One year it was a series of boxes, each with a monster's face painted on it and a huge open mouth full of teeth. At first I didn't have many children ready to brave sticking their hand in those awesome mouths and then it was just all fun and treats, well almost all the boxes had treats, one had some slimey noodles, nothing to hurt the dears, just get them to giggle.

         It's worth every minute spent making the boxes to hear them carry on and come back and come back and………well, be prepared, the youngest were toddlers and they thought it was a tickle.

         Find pictures of scary characters* with teeth, there are plenty around this time of year. These can be enlarged at a Copy place and traced off onto poster board and colored. Cut the mouth hole in the boxes to match the open mouth and glue. Fill the boxes with treats or tricks of your choice.

         To make it more fun, decorate an area on your porch with cobwebs and low lights, just enough for the kids to see the faces.

         Stand by. Do not let anyone force a child to reach in if he or she does not want to. The most timid will sometimes just have to watch first and when they try it, you will be surprised to see their face, or mask in the line again.

         *If you would rather not use scary characters, try funny ones.