A Halloween to Remember
This Halloween will be one to remember. It will be one for the books. But not because of the best costumes idea, or the best candy, or because the house down the street had the most awesome decorations of all time. This Halloween will be one to remember because for many kids it won’t be happening. Well, at least not as it has in the past. Some kids will still go out trick-or-treating, but many won’t. Mine included. I’m having a hard time stomaching the concept, but the alternative could be so much worse. And what’s one year without Halloween, I mean in the grand scheme of things? So,because my kids can’t go out trick-or-treating, I’m making a list of all the trick or treat alternatives you can do to keep your kids busy and happy on the big day.
As a bonus, Halloween is on a Saturday this year, so you can choose to make a full day out of it.
7 Trick or Treat Alternatives
1. Watch A Halloween Movie
Turn off the lights in the house, make a big pile of popcorn, or better yet, dump that box of candy that was to be given out to trick-or-treaters into a bowl, and mow down on treats while watching a Halloween movie. In case you’re looking for some kid-friendly movies, here are some titles that are worth a watch (Sorry to all the horror movie folks, but I’m not listing those here)
- Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005)
- The Addams Family (2019)
- Toy Story of Terror (2014)
- Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest (2013)
- Hotel Transylvania (1, 2, or 3 will work)
- Coraline (2009)
- Casper (1995)
- Hocus Pocus (1993)
and the last of my favorites, that people may argue is not really a Halloween Movie:
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
You can search for details about all of these movies an more here.
2. Candy Hunt in The House/Backyard
Similar to an Easter Egg hunt, but using Halloween candy, you can hide candy around the house and back yard and have the kids go hunting for it. You can have your kids dress up in their Halloween costumes to hunt for the candy all dressed up.
3. Halloween Costume Dress-up Day
This might take a bit more effort, but have a full day of wearing different costumes. Wear a different costume for breakfast, then change up for lunch and wear something different during the day. At my house, we have lots of dress-up outfits so the kids will have a blast. I’m sure that after the second or third costume they’ll get bored for a while, but by the end of the day, they’ll be back on board. And it’s not Halloween without wearing costumes.
4. Bake Halloween Goodies
Bake up a storm with cupcakes and cookies and decorate them in Halloween Designs! And of course, once you’re done, eat them all up! (well, maybe not all… but it is a special day, so why not?)
5. Virtual Halloween Party
Set a time and invite all the kids’ friends to a virtual Halloween Party. Have them all dress up in their costumes and spend some time being silly using Zoom, or Teams, or Skype or whatever other virtual tools you have. The kids will have a blast.
And after the party, you can always call up some family members (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) and have them share in the joy as well! My family always gets a kick out of seeing the kids in costume, so there’s no point in canceling that photo-op for them!
6. Enjoy The Full Moon
Not only is this Halloween on a Saturday, but it’s also a full moon! Go outside after it’s dark and enjoy the evening outside under the light of the full moon!
7. Carve your pumpkins
If you haven’t done it yet, you can carve your pumpkin on Halloween. You have the whole day for it, so you might as well make the day full of Halloween activities, and carving the pumpkins is always fun!
What will you do this year?
At my house, we’ll be doing a combination of all of the above trick or treat alternatives. But most importantly, we’ll be spending time together safely.
What will you do? Let me know in the comments below!
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If you liked this list, be sure to check out my Outdoor Fall Activities list found here
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This year Halloween movies for sure! Maybe a Halloween movies night with friends via zoom or something? 🙂
I love watching Halloween movies, especially Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown. I love how you added to have a candy hunt in the yard, too! I think kids would love this, and you could make it similar to an Easter egg hunt, but put the candy in fun little Halloween baggies or boxes. Thanks for sharing these ideas!
Halloween is my FAVE holiday with Hocus Pocus being my fave movie. Thanks for the ideas!
Nice ideas. loved the concept of Halloween goodies.
I think we will make a day of it. A fall scavenger hike, carving pumpkins, halloween themed baking, a halloween hunt in the yard followed by a movie before bed. Great ideas, Katherine!
Halloween is my favorite occasion of the year and we’re still planning on decorating the house and watching scary movies.
Some great ideas here! I’d add in a neighbourhood pumpkin hunt, we’re doing one in my neighbourhood. We made up maps of which houses will have pumpkins hidden in the front gardens and the kids have to go find them all in their costumes, it’s gonna be fab!
My kids are older this year, so no trick or treating for us. I bought tons of good candy and we’ll be having a movie night.
One of my favourite Halloween activities has always been pumpkin carving. It’s so much fun! We have been running an annual fundraiser at my house to collect for the food bank and last year, we carved over 30 pumpkins before Halloween night. It was SO much fun. With the current restrictions, we aren’t holding the same event this year (can’t have people gathering with live music, hot chocolate, etc.) so we aren’t going quite as crazy with the decorating… That being said, there are still going to be a few pumpkins (at least)