Halloween Special

Take a look at some of the events and programs our libraries ran in honor of the spookiness that is Halloween!

A Haunting in Westhampton

The librarians at Westhampton ran an event after library hours on Saturday, October 25th that was sure to scare their patrons! Head of Teen Services Amelia Williams writes, "We had over twenty teen volunteers who earned community service for the day and over 160 patrons walk through the haunted house. We had representatives from Hope House in Port Jefferson collect voluntary donations to help troubled teens. Through the duration of the event, the charity collected about $100." For more photos of the event check out the library's Facebook page! Also, take a look at the video below that they made to promote the event!

Zombie Survival in South Huntington

In a time where the zombie apocalypse could be right around the corner the librarians at South Huntington decided they needed to prepare. They ran an after hours event on Friday, October 24th called S.I.T.E. Z.E.R.O. [Survival Instincts Training Event: Zombie Epidemic Response Operation] : Zombie Survival Training. This is how they marketed the event:

"As a public service to the community, the library will be offering this training session to help patrons in grades 6 through 12 hone skills that may one day be useful in the event of a cataclysmic zombie outbreak. Participants will choose gear from the NERF arsenal and review survival strategies before moving in teams through the library after closing. Teams will have to then search for vital information, survivors, and resources stashed among the book stacks, all while avoiding the hordes of zombies scattered all across the library. There will be snacks and activities in the staging area between excursions to keep potential zombie hunters sharp. The lessons learned at S.I.T.E. Z.E.R.O. may just save your life…" 

Creepy Crafts in Quogue

Sugar Skull T-Shirts

Head of Children's and YA Services Lonna Theiling said this was really easy and fun. All you need are plain T-shirts, sharpies, alcohol, and pipettes. After downloading a few sugar skull templates she printed them out and shared them with her tweens. They then drew whichever skull they so desired and once they were finished they would use the pipette to drop alcohol around the edges of the art. They even snuck in some STEM by asking the tweens why they thought the alcohol did this to the marker! To speed up the drying process a blow-dryer was used! 

Ink Monsters

Kids, tweens and teens all enjoyed this creative craft! All you need is some card stock, a bottle of ink, and some straws! The patrons dropped some ink on the paper and then blew it out in different directions with three different sized straws. They spoke about the effect the air had on the ink as it traveled and how the different sizes made different shapes. After they practiced with the straws' pressure they took it up a notch by using compressed air dusters (usually used for keyboards) to spread the ink! The patrons were able to take their art home in a frame with Halloween scrap booking details! The ages ranged from 5 to 12-years-old.