Five Things To Do With Your Family This Halloween Weekend

DO, MAKE, RECIPES AND EVENTS HAVE A GREEN HALLOWEEN
This weekend is Halloween, or Samhuinn. Enjoy Glennie Kindred’s ideas for ways to celebrate Samhuinn at home – including a recipe for Elderberry Syrup – here and more inspiration here
In Edinburgh, the Fire Festival lights up the streets of the city; it’s not just those lucky enough to live in Scotland who can experience the drum, ritual and pageant; there’s also a simultaneous livestream of the parade, online film and art. Over in Dundee, there’s a weekend of supernatural-themed experimenting at the Science Centre’s Halloween extravaganza. Find more ideas for a Scottish Halloween here.
Down in London, the Horniman Museum is celebrating the day with a daytime disco, woodworking, the Skipping Sikh, and vintage fete stalls, while there are free Halloween-themed nature Discovery Days at parks across London.
Find more ideas for celebrations here.
Many Halloween costumes and decorations are a disaster for the environment, but natural decorations are gentler on our planet and can look a lot spookier! Why not take time out ahead of the spookiest night of the year to make your own? These yarn-and-branch spider webs and stick skeletons are striking enough to stay up until Christmas, and ghost leaves will lurk in corners long after Halloween. Or gather up some pinecones and make these cute bats or quirky looking owls!
Swerve shop-bought costumes and sew or make your own from existing clothes. Our ideas for last-minute costumes are here. This bat costume uses old umbrellas as wings, while there are super-cute ideas for owl wings, sharks and animal ear headbands here and spiders and skeletons here. The spooking power of the classic sheet ghost should never be under-estimated!
Lantern making means that there’s a lot of spare pumpkin flying about ahead of Halloween. Don’t waste its sweet goodness - find three of our favourite ideas here and more about growing and using pumpkins here! Alternatively, rustle up a batch of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and to use in waffles or vegan spice drinks. Or use the beautiful vegetable as a pot and serve pumpkin humous or baked pumpkin fondue – how pretty are these ideas?
We adore a warming pumpkin soup, spiked with chilli, and Nigel Slater’s version, which comes complete with pumpkin seed rosti is warming and cosy. Or make a pumpkin cake perfect for scoffing on dark November nights. Don’t waste the seeds - they make crunchy snacks.

EVENT, RECIPE, MAKE LIGHT FANTASTIC
This Sunday, Trafalgar Square gets lit for an early celebration of Diwali on the Square. An incredible line up of music, dance and performances opens with two hundred brightly clothed dancers. Enjoy turban tying, yoga, cookery demonstrations and puppet shows, and meet the Diwali Queen, a collaborative art project.
Can’t make it to London? Prepare for the mid-November festival at home by making your own lanterns, create a rangoli, make these delicious Diwali snacks or cup of warming vegan chai. Finally, here are five of our favourite ways to celebrate Diwali.

EVENT IF YOU WANT TO SING OUT
Get your best voice on! It’s World Opera Day. There are special performances taking place across the world, but if you don’t fancy putting on your fanciest clothes and heading to the theatre, why not watch a show in your front room? Explore resources here and find out about how opera explores Greek myths, discover how opera is the spiritual home of strong women, peep behind the scenes at costume design, and learn about the lives of composers including Britten, Verdi and Strauss. Why not go freestyle and make up your own opera!?

EVENT KONNICHIWA BRISTOL
Discover Japan in the heart of Bristol at M Shed this Sunday. The museum will be transformed into a mini version of the country, with martial arts demos, childrens games, tea ceremonies, calligraphy, shiatsu treatments and, of course, Japanese food. Find out more here.

FORAGE AND RECIPES BERRY TIME

There are berries abroad, in the forests and the hedges, ripe for the picking; blackberries, rosehips, haws, sloes, elderberries or rowan berries, perhaps a few of the last crab apples. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s hedgerow-inspired recipes have our mouths watering, and provide some alcohol-free alternatives to using sloes (although sloe gin is always on our to-make list!)

BONUS: Get prepared for clocks spinning back an hour on October 29! Five Ways To Cope With Clocks Going Back

WHAT WE’RE READING 5 Strategies to Stop Feeling Mom Guilt “It may be the one universal of western motherhood: guilt. No matter how you parent, from the moment your child arrives in your life, so too does mom guilt. It’s a powerful force that can leave you feeling depressed, anxious, and unworthy. It may make you more vulnerable to abuse, more willing to accept an inegalitarian marriage or unfair division of household labor, and less willing to tend to your own basic needs.

Guilt is not an inevitable experience with motherhood. And it serves no one. Maybe you’re just realizing this. Maybe you’ve known it forever, but still can’t let go of guilt. These five strategies for managing mom guilt might be the antidote.”

Read more here

WHAT WE’RE EATING Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Got some leftover pumpkin from Halloween? Seeing them all discounted at the supermarket? Why not whip up a simple yet super delicious pumpkin pie? Made with healthy and unprocessed ingredients and rich in fats, vitamins and minerals – it’s not just a tasty dessert, it’s a health boost at the time of year your body needs it the very most. Find the recipe here