The end of the year is fast approaching. Year 12 students are beginning to chew their nails with the thought of exams and I’m counting the days until Christmas (we’re under the 100-day-mark, it’s not unreasonable).

One of my favourite things about the end of the year when I was at school was the end of year activities – letters to Santa, macaroni Christmas ornaments and those paper lanterns with cellophane panes. Now that I’m older and have run out of room on the tree for macaroni decorations, I have a new Christmas tradition, which is a 12 days of Christmas movies countdown, ranging from the whimsical (Home Alone) to unusual (Nightmare Before Christmas).

Had my high school teacher booked Tim Bain to run a horror themed filmmaking workshop I may have beaten Tim Burton to the post and created the Nightmare Before Christmas myself. Tim (Bain not Burton) is available now to run filmmaking workshops with secondary students (and specialises in spooky).

If you’re a teacher looking for a fun way to end the year, an unusual workshop is it (and will potentially encourage students to buy you a lovely Christmas present). Anthony Lawrence (of plasmotv fame) can make an animated short in a workshop with students. If you’re not convinced, check out his works here.

Or HJ Harper, one of Booked Out’s latest additions turns book trailers into something else with her haunted horror puppet theatre. These handmade creations are given plenty of stagetime as they act out shorts from all the latest releases in scary fiction. To make your own haunted theatre and book trailer contact us for more info on booking HJ.

• Bec Kavanagh, Booked Out.