Monday, October 24, 2011

Los Angeles Kids Off the Couch: Halloween Delights and Frights!

From Old-Fashioned Fun to Techno Frights
Ticket Giveaway for Bring It On: The Musical
Our message for Halloween is that less is more. It's our nod to a simpler time, before the holiday got so ramped up by retailers (just when did those Halloween stores start popping up around town, August!?). We like to stretch out the homier, harvest-oriented traditions of the holiday: roasting pumpkin seeds, decorating cookies, bobbing for apples... you get the idea. It's not that we don't love candy and trick-or-treating, but the lead up to the big night (which this year falls on a Monday) can be just as delicious. 

Ticket Giveaway:
 If your teens were glued to the screen for the high stakes world of competitive cheer-leading in the film Bring It On, you'll want to book tickets for the brief run of Bring It On: The Musical, lifting off from the Ahmanson Theater stage from October 30-November 10.Tickets are still available online and by calling 213/972-4400. Kids Off the Couch subscribers are eligible for a Family 4-Pack ticket giveaway to the 8:30 PM show on Friday, November 4. Write to us at familysavvy@gmail.com and please include your cell number. 

Elegant Creepiness!
 The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles is the place to be this month for cool, spidery programming: flashlight tours of the Spider Pavilion (October 22 and 28 from 5:00 - 8:30 PM), a Halloween Festival (trick-or-treat in the museum on October 30), and a Haunted Museum costume ball for the whole family on October 23. LACMA celebrates the final days of the Tim Burton Show by staying open all night on Sunday, October 30 and until midnight on Halloween, and hosting all manner of family-friendly activities throughout the blockbuster's closing weekend. Tickets are required for entry to the exhibit.

Tots:
 Even if they're not quite ready for Edward Scissorhands, younger kids can participate in LACMA's Andell Family Sundays "Tim Burton: What a Character!" on Saturday, October 23 from 12:30 - 3:30 PM. Fall is the ideal time of year to visit Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena - both for its wonderful Pumpkin Festival over the weekend of October 23-24 and for the Halloween Pumpkin Hunt on Sunday, October 30. Magic lovers should drop by and meet some roving magicians at theSkirball Cultural Center for Spellbinding Sundays, between 12:00 - 2:00 PM. If your youngest are itching for more than just a trip to the pumpkin patch, check out Santa Monica Playhouse's A Halloween Hullabaloo between October 22-30.

Elementary:
 Forneris Farms Harvest Fest is perfect for an old-fashioned outing, offering pumpkin hunting, train and pony rides, and a friendly (as in not haunted) corn maze. Click here for our Popcorn Adventure about visiting Forneris Farms, which we paired with the Halloween classic, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Celebrate the Day of the Dead at a FREE Kids in the Courtyard event at the Fowler on Sunday, October 23 from 1:00 - 4:00 PM.

Middle School: We love the Halloween Harvest Festival at Pierce College (Winetka and Victory in the Valley), which this year added a corn maze and sells produce grown by students. World City at the Music Center has three FREE concerts on the roof of the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday, October 22. Click here for information about show times and ticketing, and for more details on the performances, which tie in neatly with the Day of the Dead celebrations this month. For an unusual art tour atThe Getty, check out Demons, Angels, and Monsters: The Supernatural in Art.Created by kids for kids, the audio tour features imaginative children sharing their impressions of fantastical art that reveals how past cultures have viewed the supernatural, and how belief in such creatures influenced everyday life. All audio tours are FREE at The Getty until February, and are available at the main audio-tour kiosk in the lobby.

Teens:
 The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride is underway on the grounds of the Zoo, but don't confuse it with a bucolic ride in the country - it's definitely not for kids under ten! The theme parks also produce rabid shock-fests for kids over 13 -- Knotts' Scary Farm and Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. With loads of add-ons available, the price tag for these adventures climbs steeply, so be sure your teens know the ticket price is as scary as the ghouls and zombies. For a milder price and scare-level, take inThe Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D at the El Capitan with special effects (fog, wind and snow).

Adults: For an elegant date, try the fabulous Walking Tours of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, hosted by Karie Bible. And, set your DVRs for a new series on PBS calledWomen, War and Peace with stories of bravery and barbarism that will stop your heart from beating. Tune in for tonight's (Oct 18) segment Pray the Devil Back to Hell, featuring one of this year's three Nobel Prize for Peace winners Leymah Gbowee, in the story of how the women of Liberia bound together to fight for peace in a country divided between warlords and the despot Charles Taylor. 

About Scary Movies:
 It's tempting to show kids really scary movies at this time of year, but keep in mind that frightening images can sear into their minds at an early age. KOTC has covered many fun Halloween flicks - from Kiki's Delivery Service toGhostbusters. To help gauge the right level of fright for your kids, check out theseScary Movie Tips from our friends at Common Sense Media.

Kids Off The Couch
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