The air is getting crisp, the days are getting shorter, so it’s a good time to plan a cozy and entertaining evening at home with the kids. Make some popcorn or grab a bag of candy corn and settle in for a family friendly movie night with some All Hallows Eve favorites!

It wouldn’t quite be Halloween without a visit from the crew of the beloved, classic comic strip, Charles Shultz’s Peanuts. Gather your friends, don your costumes and enjoy the excitement of Halloween night with everyone’s favorite beagle, Snoopy, in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (1966) (PG). This classic brings back memories, from apple bobbing to your first costume party! Come along with Charlie Brown and “The Red Baron,” or sit it out with Linus in the pumpkin patch as he waits for the magical, wonderful “Great Pumpkin!” This all-time favorite has been re-mastered and re-released on DVD!

Boys and “ghouls” alike will enjoy several episodes of haunting fun with the good and caring “Casper” the friendly ghost, in Casper Saves Halloween (1979) (NR). In this collection of vintage cartoons, Casper rises to the occasion of Halloween by helping out trick-or-treaters and embarking on adventures with his friends Harry Scary, Minnie and Maxie. Some of the classic episodes included on this Halloween compilation DVD include The Impossible Scream, Love at First Fright and Fatula. 

For the entertainment of “little monsters” everywhere, there’s a good tale for creatures of all sorts! Monsters, Inc. (2001) (G) tells the story of two hard-working monsters who, though terribly scared of children themselves, harness energy for the monster city in which they live from the frights they give little kids. When a toddler somehow comes back to town with them, their monster world turns upside down, as they try to return the girl back to her rightful place!

If you love Halloween, but you sometimes get tired of the same old thing, you’ll enjoy Tim Burton’s modern classic The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) (PG). When Jack Skellington, the “Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town, ventures out and discovers that there’s more to life than screams and spooking, he decides to try it out by kidnapping and taking the place of a jolly fat man in a red suit who brings presents to kids in Christmas Town! Will he realize the scary consequence of what he’s done before it’s too late?

Any girl who’s ever wished for a “fairy godmother” to set things right when her Halloween plans have gone awry will enjoy a double feature of Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular (2004) (NR) and Scary Godmother 2: Jimmy’s Revenge (NR), both available on DVD. Based on the books written by Jill Thompson, the animations tell tales of what it’s like to have such a nice “scary” Godmother on your side to get even with your adversaries and take you out to parties on Halloween night!

Join the crowd on the couch for a night of eerie family entertainment. You’ll have so much fun it will be scary! 

Happy Halloween!