From social distancing while trick or treating to Halloween alternatives activities that will keep your children so entertained they won’t even miss trick or treating, we have come up with 75 creative ways to celebrate Halloween during COVID that work for everyone, no matter what they feel comfortable with.
Creative Ways to Celebrate Halloween During COVID
Safety should be your number one priority this Halloween, but if you live in an area where the county health department deems it safe, we have gathered together over 15 ways to trick or treat safely during the pandemic (link coming soon). From a candy tube where there is no contact to guidelines for trick or treating in shifts in neighborhoods, we have you covered for safe, social distanced ways to get out there and get that candy!
For those who live in areas that are going throw a spike/surge or you are high risk, but still want to see friends for some sort of Halloween celebration, we came up with over 30 virtual Halloween party ideas. I originally created this list for an elementary school class party, but there are so many creative ideas on there, you will be inspired for any type of virtual Halloween even with that one.
Now if you are looking for some in-person Halloween family fun to try and lessen the blow of not going trick or treating at all this year, I am so excited to share all the creative ways we came up with to celebrate Halloween during COVID. Honestly, I don’t know if just that my kids are so depressed at this point that one more canceled event doesn’t phase them or if these ideas are that good, but they haven’t complained once about not being able to go out trick or treating.
I am just going to pretend it is these 30 fun (but safe!) Halloween activities I came up with! (Combined with the virtual Halloween party ideas and the safe ways to trick or treat for those interested, we now have 75+ ideas for celebrating Halloween during the Covid-19 Pandemic. I say we are definitely winning this round, Corona! ;)
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TRICK OR TREATING AT HOME
Let’s be honest here and admit that our kids really just want the candy on Halloween, so if I figure out a creative way to give them candy and they get to wear their costumes, it is definitely going to lessen the blow of not going out on Halloween this year. If you have an established social bubble of friends or extended family that can join you for these activities, that’s going to make them even more fun.
BYOC: Plan ahead with those families in your social bubble and make sure they have candy on hand. If not, especially if you grandparents who can’t get to the store safely, bring them some of your kids’ favorite candy ahead of time. Get the kids dressed in costume and then drive to the houses of your family and friends in your bubble and trick or treat there.
KNOCK KNOCK: If you only have 1-2 people in your bubble, still go to their house, but plan ahead with them to have your kids trick or treat at multiple doors at their home. Have your kids knock on the front door, the back door, the garage door etc. It would be extra fun if they changed costumes in-between “arrivals”. It takes a really creative person to do that, though, so if you know someone like that, take advantage of it! =)
DOOR DÉCOR: Along the same lines, you can trick or treat at the inside doors at your own house as well if it’s just your family at home. We are doing this but are so excited that we will also be decorating each door (maybe even room?) ahead of time with a theme. We are taking banner paper, construction paper, crepe paper, markers, paint, glue, glitter, Halloween confetti, balloons and stickers to come up with the different themes. The kids will be helping out and we will be using the construction paper to cut out bats and pumpkins, ghosts and other Halloween shapes. I also love the idea of turning the door into a monster like this one:
I will definitely post pictures of what we come up with for our Halloween doors on my Joy in the Works Instagram account if you want to follow along.
DRESS THE PART: If you are going to be doing some version of trick or treating, you might as well go all out and wear costumes too. In fact, for some reason, as compensation for not going outside this year for trick or treating, my kids insisted the adults in the house wear costumes as well. We don’t normally dress up (although I know lots of parents who do!) but mostly that’s just because I can’t get my act together in time to find something to wear! This year though, with all the time we have had during quarantine, I will definitely…still be scrambling. ;) But I made a promise, so I am going to find something to disguise myself! It might end up being one of the kid’s extra small superhero capes, but it will be something!
Speaking of going all out for costumes, if there were ever a year to have fun with your pets and dress them up for Halloween, this is the year. The kids will get such a kick out of Fido wearing a tutu and we all know we need all the extra joy-filled moments we can get right now!
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CANDY
Since there are only so many doors that you can use to replicate regular trick or treating, how about we think about other ways to deliver the goods? The candy is all my kids are after on Halloween at least.
EASTER EGG HUNT: This is the idea I have seen floating around the most this year as people are brainstorming ways to celebrate Halloween safely during the pandemic. Instead of trick or treating outdoors where Covid transmission risk will be high, people have suggested putting Halloween candy in Easter Eggs and hiding them around the house or yard for their kids like they do on Easter morning. I am not sure if people plan to actually drag out the Easter Baskets and use those pastel eggs or if they are purchasing these Halloween colored Easter Eggs. I also found these little plastic pumpkin versions that come apart and I think they are a great option too!
GLOW IN THE DARK: I finally have the perfect occasion to use those glow-in-the-dark Easter eggs I bought a few years back. I was never quite sure how a holiday that was focused on Sunday morning, church and eggs hatching warranted a glow-in-the-dark version, but Halloween sure does! So you can pull out those mini glow sticks that came with the eggs and put them in your mini pumpkins (or Easter eggs) along with candy. My kids love turning off all the lights inside the house and running around with flashlights, so inside or outside would work for this one.
SCAVENGER HUNT: Instead of just having the kids look around the house or the yard for candy filled eggs or pumpkins, why not add printable clues for the kids to solve and search for? This free printable Halloween Scavenger Hunt has clues that can be attached right to the candy and hidden around the house and yard and will bring the Halloween fun up a notch!
