Belvidere YMCA hosts special Halloween Carnival

By Kaila Olsen

Reporter

BELVIDERE – Belvidere YMCA CEO, Jen Jacky, threw an excellent Halloween party for kids of all ages to attend.

On Friday, Oct. 23, at 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. kids, teens, and adults were able to play games, get their faces painted, and play in the “imagination station,” in the gym of the Belvidere YMCA. The children and adults who attended the event came in their Halloween costumes. Plus, there was plenty of candy to go around.

The kids had fun with all the games they were able to play. They had giant cards set out in one area for kids to play the memory and match card game with spooky Halloween characters on the cards.

There were rainbow colored dice spread about the entire YMCA gym that were left to the imagination of the children excited to play in their costumes. Some of the smaller kids were tossing them around or stacking them, and some of the older kids were rolling the dice and doing different number games, but all of the adults were watching where they stepped so they wouldn’t trip over one of them.

The YMCA gym had another area set up with buckets in a row. The kids could stand across from the first bucket and try to make into the closest bucket, all the way down to the 6th bucket.

Also, there were two or three different bag toss games set up. Of course, the gym was decorated with spooky Halloween pictures and themes.

Anyone who attended the event was able to get their faces painted by one of two artists. This attraction seemed to have drawn the most fans. People lined up from the tables almost out the door waiting for their turn to get their faces painted.

Some kids got Halloween symbols painted on their checks, and some got masks to match their costumes over their eyes, or even over their entire face. Some people who got their faces painted got bright and colorful pictures, for example, rainbows, hearts, and stars.

Kids six-years-old and younger who attended the Halloween party really enjoyed the “imagination station,” which took up a huge corner of the YMCA gym.

The “imagination station” consisted of big and small blue foam blocks, balls, squares, rectangles, and tubes. The children used the objects to build house-like structures and some even made elaborate paths that a ball could roll through. Others stacked the blocks and made high towers then knocked them down. They had a lot of fun.

“The community and the kids can have fun together,” Jacky said about the event. “We do a series of youth events. Our next event is a Christmas carnival and Christmas parade.”

If you’d like to join the Christmas fun the Belvidere YMCA will host their ‘Carnival for Christmas’ on Dec. 4 from 6 p.m.to 9 p.m. at the Belvidere location. There will be fun events, free Santa pictures, and a parade downtown. These events are sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, and the YMCA.