Its everyone's favorite time of the year again, or at least my households favorite time of the year. No matter if you celebrate Halloween, All-Hallows-Eve, Samhain or something else, everyone loves the spooky festivities this holiday has to offer. But sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to decide just how you want to celebrate, so here's a list of fifty activities you can do with your little witches, and goblins.
1. Carve a Pumpkin
The most common and perhaps the most complex item on this list but easily the most memorable.
Carefully cut a circle out of the top of the pumpkin large enough to fit your hand through.
Scoop out all the pulp and seeds from the center and place them on a cooking tray for a tasty snack later (see #2) , draw your desired face on the outside using a using a marker or whatever is convenient for you. Alternatively, you can buy a pumpkin carving kit at Walmart, Dollar Tree or on Amazon Here
Then carefully carve out the features you have drawn. Or paint them on if your little one is too little to be around a knife.
Place a candle, electric tea light, or glow stick inside to create an eerie glow.
2. Make Baked Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds are a very healthy (depending on the recipe) snack and incredibly easy to make. They're sure to become a household favorite in no time.
Directions
Step 1 Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Larger seeds may take longer.
Step 2 Separate your pulp from your seeds and rinse seeds
Step 3 In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Step 4 ENJOY!
Note: there are literally thousands of pumpkin seeds recipes, a quick Google search will help you find which one is right for you and your family.
3. Make Your Own Halloween Masks
This year, make your own Halloween mask using this simple technique:
Trace both your handprints on to cardboard or on the inside of an old cereal box.
Cut them out and paint them.
Cut out an eye from the palms and then glue the two handprints together, allowing them to overlap a little bit.
Embellish the mask using sequins, glitter, feathers, buttons or anything else you can find at home.
Glue a straw to the side to act as a handle for your fabulous mask.
4. Take a Spooky Fieldtrip
There are tons of spooky attractions around you, head to your local downtown or museum and see what is there. Make it educational and fun! Maybe even play some Pokémon Go and catch some ghosts together.
5. Make Halloween Cookies
No matter if you buy the premade "slice and bake" ghost cookies from Walmart or you make them from scratch baking together as a family is a fun activity. Just turn on a spooky playlist on YouTube or Spotify and then get to baking!
6. Tell Some Scary Stories
You can choose to write them down or sit in a circle with a flashlight on your face.
7. Make some Halloween Playdoh Creations.
Make some ghosts, goblins, vampires, and witches with playdoh and see who can make the best spooky creations. You can buy some Halloween cookie cutters here
8. Make a Haunted House
Turn your living room into a "Haunted House" and have some friends over for some spooky games and goodies.
9. Mr. Skeleton Where’s Your Bone
One child (Mr. Skeleton) stands in the middle of the circle of children with eyes closed. With 24 children, I’d suggest having 3 or 4 Mr. Skeletons at a time in the middle of the circle with 3 or 4 bones passed out. Let the skeletons take turns guessing.
The children chant: Mr. Skeleton where’s your bone? Somebody stole it from your home. Guess who? Maybe you! Maybe a ghost from Kalamazoo Now Mr. Skeleton find your bone!
While they are chanting the leader hands a “bone” to one of the children. Make the bone out of cardboard for a bonus activity! All the kids then put their hands behind their backs and then Mr. Skeleton opens his or her eyes. He or she then guesses who has the bone (you can either give three guesses and then they has to be Mr. Skeleton again if they guess wrong or you can let them guess until they succeed). The person who had the bone now becomes Mr. Skeleton.
10. Halloween Charades
Divide into teams (or play individually and keep score) and act out Halloween words or characters (Like Frankenstein's monster or Dracula) for your family to guess.
11. Make a Magic Wand
You can use an old stick, a pen, or a pencil really the possibilities are limitless. Glue some sequins, fake crystals or whatever you want onto the wand. Remember the wand is yours and you're and you can do anything with it. Now if you'd like a more Professional looking wand you can find some on Etsy or you can buy some from my good friend at Magical Moon Trinketz
12. Pumpkin Balance Game
Purchase some small baby pumpkins or get some Orange balloons and draw lines on it for this game.
Use easy to remove tape to mark a line on the floor.
Ask the participants to walk the line with one foot in front of the other while balancing a pumpkin on their head.
Bonus: have other participants trying to scare them while they walk the line
13. Halloween Punch
There are tons of recipe's for punch on the internet. Here's a list of our favorites.
14. Apple Bobbing
Bobbing for apples is perhaps one of the oldest and most fun fall activities there is. The concept is simple you get a large tub or trough (I've even seen people use their bathtubs) and you fill it full of cold water and dump some apples (or any other fruit you want) in and then people have to try to get them out using only their mouths.
15. Have a Spooky Fashion Show
Dress up in your spookiest costumes or make some up on the spot using toilet paper or whatever else you can think of and show off your spooky talents. ( Save the photos to make a scrapbook later )
16. Make Some Slime
You knew this one would have to be on the list somewhere. No matter how hard parents try to get away from it, there is just no getting away from making slime. All you need is some glue, borax, food coloring, and water and then in Nickelodeon style green slime time!
