31 Fun Activities To Do For Halloween This Year

Are you wondering what to do for Halloween this year? Since traditional trick or treating and large parties are considered high-risk during this pandemic, I’ve come up with 31 things our family can do instead. I’ve been doing a little something every day in October, but you can do several at once, or try to do them all during Halloween weekend. Check with your state’s guidelines to make sure these are safe ways to celebrate in your area…

What To Do For Halloween At Home

1. Spooky (But Not Scary) Family Movie Night

Enjoy an easy night at home with popcorn and a movie (take a look at my Halloween Home Decor post for the supplies you’ll need).

It’s not always easy to find movies that work for kids of all ages, so here are some options that are family-friendly:

The Addams Family (2019) is rated PG. Common Sense Media didn’t give it a great rating, but we thought it was cute and entertaining.

The Addams Family (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993) are rated PG-13, and received better reviews if you’re looking for a “vintage” version!

Hotel Transylvania, where Dracula’s beloved daughter, Mavis marries an ordinary human, is one of our favorite spooky trilogies.

The Harry Potter series isn’t technically Halloween-themed, but there are enough creepy creatures and suspenseful plot lines to add them to our line-up.

The House with A Clock in Its Walls received great reviews, is quite new (2019), and has an A-list cast. (We haven’t seen it yet but it’s on our list!)

The Witches is coming out on October 22nd on HBO Max. It’s based on Roald Dahl’s book.

2. Ghost Story Camp-Out

Prefer to take a break from electronics? Take advantage of the shorter days and longer nights by hosting a ghost story camp-out. Read your favorite stories or make one up together. Huddle around a fire or snuggle in sleeping bags. (And if you’re “indoorsy” like me, finish up before bedtime and sleep in your own cozy bed!)

Add a few spooky lanterns for ambiance!

3. Halloween Board Games

During the lockdown, we re-discovered how much we enjoyed board games like Clue. If you have little ones at home, try a Halloween Dart Board or Halloween Go Fish!

4. Halloween Charades

During the lockdown, we also played a lot of Charades. We have a family of five, so we took turns to play, but if you have a smaller family or want to play with friends, these are both easy to play over Zoom or Facetime! (You can buy a Halloween Charades Game or create your own.)

5. The Gnome In Our Home/Hide And Spook

A few months ago, our teens found an old Elmo toy that I hadn’t had the heart to give away. They started, hiding it in one another’s rooms, in laundry baskets, in bathrooms.

So when I bought this guy he started moving mysteriously through the house (did you know that there was such things as Halloween gnomes?!)

The “game’ is simple, but has kept our family amused all month! Whoever finds the Gnome (or witch, or ghost or whatever Halloween character you choose to hide) hides it somewhere else “in plain sight.”

6. Treasure Hunt Or Scavenger Hunt

If you can’t go out to trick or treat, hide candy in the house with or without clues. If you’re gathering with friends, make it a socially distant treasure hunt, in your back yard.

Family & Friends

7. Ghosting/ Booing

If you haven’t heard of ghosting or booing, you drop off some treats at a friend’s house, with a note for them to then deliver treats to one of their friends.

We usually drop off two bags of treats – you can do more if you like. It’s a nice way to spread the Halloween spirit! You don’t have to include candy – we filled bags for our daughters’ friends with hair scrunchies, crafts, pencils, stickers, and other pre-teen favorites.

8. Cards

We still love receiving an old-fashioned card in the mail, so we’re sending out a few Halloween cards this year. You can:

Dress up in costume and take a family photograph for your cards.

Create your own with craft supplies.

Buy them from a store or order them from Amazon. (Did you know that Amazon has Hallmark cards? I had no idea!)

9. Decorate Your Windows Or Yard

If your state isn’t allowing trick or treating, you can still provide “visual treats” with a creepy front yard, or spooky windows.

Window decals are easy and range from creepy to cute. (We prefer cute, in our house!)

When decorating your yard, think big, so that your neighbors can enjoy your work as they drive or walk by!

10. Trunk Or Treat

If you don’t have time to decorate your house, then decorate your car. Create your own Halloween scene or order a Mad Monster kit from Amazon. This is a perfect activity for day time (especially if you have young kids). Have an adult hand out candy (sanitize or wear gloves) or spread out treats on a table, so that there is less contact from little hands dipping into a bowl.

11. Parade

Since Halloween falls on a weekend this year, take advantage of daylight and organize a costume parade before sunset. It will give you plenty of time to take photographs and admire costumes. At the end of the parade, have a treat bag for each child (if you’re being extra cautious, you can even have each parent provide their own treat bag for their child).

12. Pumkin Carving Competition

You can organize this with your neighborhood, a group of friends, even virtually! Have a deadline, a panel of judges and some sort of prize for the winners.

