before they gobble it up!
6. Choose your route round the supermarket: Many shops tend to window dress for older kids and adults at this time of year and forget the worried little toddlers wondering what it’s all about. Let’s face it severed heads and skeletons are scary. If you have your little one with you avoid those window displays, shops or aisles where you know they’ve gone for a full-on fake blood gore-fest.
7. Go trick of treating at home: If you don’t want them to miss out on treats, go from door to door inside your own home! Invite over a few friends with toddlers and have your partner, grandparent or an older sibling behind each bedroom, bathroom and cupboard door handing out treats. It’s a safe and warm way of dressing up, getting a few treats and enjoying Halloween fun.

No more freaking out at fireworks

1. Practise Peek-Boo: Then progress onto Hide and Seek where you make them jump a teeny bit – or as much as they can handle while still enjoying themselves. Follow each Boo up with big cuddles. Learning to enjoy safe little shocks with mum can help them relax with Fireworks Night bangs and jumps.
2. Desensitize them to noise: Show your little one a few muted YouTube videos of fireworks, just let them enjoy the visuals. Many children are so startled by the noise of fireworks, they forget to enjoy the lights and colours. Make it a game; when you see an explosion, say ‘Boom’ together. Prepare them with a few techniques for reducing the noise: noise-reducing headphones, normal earmuffs or just gloved hands over their ears.
3. Public fireworks displays: Sometimes it’s not the noise but the cold, the dark and the lateness of the hour, that unsettles them. Let them have an extra long nap and take lots of layers, snacks and warm drinks. Park where you can get back to the car easily and stand near the back in case you need to make a swift exit. Keep your eye on proceedings and tell them the fireworks are about to begin 10-15 seconds before the first bang.
4. Know when to quit: If your little bright spark does get distressed, cuddle up – don’t leave them in the buggy. Just your presence can help them make it through long enough to learn it’s OK. If they’re still upset after a few minutes though, take them home. It won’t get better the longer you expose them, it will just take them longer to recover.
5. Tucked up in bed and still scared: Try opening the curtains so he or she can see the fireworks are quite far away. If they’re still a little freaked, let them make their own noise with a music or story cassette, instruments or a karaoke microphone. A sense of control over your own noise can be helpful when you’re bombarded by someone else’s racket.