17. Spookolympics
Have a series of games that have a Halloween theme for your kiddos to compete in. Give out prizes for first, second and third place to each event’s winners. Award a grand prize to the contestant that wins the most events. Here’s a few ideas:
Throwing bags of sweets into the top of pumpkins from a few feet away.
Bob for apples.
Halloween Trivia
Balancing "eyeballs" on a spoon in their mouths
18. Get Outside and Go for a Walk
I know Covid-19 has gotten most people spooked to go outside, but trust me its worth it to see the changing leaves, admire the full moon when it gets dark, or just to see all the decorations your neighbors have put up for Halloween.
19. Ghost Bowling
Paint some used water or soda bottles white and once dry add faces to them using a black marker making them look like "ghosts"
Fill the empty bottles with some sand or pebbles so that we won’t fall over easily.
Divide into teams and using small pumpkins try to bowl the “ghosts” over.
20. Have a Spooky Scavenger Hunt.
Do this in your own home if they're little, but if they're a little older go around town and try to find the items while you're trick-or-treating.
21. Pin the Face on Frankenstein
Create an image of a Green head and Black hair
Cut out eyes, nose, mouth, scars, ears and neck bolts
Blindfold and get each child to pin the face on one at a time
22. Coloring Books
Print of some Halloween coloring pages and see who can make the best Halloween crayon or colored pencil image.
23. Time to Read
Get together and read some spooky or Halloween themed books. At the school I went to we had this same old book about a little pumpkin that we read every year as part of our school tradition. What book can you read with you kids every year? Here's a good list of books to choose from:
24. Have a Harry Potter Baking Party
We've all wished we could have some butter beer or pumpkin pasties while watching the films, and the good news is YOU CAN! Here is a good list of recipes to look at over on allrecipes
15 Harry Potter-Inspired Recipes So Magical You'll Think You’re at Hogwarts
25. Its a Wrap!
You will need at least one roll of toilet paper per team (two would be even better)
Divide the children into teams of 3.
One child to be the mummy and the others to wrap them up with the toilet roll.
You could either make it a race to see how fast you use up the roll or judge by how covered up the mummy is.
26. Get Howling With Some Halloween Jokes
Dad is probably going to win this one, but see who can come up with the corniest Halloween jokes. The winner will be named the Jester of Halloween.
27. Make Some Witch's Brew
Pour 5 cups of apple juice into a large saucepan. Add a few slices of lemon, 2 small sliced apples and a few cinnamon sticks and heat gently for 10mins. Pour in a liter of ginger ale and heat for another 3-4mins and your witches’ brew is ready to serve. Or come up with your own brew!
28. GO TRICK OR TREATING!
It doesn't matter if you go to your neighborhood, a different neighborhood, just to your family's house, or go trunk or treating at the local church. Just whatever you do dress and and go get some of that sweet delicious candy!
29. Ghost Poop Relay Races
Mark a starting line using the easy to remove tape.
Put a candy bowl or cauldron at the start line and the finish line for each team. Fill the 2 starting line buckets with packing peanuts (ghost poop) and lay a spoon next to or in each bowl.
The first child on each team will pick up one “poop” and place it on their spoon, they will carefully walk their peanut to the finish line. They are not to hold the poop on the spoon, but if they do drop it, then they may use their hand to pick it up and put it back on the spoon and continue on. Once they get to the finish line they are to drop the poop in their bucket and walk back to their team, handing the spoon back to the next person in line and the first child will go to the back of the line.
The winning team will be the one that transfers all the ghost poop first.
30. Get Batty!
Make these simple, cute egg carton bats as follows:
Separate 3 cups from an egg carton.
Cut out part of the bottoms of the 2 outside cups to resemble bat wings.
Add googly eyes, a mouth, and decorate.
Hang it from a string or a rubber band.
31. Go to a Haunted House
Support you local economy and go see the local haunted house. Ask around and see if there are any kid friendly haunted attractions as well.
32. Make some Spooky Homemade Halloween Decorations
It can be ghost paper chains, balloon ghosts, Pool noodle skeletons or anything else you can think of just be creative and have fun! After you've made some creative decorations, be sure to share a picture on our Facebook page Thrifty Dad Creations
33. Go to a Corn Maze
These seem to be shrinking in numbers in recent years, so be sure to support your local corn maze and go have fun getting lost and muddy!
34. Make Some Popcorn Balls
Place popcorn in a large baking pan; keep warm in a 200° oven.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 235° (soft-ball stage).
Remove from the heat. Add the butter, vanilla and food coloring if desired; stir until butter is melted. Immediately pour over popcorn and stir until evenly coated.
When mixture is cool enough to handle, quickly shape into 3-in. balls, dipping hands in cold water to prevent sticking.
35. Go Halloween Costume Shopping
Whether you have your costume or not, you can't deny how fun it is to go the Halloween store and check out all the amazing costumes they have for you to try on!
36. Have a Movie Marathon
Grab your freshly made popcorn balls, Halloween cookies and Witch's brew cuddle up on the couch and watch your favorite Halloween movies. You can choose to stream on Fandango, or Vudu, or watch you favorite Disney classics on Disney+ or you can pop in a DVD no matter how you choose to movie just make sure its a good one!