Halloween Food

Halloween food doesn’t have to mean sugar overload! Here are some ways to make every day meals fun:

13. Witch’s Smoothie Concoctions

Start your day with a purple, green, or brown-black smoothies. For purple, include plenty of blueberries and red raspberries. For green, include baby spinach. Mix the two for a brown-black concoction. Serve them in a skull print glass or other creepy beverage containers!

14. Skull Or Pumpkin Mini Waffles

I keep seeing great reviews of these Dash Mini Waffle/Panini makers. They have a creepy skull one and a cute pumpkin one for Halloween.

15. Halloween Shaped Snacks

If you love Pinterest, as I do, you’ll have seen plenty of creative, delicious Halloween themed snacks there. I’m not a recipe creator, so I’ve saved a few pins that I love, on my Halloween Pinterest board.

Want a few super simple ideas?

1. Peel a clementine, add a stick of celery in the middle (with a few leaves) and you have yourself a tiny pumpkin!

2. Use Halloween shaped cookie cutters for mini sandwiches.

16. Soups And Stews In A Cauldron

Williams Sonoma has a wicked cauldron-shaped serving bowl. Unfortunately, it’s sold out online (at the time of writing) but you may find it at your local store.

Lodge’s 5 Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven has a similar look and can be used year-round.

17. Witches Brew

After dinner, settle down with a cold or warm beverage! This beverage container works for wine or coffee, whatever floats your ghost.

18. Halloween Sweet Treats

No matter what the holiday, I like to celebrate with a sense of humor so I loved these cupcake toppers/fruit skewers:

Maybe you can even create your own with a lollipop stick, paper and a good imagination.

Creative Projects For Halloween

19. Paper Mache Halloween Animals

I bought a Paper Mache Cat and acrylic paints from Target for our daughter who loves arts and crafts. It was a quick, not-too-messy project!

20. Halloween Garlands

You probably don’t know this, but I have a slight obsession with craft punches. This giant spider craft punch is in my cart for a creepy-crawly garland. Just add black paper and string.

21. D.I.Y. Halloween Wreath

I’ve never made a wreath, but I thought it might be fun to make one! I already have a few frames that I picked up at the Dollar Store (you can also find wreath frames on Amazon).

22. D.I.Y. Costume

Remember when we used to make our costumes? No? Okay, I’m totally showing my age. I always liked the idea of buying real clothes that we could use for costumes and wear later (details in this post about Halloween Inspired Outfits.) If you’re staying home this year, it’s a good excuse to buy anything black (witch, skeleton, ghoul, etc) or white (ghosts, mummies) or red (devil).

23. Carved And Painted Pumpkins

Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without some decorated pumpkins, right? Jack ‘O’ Lanterns are the standard, but I’m also seeing some fun painted pumpkins on Pinterest.

24. Painted Rocks

Go on a nature walk, pick out a few rocks or stones. Paint them white, and use a black sharpie to create some ghostly faces.

Tricks To Play On Halloween

Lately, it seems like we all focus on the treat part of Halloween, so here are some ideas for the “tricks”!

25. Bathroom Decals

Spook your roomates or housemates with some spooky toilet decals. Cover the toilet seat with a horrific scene or add a cute little monster to the tank.

26. Cover A Doorway With Stretchy Spider Web

I don’t usually buy disposable decorations for Halloween, but I couldn’t resist a little stretchy spider web.

27. Scattered Spiders

Scatter those craft punch spiders (or plastic ones if you have them) on the bathroom floor, into a drawer, inside shoes, or anywhere unexpected.

28. Gummy Worm Cupcakes

Hide some gummy worms inside a cupcake, by carefully slicing off the top, curling a gummy worm or two, and replacing the top. If you’re baking them yourself add some extra frosting to hide where you cut it. (don’t try to bake the gummy worms into the cupcake – they’ll melt!)

29. Creepy Window Decal

Hide a scary peeper decal to your window, and draw your curtains.

30. Zombie Meatball Eyes

If you’re having pasta and meatballs for dinner, melt some cheese circles on them (use a mini cookie cutter and sliced cheese) with a slice of black olive in the center of each one. It won’t take much much to see the pasta sauce as blood and the pasta as brains!

The Bright Side Of Halloween

31. Little Things That Make A Big Impact

If there’s one positive thing that I’ve heard about this pandemic, it’s that we’re all focusing a bit more on quality than quantity. When you have a smaller group to entertain, you can make any holiday a little more special.

Make a Halloween-themed meal. Invent your own family Halloween tradition (my husband likes to read The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, each year). Create your own Halloween cocktail or mocktail and only drink it that night.

This year will be much different from our usual night of running from door to door, but the bright side for us is that we can choose the treats: oranges and apples, and maybe some broccoli….just kidding.

Let me know how you’re celebrating Halloween!