As someone who loves all things October, Halloween, and spooky, the fact that we are STILL in the middle of a pandemic is killing me. I held on to the idea of trick or treating for a very long time… honestly I only abandoned it a few days ago. But eventually, I did give in. There are ways to do this with precaution, but a little candy just isn’t worth the risk. I have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, chances are they won’t even remember missing 1 year of trick or treating. If nobody mentions it, my daughters won’t even know that it’s Halloween, so I can really make my own rules this year.
Instead of going out, we have decided to throw a small Halloween themed house party with my in-laws to entertain our children instead. We are still wearing costumes, consuming an unhealthy amount of sugary snacks, and spending time with each other, which is really the crux of Halloween.
If you still desire to spend the time, money, and effort into celebrating Halloween this year here are a few options. I do agree with the sentiment that our children have had to make enough sacrifices this year. There have been sports seasons, in-person school, birthday parties, and much more that the kiddos have been forced to miss out on. This is why I’m doing the work to make sure we still have a great, memorable Halloween while being safe and responsible.
What to do Instead of Trick-or-treating this Year
Candy Hunt
This is probably the most popular idea I am seeing around online. Parents are filling plastic Easter eggs with Halloween candy and hiding them for a spooky-themed candy hunt. This is a great activity for children aged 2-10. Hiding the eggs outside in your backyard is a great way to spread this activity out and help your kids burn some energy by running around. If the weather or space does not permit, you can also do this easily indoors and still have a lot of fun. Your kids will be able to fill their buckets with candy while staying safe and healthy at home. If you are like me and cannot find any pumpkin or Halloween specific plastic eggs, you can always turn this into another DIY by drawing spooky faces on the colorful eggs yourself!
Trick or Treating Indoors
This is something that I came up with on my own, bare with me as I flesh out the details. This idea will work best if you are having a gathering with multiple adults. If you kids want to get the feeling of going door to door, but without actually leaving the house, you can try trick-or-treating indoors. Basically, each adult at the party grabs a bowl of candy and closes themself in a room, or closet, in the house. The children will then go door to door, knocking and saying ‘trick or treat’ to receive candy. It’s silly but it can be really fun! You could decorate the doors with Halloween decor, fake home address numbers, and get your kids all dressed up for the indoor occasion. This idea reminds me of the mall trick or treating that we did in the midwest to avoid the often inclement weather on Halloween night.
Monster Mash
Throwing a Halloween party with the families in your bubble is a great alternative to trick or treating. Many families did this prior to the pandemic so this will be a natural choice for many people. Of course, you should play Halloween themed party games like pin the nose on the killer clown, musical chairs, hide and seek in the dark (with flashlights!), or bowling with monster pins. You can even hold a costume contest! Your guests could come in store-bought costumes or you can get creative and make them with things found around the house. I wrote a few blogs on how to create a power ranger and Chucky doll costume with simple supplies. The options are endless!
Scary Movie night
Apps like Netflix & HBO have a large selection of family-friendly spooky movies if you’d like to have a scary movie night with your little ones. Or you could just watch Hocus Pocus for the 99th time this month. That’s fine too! I would recommend you make popcorn and still decorate your home for the occasion. If you still want to give your children sugary treats, you could make a Boo Basket, which is basically a Halloween themed Easter basket. Dollar Tree and Target offer great, inexpensive items to fill them with. For younger children, you could do fruit, coloring books, and small toys. For older kids candy, themed socks, and other fun items.
Those are my ideas, hopefully, you are able to come up with something great! We all deserve to have fun and relax, even if the world is a dumpster fire.
Happy Halloween!!
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I love the idea of a hunt , I plan to do something like this at a part for Kai! Thanks for these ideas ! We will probably be watching a movie as well
I love all of these ideas! Just wearing costumes and seeing the decorations will definitely get them in the spirit. And your activities will make the night amazing! This is so good
The egg hunt! I’m searching Amazon after I submit my comment for plastic eggs lol When my sisters and I were younger, my parents and grandmother created a “trick-or-treat” indoors for us! I remember how fun it was with the lights off in the house going door-to-door. We had flashlights and everything. That idea isn’t silly at all. I decided not to take my kids trick-or-treating this year so having fun ideas like this is a must. Great post!
hey Whitney! Try party city for your eggs, that’s where I got mine. and thanks! I’ll have to remember to get flashlights for ours!