When it comes to spooky fun there’s lots you can do to celebrate Halloween at home.
Of course the number one activity we always associate with Halloween is going out trick or treating.
While I only recall trick or treating a couple of times as a child, I’ve taken my kids a few times now and they absolutely love it.
The biggest excitement for them is collecting the sweets, but there’s also something fun about being out after dark.
The effort some people put into their incredible Halloween decorations is also amazing to see. There are some seriously creative pumpkin carvers out there!
If you are planning a celebration at home this year, and are wondering what to do instead of trick or treating then have no fear.
Here are 15 simple ways to celebrate Halloween at home with your family.
This post contains affiliate links.
Things to do on Halloween at home
1. Host a virtual Halloween party
Can’t get friends and family together for a Halloween party? Host a virtual Halloween party instead.
You can set up a Zoom call lasting 40 minutes with up to 100 participants. If you want the call to go on longer, just schedule a second call for right after the first one to carry on the fun.
During a virtual party you could have a Halloween quiz, show off your costumes and give a (virtual) prize to whoever has the best one and have a virtual trick or treat.
Mars has launched its own virtual trick or treating platform this year.
You could also try giving out virtual treats between participants via email, such as vouchers for sweets.
2. Paint everyone’s faces
You can get face paints at your local supermarket or online at Amazon.
It could be turned into a game if you each take it in turns to paint someone’s face, then you have to guess what or who they are supposed to be.
3. Have a Halloween candy hunt
This is much like an Easter hunt. Hide candy all over your house and garden then get the kids to find it.
4. Carve a pumpkin
It cannot be Halloween without pumpkin carving! Little hands can’t do certain elements of the carving as your knife needs to be super sharp, but they can scoop out all of the insides of the pumpkin.
Alternatively try a no-carve pumpkin idea. I have a really fun one for a rainbow no-carve pumpkin over on this post.
5. Dance to Halloween tunes
Put your stereo on and pump out some top Halloween night tunes. Dance to the Ghostbusters theme tune and the Monster Mash.
6. Watch scary movies
Choose some spooky movies that are appropriate for the whole family and have a movie scare-athon.
Some films that are appropriate for all ages with a Halloween theme include:
- Monsters Inc (2001)
- Casper (1995)
- Super Monsters Save Halloween (2018)
- Room on the Broom (2012)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – most appropriate for ages seven and over
- Frankenweenie (2012)
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
7. Decorate your house
Challenge your kids to cut out bat shapes from black cardboard to hang from the ceiling.
You could also make your own spiders uses black pipe cleaners. There’s a great tutorial for how to make one with your kids here.
You could just decorate your house to have a fun party together as a family or create a spooky maze through your own home.
Think up a few surprises you can put behind closed doors for your kids to discover.
8. Enjoy some Halloween crafts
If you’re a parent who’s not so great with doing crafts from scratch – like me – then Baker Ross do some brilliant Halloween craft kids.
Whatever your kids make can then be used to decorate the house.
There are also some fab free Halloween colouring pages you can download from the Crayola website.
Plus there are some wonderful spider crafts over on The Best Ideas for Kids.
Find more Halloween craft ideas here, plus Halloween party ideas for kids here.
9. Play Halloween games
You could try apple bobbing – which is great for the autumnal season.
Or try a blind-folded sensory game where people have to feel what’s in the bowl and guess what it is. Things you could try include jelly, slime or cooled spaghetti.
There are also Halloween party game kits you can grab online like this version of pin the tail on the donkey.
There are 40 DIY Halloween party games over on this post.
10. Wrap the mummy
Get some toilet roll and wrap it around a member of the family to make them look like a mummy.
This one is great fun and it keeps my kids occupied for ages whenever we play it.
11. Have a Halloween feast
Bake cupcakes with Halloween decorations – you could buy some to add to the icing or make you own. Colour your icing black or green for a really dramatic look.
There are some great Halloween food ideas for kids on this post from Woman’s Day.
12. Make Halloween cookies
Get some cookie cutters shaped as spooky characters like ghosts and witches and mix up a batch of cookies. There’s an easy biscuit recipe over on this post.
Then get some icing and Halloween sprinkles to decorate them. There are some good ideas for decoration on Good Housekeeping or BHG.
You could also try these cool Halloween Rice Krispies treats.
13. Make DIY costumes
If you’re any good at sewing or crafty with fabrics then this could be a great fun activity to do on Halloween.
There are some great DIY costume ideas on Pinterest or this post on Motherly.
14. Read spooky stories
There are tons of brilliant Halloween books to choose from. Have a spooky story session. You could try building a den, drawing the curtains and reading the books with just a torch or very low light to set the creepy mood.
These are some great Halloween books for kids (these picks are mainly for toddlers to early primary school years):
How to Make Friends with a Ghost
15. Mix witch potions
This is a really simple activity but it keeps my kids happy for ages. Its best to do when it’s still light outside.
Send your kids outside into the garden to gather a list of ingredients. This could include a twig, three different types of leaves, some grass, a pebble and some petals.
Now tell them to put the ingredients into a jar. Now top it up with some water – to make this bit extra fun why not add some food colouring to the water? Green would work great for Halloween.
Now get your kids to stir their potion just like a witch. You could give them some witch hats to wear while doing this too.
Halloween at home
I hope these ideas have given you some inspiration for what to do on Halloween at home!
Get creative and have a spook-tacular time!
