One of my favorite Halloween traditions is “Booing” our neighbors. Have you ever been “Booed” – do you have any idea what I am talking about? Let me tell you all about Booing your neighbors and give you a free printable Boo sign!
My oldest was six months old when we were first Booed. Now it is as much a part of Halloween in our house as trick-or-treating. Here’s what happens.
Sometime in October, the doorbell rings. When you go to answer it, there is no one there — except a small basket of treats and a note. The note tells of a phantom ghost that has come to town to spread Halloween fun. Once you are Booed, you are challenged to spread the fun within two days by delivering a Boo gift to two neighbors. To ensure everyone gets to be part of the fun, you are also instructed to hang a Boo sign on your door for the rest of the season to let other ghosts know you have already been visited.
Sounds like fun, right? It is.
It is also fun to drive around the neighborhood and see all of the paper ghosts hanging on the doors, more and more appear throughout the month as the Boo is spread.
Plus it is as much fun to deliver the treats as it is to receive them because it is always a challenge to not be seen!
Last week, my daughter and I headed out to look for Halloween supplies. We found tons of great Boo basket treats. Everything was so reasonably priced that I was able to load up our baskets.
What goes into a Boo basket? You can fill your Boo basket with anything. When my daughter was six months old, our thoughtful neighbor included toddler snacks and a plastic pumpkin bowl. I try to tailor our baskets to the family a little bit (making sure there are enough treats for all of the kids in the house). Ideas include:
- Spider rings
- Halloween pencils
- Halloween cups, bowls, etc.
- Halloween note pads
- Glow in the dark stuff
- Halloween jewelry
- Halloween stickers
- Halloween coloring/activity books
- Halloween trinkets/decorations
- Candy
- Free Printable Halloween Word Search
After spending way too much time considering our selections, we finally settled on a basket full of fun treats. Our overflowing baskets cost $7 each and were so much fun to put together.
Part of the Boo tradition is to include the Boo poem and a ghost to be hung on the door. To make Booing a little more fun, I decided to design a cute Boo sign and poem.
To download your free Boo poem and Boo sign, click on the image below. That will bring up a PDF that you can print. Both of the images are sized to fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
Happy Booing!
alicia k (Petite Pilates Pixie) says
oh i like this sign! thanks!
Lisa K says
I love this! I have never heard about it before. I do have 3 young children and this would be really fun to do. I am going to print this up. I think we can have a great time doing this, Thank you for sharing.
Mya Murphy says
I love everything there is to love about Halloween!! These signs are the cutest!!
sarah hirsch says
we got boo’d one year, very fun for the kids
Sharon Rooney says
This is such a cute idea. Thank you for sharing.
carla bonesteel says
Dollar General is one of the only stores in my small town, and I love it! I buy all of my Halloween stuff there.
Susan Smith says
This sounds fun, I had never heard of this before. I can buy a lot of fun Halloween stuff at Dollar General for a little bit of money.
Kamla L. says
I’ve never heard of this before but is like a great fun way to foster neighborhood togetherness.
Michele P says
great ideas! we love Halloween here, and decorating-its just as much fun as going out trick or treating!
Betty Baez says
What a great idea! Sadly i have very few neighbors with children otherwise i would love to do this!
Kimberly Hilbert says
This is such a cute idea! Its nice to get something like this mid-october to start off the fun. That way by the end of the month all of the Halloween stuff is “old” giving Thanksgiving a chance to be fun.
tim says
That is a great idea. We have never been booed.
Kristi says
What an awesome idea! I love how it lengthens the celebration. My sister and I have tried to figure out ways to do this with our Christmas celebrations, but this is the first idea for Halloween – I love it!
Heidi says
This is adorable! I haven’t heard of booing anyone, but I think that it would be a great tradition to start with my girls. They love Halloween, and I think it is wonderful to teach them that it is just as much about giving as it is about getting treats. 🙂
Richard Hicks says
SUch fun! Great way to get kids involved and for all to have a fun bonding time together
Patty White says
I love making these!!! I do every year. Usually I put pencils, erasers, note pads, spider and skull rings, and some kind of candy in mine.
judy gardner says
i have never heard of this before but love it! sounds a little like playing secret santa, which i love to do. half of the fun is picking out items that are personalized for the family! i am going to suggest this for next year at our neighborhhood meeting!
Tanya White says
What a great idea, I have never heard of it before!
Rebecca says
Thank you so much for making this available on your site. We were “Boo-ed” but the sign was pretty lame, so I’m sending along some much cuter signs. Thank you!