HIT IT OUT OF ‘EM: Forget all the effort of solving clues and actually looking for the candy, it should just fall in the kids’ laps! Or on the floor in front of them, as the case may be….But seriously, there is something so satisfying about pounding on a Pinata until the candy comes flying out! There are lots of types of Halloween Pinatas out there- from Pumpkins to Ghosts to Bats. Those are all well and good, but I think there is nothing scarier than the coronavirus this Halloween and I know I am not the only one who would enjoy beating this Coronavirus Pinata!!
CANDY HAUNTED HOUSE: While we normally save this activity until after Halloween so that we have a use for all that leftover candy (We donate some too!), this DIY Graham Cracker Haunted Mansion would make a great family fun project for Halloween night as well. Detailed building instructions are posted on my blog too.
HALLOWEEN FAMILY FUN ACTIVITIES
As fun as all those candy activities sound, at some point you would get a belly ache and would want some alternate ways to celebrate Halloween safely. Here are a few of our favorite Family Fun Halloween Activities:
HALLOWEEN THEMED DINNER: There are some pretty creative Halloween themed dinner ideas out there. Just search Pinterest and you will find anything from Jack-o’-Lantern Quesadillas to Mummy Dogs to Burrito Skulls! Or how about get the kids in on it and they could each make their own mini Halloween pizzas like these:
HALLOWEEN MOVIE NIGHT: If you plan to spend Halloween with anyone outside of your social bubble, this activity might be perfect for you! Plan on setting up an outside movie night in your backyard and invite a few friends that you trust will truly social distance. Of course, you could also do a scary movie marathon inside as well with just your family. Either way, it’s an enjoyable way to watch movies on Halloween. It would also be the perfect time to serve this Zombie Snack Mix too!
HALLOWEEN DANCE PARTY: Put on the song, Monster Mash and learn the dance moves. Or put on any Halloween music and play Freeze Dance. To make it extra exciting, turn off the lights, add flashlights and glow in the dark items to the mix.
HAUNTED HOUSE: Does anyone have a Drive Thru Haunted House near them? (Google it to find out!) I am so jealous if so- it’s such a clever idea! I was thinking we could also just create one haunted room in our house or in the garage- complete with all the cheesy (but oh so important!) cooked spaghetti noodles for brains and peeled grapes for eyeballs.
STORY TIME: You don’t need to go camping to sit around a fire and tell scary stories! (Although sitting around a fire on Halloween sounds great too!) My favorite way to do this is where everyone takes a turn adding to the story as you go around the circle. Or I love the idea of building a fort inside and telling stories in there with a flashlight too. I am not so good with shadow puppets, but adding those to the story in your indoor tent would make the story extra engaging and create wonderful Halloween memories.
DECORATION SCAVENGER HUNT: Every year I see more and more elaborate Halloween yard and home decorations, so I decided it was time to make it into a family fun Halloween activity! Now, just like looking at Christmas lights together, we print out this Neighborhood Halloween Decoration Scavenger Hunt and take a walk around our neighborhood or drive around others to see what we can find.
This year some houses have really gone all out with their Halloween decorations! My family really enjoys this annual activity, especially when we bring along Halloween themed snacks (Boo Mix, Candy Corn Snack Mix or Pumpkin Spice Mix) or treats (Monster Marshmallow Pops or Skeleton Bone Cookies) and play Halloween music to make it even more festive!
PUMPKIN WALK: This would work during daylight hours when people aren’t out and about yet. During the day on Halloween, it would be fun to go on a “Pumpkin Walk” where you could go look at all the different Jack o’ Lanterns on everyone’s front porches. Look for scary faces, funny faces, barfing pumpkins etc Maybe I will make a record sheet at some point to mark off faces as we go!
COOKIE DECORATING: You could simply frost and decorate Halloween cookies as a family activity on Halloween or you could make it extra fun and do a Halloween version of the Family Cookie Wars we did once. Even my teenager had fun with that one.
HALLOWEEN GAME NIGHT: From Halloween Themed Charades to Halloween Pictionary to Halloween Mad Libs to Skeleton Word Guess, there are so many fun Halloween word games that would have everyone laughing the night away.
PUMPKIN PATCH: The Pumpkin Patch seems to be a pretty Covid safe activity because it’s outside and you can easily social distance. If you notice it getting crowded, however, or there are a lot of activities in close quarters or with shared supplies, I would definitely call it day and go hunker down with some fun indoor activities.
PUMPKIN CARVING: It seems silly to even put this on the list since it’s an obvious Family Fun Halloween activity. But just wanted to remind you, depending on the weather where you live, you can carve pumpkins outdoors with various people (even those outside your social bubble) if you just set up multiple tables far enough apart and everyone brings their own supplies and pumpkins to carve. You could even give out pumpkin carving awards afterwards if you want!
I hope this list is enough to get you started or at least gets your creative juices flowing! I would love to hear any ideas you have come up with for celebrating Halloween without doing the traditional Trick or Treating.
However, if you are allowed to go and are planning to go trick or treating among people you don’t know, I have gathered some of the most unique ways you can do it safely! From candy chutes to reverse parades, I can’t wait to share these 15+ ways you can trick or treat while keeping your distance!
Last, if you are only able to connect with family or friends virtually right now, you can still have some fun with Halloween games and activities. These 30+ Virtual Halloween Party Ideas show you and your crew that Halloween can still be enjoyable, even if it has to be virtual.
Combining all of these ideas together gives you 75+ ways to celebrate Halloween during COVID. From virtual party ideas to no contact trick or treating, I am hoping something on these 3 comprehensive lists will inspire you. If so, please share below.
What do you think your kids and family will like the best? Got any ideas of your own that you would like to add? All ideas welcome! =)
Happy Halloween and looking forward to celebrating traditionally with you all next year!
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