Haunting Halloween Events for Tustin’s Children in California
It never fails, by the third week of every cooling September, our wide eyed children are already pulling our shirt tails (or blouse hems) about what they want to be this year for Halloween. Our more sophisticated older ones may be deciding on whose party to attend or begging for your permission to throw her own haunting shindig.
Whether you’re bundling them up in their extravagant store bought costumes to go door to door asking total strangers for candy, or whether you plop them on their home made tails (or wings, or horns, or bunny ears) for more organized festivities, you know one thing for sure – you won’t be able to pry those colorful wrapped goodies out of their mitts until the middle of next year – unless, of course, you help them out a bit by taking a piece or two. Heck, who are you fooling? All the Snickers are going to the office with you!
Fortunately for the parents of Tustin California, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department assists every year with these haunting and gruesome options for some Tustin area children.
On Tuesday October 31st for the young ones, ages 12 – 7, the city will be sponsoring its free annual Halloween Howl, from 3-5 pm, at the Columbus Tustin Activity Center (17522 Beneta Way).
The city is hiring the Acme Balloon Company for a balloon show while two super heros (their identities undisclosed) will be invited to take pictures with the children. According to the city’s website, the event will also include a costume parade, carnival style games, two bounce houses and plenty of treats.
For children 6 and under, their Happy Harvest room will entertain the smaller ones with the Franklin Haynes Marionettes puppeteers, and with games with names like: Harvest Hoops; The Great Pumpkin Hopscotch; Trick or Treat Toss and Polly’s Hidden Treasures.
Friday, October 27th, according to Marcos Valez, one of the coordinators for the city’s Halloween events, Parks and Recreation leaders along with their supervisor Christine Cleveland, will also be chaperoning a city sponsored teen dance they call Monster’s Bash, which will be attended by Tustin Unified Middle Schoolers. The event is scheduled from 6:30-9:30 pm at the Clifton Miller Community Center (300 Centennial Way).
According to the city’s website, the cost to attend the dance is $5 at the door along with a school ID and a required parent permission slip. Also invited to attend this year’s Monster Bash are the following private schools: Ability Plus, St. Cecilia’s and Fairmont Private Schools. Middle school dress codes will be enforced as there are no costumes allowed. Why aren’t they allowed to wear costumes at a Halloween dance? Christine Cleveland, the city’s supervising coordinator for the dance said, “It’s a teen dance. We just want to make sure that there’s no situation we won’t be able to handle. With costumes things can be hidden, so we just want to make sure that everything’s on the up and up.”
The website made no mention of events targeting high school students, so will the high schools plan their own activities for the Tustin Area high school children to make up for the city’s lack of events for their age group? Dean Jennings, one of the assistant principles at the historic Tustin High School said, “I don’t see that we’re having any Halloween sponsored events either.”
Perhaps these will be the ones pulling on their parents’ shirt tails about throwing their own parties. Or just maybe they’ve already made plans to attend Knott’s Scary Farm (Knott’s Berry Farm) for their 34th annual Halloween Haunt in the neighboring city of Buena Park, where, according to the KBF website, is the original, in-your-face live Halloween experience filled with 12 mazes, 6 hair-raising shows, 4 horrific scare zones and 1,000 monsters roaming around scaring guests. Halloween Haunt runs September 28 – 30, October 1, 4 – 8, 11 – 15, 18- 22, 26 – 31. What high school event can compete with that?
