AndiHalloween is one of my favorite holidays and we enjoy it the whole month of October. Which means that you should check out these ten awesome family Halloween traditions that you can start this year!
10 Awesome Family Halloween Traditions:
1. Decorate the House
First, you need to decorate! We have small decorations throughout the house, so we don’t go overboard. Simple things like cobwebs over pictures and lamps, pumpkins and cute Halloween signs in most rooms. Plus I have cozy blankets and candles for each season.
Decorate the front porch with a welcome mat, pumpkins and a wreath and you’re all set! Or do even more and add spooky Halloween decorations in your front yard.
Eventually, I would love to do more and create a mini haunted house. Hopefully in the next year or so.
2. Costume Shopping
This is one of my favorite awesome family Halloween traditions. My kids had so much fun choosing who they wanted to be for Halloween. We would go out looking for the perfect costume.
The early years I was able to coordinate a family costume, but then they got to picky and independent 🙂
Now that they are older, we sometimes try and make costumes from thrift store finds.
I don’t sew, but if you do making the costumes can be a fun family affair.
3. Watch It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
This is a classic that every family should watch at least when the kids are younger. Of course I’m a huge Charlie Brown fan and watch ALL the seasonal movies!
4. Halloween Movie Night
In addition to watching Charlie Brown, I suggest having another Halloween movie night. There are options for kids of all ages.
- Curious George Spooky Halloween
- Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween movie
- Hocus Pocus
- Wizard Of Oz
- ET, the Extra Terrestrial
- Ghost Busters
- The Addams Family
- Hotel Transylvania
- The Haunted Mansion
- Beetlejuice
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Gremlins
- Monsters Inc.
Pop the popcorn, make fun movie snacks, get in comfy pajamas and cozy up to watch the movie.
5. Haunted Gingerbread House
Why only decorate gingerbread houses during the Christmas season? My kids love this, so we now do this twice a year. Use lots of black, purple and orange icing and candies.
It’s becoming more popular, so they have kits you can buy now. Check out this one from Amazon.
6. Trunk or Treat Event
There are usually several locations that do this fun event like schools, day cares or churches.
Basically, it’s a safe event for trick or treating. Everyone parks in a parking lot, decorates their trunk and passes out candy to trick or treaters.
Some are held the night of Halloween, but most are held days before. It’s a great way for kids to wear their costume more than once.
7. Boo At The Zoo
Another fun event where you can dress up and trick or treat! Since it’s at the zoo, it’s even more fun!! Most local zoos do this at least one or more nights during October.
8. Boo Neighbors
This is a great way to promote service and doing for other people. Booing your neighbors is where you make them a little goodie basket filled with candies or baked goods. Set it on doorstep, ring the bell and run away! It’s so much fun.
9. Pumpkin Carving / Painting
When my kids were younger, we would paint pumpkins after a visit to the pumpkin patch. They had so much fun with this! I’m thinking about trying it again this year, to see how much more creative they will be as teens now.
Since my kids turned into teens, we’ve been carving pumpkins. They each have their own pumpkin carving tools and I can trust them not to cut off a finger. Some like it more than others, but we do all seem to have fun.
10. Neighborhood Walk
Stroll through the neighborhood a few days before Halloween, so you can check out your neighbors decorations. This is fun to do on Halloween too, but much busier!
11. Special Halloween Breakfast
Enjoy a special breakfast on Halloween morning. A few ideas include ghost pancakes, pumpkin waffles, jack o lantern fruit cups or Halloween donuts.
12. Special Halloween Dinner
Dress up in your costumes and have a Halloween themed dinner. This can be the night of Halloween or sometime during October. Halloween can be a crazy night sometimes. We ended up just ordering a Jack O’ Lantern pizza from a pizza delivery place after a couple of years of trying to do a themed homemade meal.
Get creative there are all kinds of possibilities:
- Jack O’ Lantern Chicken Pot Pie
- Mummies -(Pigs in a blanket)
- Mini shepherd pies that look like mummies from the mashed potatoes frosted like the cloth and peas for eyes.
- Eyeball Pasta
- Ghost pizza bagels
- Jack O’ Lantern quesadillas
- Meatloaf shaped like a foot with toe jam (green mashed potatoes)
13. Trick Or Treat
Trick or treating is one of my favorite awesome Halloween traditions! Most kids have a blast going trick or treating with their family and friends. Even now, my older teens still like passing out candy to the kids.
14. Switch Witch / Great Pumpkin / Candy Fairy
These are one in the same with different names. Basically, the kids leave out the candy before going to sleep. The “Fairy” switches the candy for a toy. A tradition started to keep from having rotten teeth.
I did not personally do this with my kids, because I would eat their candy every night anyways. Yes, I admit I stole my kids candy. Or as I like to say, I collected my trick or treating candy tax!
15. Celebrate The Day of The Dead
This will be new to me this year. From what I’ve read, it’s a day where you celebrate your loved ones that have died by holding a special dinner in their honor. You make that person’s favorite food and share favorite memories during the meal.
16. Halloween Activity Countdown Calendar
For the month of October, I would have a countdown to Halloween and we would do a different activity everyday. I’ve saved this for last because it can be a lot. This is not meant to be overwhelming, but fun.
These activities can be small like listening to a Halloween song, reading a Halloween book or eating a pumpkin doughnut. They can also be fun activities like Boo at the Zoo, visiting a pumpkin patch or pumpkin carving.
Some of the activities require more time than others. I encourage you to plan out the month with activities that you know will not stress you out. That can mean reading 15 different Halloween themed books from the library, because that’s all the time you have for on weekdays.
Here are different activities that I’ve done over the years.
At Home:
- Listen to Halloween music
- Pumpkin walk around neighborhood
- Read a Halloween book
- Watch a Halloween movie
- Bake cookies
- Boo the Neighbors
- Watch Charlie Brown
Things To Do:
- Carve Pumpkins
- Paint Pumpkins
- Costume Shopping
- Wear Orange
- Make a Halloween Craft
- Decorate The House
- Learn The Thriller dance
- 5K Themed Run/ Fun Walk
- Campfire with S’mores
Places To Go:
- Pumpkin Patch
- Trunk or Treat
- Fall Festival
- Hay Ride
- Corn Maze
- Apple Orchard
- Oktoberfest Festival
- Halloween Parade
- Fall Hike
To Eat or Drink:
- Pumpkin Bread
- Candy Corn
- Halloween Treat
- Caramel Apples
- Kettle Corn
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Roast Pumpkin Seeds
- Apple Cider
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Roast Marshmallows
- Pumpkin Pie
These are awesome family Halloween traditions that you can start this year! What’s you favorite Halloween activity?
Need more ideas for the fall? Check out this post:
[…] 10 Awesome Family Halloween Traditions […]