Halloween Activities for Kids

We are so disappointed that Covid is spiking just as Halloween is coming. We want our children to have a Happy Halloween, but also don’t want the risk of going door to door either with Trick-or-Treating. For Trick-or-Treating, many of our neighbors are hosting tables in their driveways or near the sidewalk. Some are using candy launchers, and even placing candy in separate bags/bins for trick or treaters. But we just don’t feel comfortable being out with so many and having so many others stop by our house. So we will be hosting alternative Halloween activities for kids.

With dad working in the medical world, the last thing we want to do is unknowingly spread or receive Covid during a fun event for our kids. So, how can we make Halloween just as fun if not more for our children? Well, I think we’ve put together a pretty amazing plan for a fun Halloween with kids. And really, it’s all about the safe fun for you and your children.

Our Socially Distanced Halloween Plan

We put together a little plan for our children so we could have a wonderful Halloween without the worry of Trick-or-Treating this year. While nothing replaces getting to have a Halloween party at school, see all your friends in costume, and go Trick-or-Treating, at least we can plan a day full of Halloween activities and candy (or other special treat) to replace what they miss. And of course, we know this isn’t forever. Hopefully by next year, we are back to our usually trick-or-treating Halloween activities with maybe a little extra.

Preparing for Our Halloween Activities

We gathered up our shopping list, adding some extra treats and candy. For our Halloween plan, we needed graham crackers, marshmallow fluff, chocolate, lemon lime soda, sherbet, candy, and a piñata. Plus their costumes that we mostly made with items we had around the house and repurposing a few old costumes or pieces of clothing. It’s always so nice when you don’t need to purchase costumes for a day.

Snacks for Halloween

While we will need to prepare the snacks in advance, we will save these for after our outdoor fun and right before settling in to a Halloween movie.

1. S’mores Treat – our little ones love s’mores, so this is a no brainer in our home. You can make a warm s’mores bake. Just pick up a graham cracker crust, chocolate to layer, and large marshmallows to cover. Then, bake at 350^o for about 10 minutes. Or try s’mores freezer snacks. Frost graham crackers with marshmallow fluff, top with chocolate, sandwich with another frosted graham cracker. Finally, freeze for about 30 minutes.
2. Halloween punch – just mix lemon lime soda or ginger ale and sherbet or other ice cream. Super easy and delicious. We love to use a raspberry sherbet for the red color or an orange sherbet for a traditional Halloween color.

Ways to Get Candy without Trick-or-Treating on Halloween

1. Halloween Scavenger Hunt – we will be hiding candy around our own yard for the kids to search and find. Feel free to add any extra sites for them to find too – scarecrows, owls, bats, etc. And if you really want to go all out, create a scavenger hunt printable for your kids to locate all the objects for a special treat. You could even include other fall objects like pumpkins, leaves, and rakes. Just know you might be finding candy in the yards for weeks after Halloween, or at least we expect too.
2. Halloween Piñata – we are picking up a piñata. Just fill it with all the candy they would usually get on Halloween. Then we will play together to bust open our piñata and earn our candy. Even with the candy more contained, I’m sure we will find candy for months. We suggest hanging your piñata over a tree branch but not tying it. This will let you raise and lower it so your little one doesn’t burst it open too early. We used a bandana as a blindfold and a baseball bat. If possible, use a broom handle or plastic bat to make your piñata last.

Settling Down after the Halloween Activities

1. Halloween Movie – we will snuggle up and watch a Halloween movie while enjoying our treats and candy. Our kids are super into Halloween Town right now, so we will probably watch one of those. But you can’t go wrong with a Hocus Pocus, Witches, Monster House, Twitches, Casper, or Hotel Transylvania. And there are so many more to pick from and of course, you don’t even need to make it a Halloween movie
2. Grab your treats and maybe some popcorn, because well, it’s a little bit better for your kids. Settle them down with a comfy spot, maybe made of pillows and blankets and snuggle up.
3. Taking a Halloween photo to send to their teachers – because what kid doesn’t want to show off their costume a little. If you are lucky, maybe your teacher will put together a Halloween photo collage for all the kids to see and enjoy their friend’s creativity.
4. Take a few moments to ask your children to pick a few pieces of candy to donate or give away. We do this every year and even though this year looks different, donations are just as, if not more, important than ever.

It’s such a simple night, but I’m hoping it will be memorable for our little ones. In addition, it will bring happy memories to this crazy Halloween and a little positivity when we need it most. Pretty sure a Halloween piñata will become a must have every year.

We’d Love to Connect with You

Planning for Thanksgiving? See our Virtual Thanksgiving post for some great ideas. We’d love if it you would take a moment and do 2 things for us. Drop us a comment below letting us know what you loved about our post or what you did for Halloween. Then subscribe to our newsletter for more helpful ideas and tips as well a freebie from time to time. Welcome to our family!

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.