10 Home Halloween Ideas

Whether the pandemic has you staying home this year for Halloween or something else, you don’t have to completely sacrifice your Halloween festivities for your kids. This is the perfect opportunity for you to get those creative juices flowing to throw an unforgettable Halloween for your family.

Some of the ideas below are more involved than others. Choose the ones that work best for you, or come up with your own ideas as well. While it may take a little more work and planning than just going to the store to buy a big bag of candy, a Halloween at home can be one of your child’s most memorable ever.

1. Hide candy inside and outside (like at Easter)

One of the simplest ideas is to take a bag of candy and hide the candy around the house for the kids to find it. Similar to what the Easter bunny does each year, you’re simply putting candy out for your kids to run around and find. Kids love the excitement of finding hidden treasures.

If you’re in a home with a yard, and the weather permits, then you can hide candy both inside and outside. Since kids likely already have a Halloween basket, all you’ll need is some candy for them to find. Why don’t we already do this every Halloween?

2. Scavenger hunt

Kids love randomly walking around and finding things, but they love to follow clues to find things even more. A scavenger hunt is the perfect way to get their minds working while they look for their candy and treats.

A scavenger hunt is a bit more work and preparation as you have to come up with clues, hide the treats and next clues, and prepare it all in advance. If your kids are younger, this is a bit easier. You don’t have to be super clever with your clues, but as your kids grow older they will appreciate any cleverness that you can muster.

3. Trick or treat at all your doors

If you have more than one door in your home, you can set up each door for your kid(s) to trick or treat at. They can go to each door multiple times, and still collect way too much candy as is tradition on Halloween.

To make this really unique, you can make each door have its own special theme, and you can even switch costumes in between each door. If you have older kids, or other family you’re allowing in your home, then they can help as well so you’re not rushing to change costumes. Even if you don’t change your costume between doors, you can give out different treats - a tooth brush and full size candy bar at a couple of stops to make it feel like they’ve both lost and won.

4. Trunk or treat with close friends

If you’ve got neighbors or friends which you are interacting with, then you can get together for a trunk or treat, or outdoor trick or treating with them. This takes a bit of the burden off of you to get all of the treats and set everything up.

5. Toilet paper mummy contest

Who doesn’t love getting rolled up in toilet paper? Every kid does, that’s for sure. Roll your child up to look just like a mummy and have them walk around the house a bit. Try to make them the best mummy you can (as if you make people into a mummy all the time).

If you have at least four people, then you can make this an even better contest by making teams. Who can make the best mummy and who can act like the best mummy. Set a time limit on how long to make someone into a mummy and then a contest to see which mummy lasts longest.

6.Trick or treat balloon pop

Get a bunch of balloons, and several pieces of candy and other little toys. Put the toys and candy into the balloons, and then blow them up. Depending on your balloon size, you can either tape them onto a piece of cardboard or poster board, or you can just put them in a box or on the floor. Let your child pop them one by one to get the prize.

If you’re up to having a bit of a mess, you can also put gross things (i.e. slime) into some of the balloons as well. Some balloons will result in awesome prizes while others will end in a gross mess :).

7. Halloween buffet

For your Halloween dinner, you can make a Halloween buffet. Make as many foods as you can that are something unique. For example, you can add green food coloring in lemonade and it's a witch's potion; you can buy a brain-shaped mold for Jello; you can make dead men’s fingers (gross) out of sausages; spaghetti with red sauce can be guts.

The above are just a few ideas to get you started. There are also plenty of other great ideas which you can get of Instagram or other social media platforms as well. You know your child best as to what foods they like, so it’s just a matter of being creative with what the food is for Halloween.

8. Halloween themed dance party

If your kids love to dance, then you should have a dance party as part of your Halloween festivities. Include Halloween themed songs (i.e. Monster Mash) as part of your dancing to really get in the mood. If you have an Alexa device, then simply asking for Halloween dance music will get you a great set of songs to use.

9. Pumpkin rolling race

If you’ve got some outdoor space to use, then you can have a pumpkin rolling race. Buy at least two pumpkins that you can roll (you can buy more if you’d like). That’s really all you need for this game. Find a location that you can roll the pumpkins and that you won’t mind if a mess is made as there’s a chance that a pumpkin will break during the game.

The goal is simply to roll your pumpkin the furthest. At least two people start in the same place, and push (or throw) their pumpkin to get it rolling like a bowling ball. For younger children, they can push the pumpkin along to keep it rolling. The person that rolls their pumpkin furthest wins.

10. Halloween stations

If you’re feeling ambitious, and have the time, then you can combine and do several of the above ideas into a Halloween party with multiple stations. You will go from station to station and do different activities at each of them.

You don't actually have to have physical stations, but can just have a list of activities that you draw out of a hat that you’ll complete. List out each activity that you have planned, and then cut them each on their own piece of paper. Fold them up, put them in a Halloween basket, and then let your child pull them out to determine what the next activity will be.

Conclusion

Halloween doesn’t have to be terrible if you’re stuck at home. There are so many creative and fun ways to celebrate at home with your kids, and they may find it to be their most memorable ever.