Creativity is a staple at Ranch Halloween festivities.

The words ‘homemade’ and ‘Halloween’ go hand-in-hand at Kruzeniski House. Each year, unit managers and youth care workers work with the kids to make their costume fantasies a reality, using easy-to-find items like cardboard and paint.

Unit managers and youth care workers really make a point to pump up the holiday, so Halloween becomes a very exciting time for Ranch clients.

This year, clients and staff at Kruzeniski got started building costumes in September. Making costumes from scratch rather than purchasing them makes the experience more meaningful for the youth and allows them to stretch their creative muscles.

While building the costumes is undoubtedly an exercise in creativity, it also incorporates the Ranch’s cornerstones of treatment – work, recreation and education are all combined, in a holiday-themed mash up of fun that hardly feels like a “job”.

In past years youth have decided to dress up like Yu-Gi-Oh characters – anime-style cartoon characters made popular by trading cards and television alike that are often recognizable by their large, spiked hair.

What does one do when they don’t naturally have large, spiked hair? Create it out of cardboard and spray paint, of course.

But the costumes aren’t the end of the line on October 31st– the younger trick-or-treaters head out to gather candy in the neighbourhood. The older clients stay home during the trick-or-treat portion of the evening to hand out candy to other children who may stop by the house, but once everyone is home, the fun continues with a Halloween-themed party for youth and staff alike.