Halloween has always been my family’s favorite holiday. Getting creative, making our own characters come to life, our home filled with fun decor, and plenty of fun outside for those driving by. Unfortunately, like many, we know with current COVID-19 circumstances, especially here in Iowa, many of our normal activities are clearly cancelled. We’ve quickly decided we need to find some alternatives for Celebrating Halloween 2020.
Our weather has also taken a turn for Winter way faster than we hoped for so let’s face it, freezing cold weather, potential snow, and walking for an hour or two just doesn’t sound fun. We have ran ideas by our kids to have a “spooky” house on Trick or Treat night versus going out so they can still have fun creating and have the advantage of going in the house if they get cold. Double win!
So whether you are trying to decide how to safely celebrate Halloween 2020 due to COVID or just don’t like the idea of going out for whatever the reason, you are not alone. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives you can consider.
Safe Alternatives for Celebrating Halloween 2020
Have a Halloween-Themed Game Night
One great idea you can try on Halloween is to have a fun game night. This involves putting together some different Halloween-themed games that the kids can play instead of going out trick-or-treating. Try to have plenty of candy around the house to enjoy Halloween just as much as if they were going out for candy. You can even have candy-themed games, such as a Halloween piñata or giving out candy as a gift for winning certain games. There are plenty of different ways to do this. There’s even Halloween games on Amazon, like Spider Ring Toss!
Watch Halloween TV Shows and Movies
This is good if you want more of a quiet night at home, such as if one of your kids is sick, or the weather is bad outside so you’re not able to do your typical trick-or-treating. You will find a wide range of television shows and movies for Halloween that are appropriate for kids of different ages. For younger kids, try The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, then get movies like Hocus Pocus and Coraline for your older kids and teenagers. Make some spooky treats and sit down to watch movies all night.
- HalloweenTown
- BeetleJuice
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Casper
Go to a Local Trunk-or-Treat
Another fun thing you can do if you don’t want kids going door to door due to safety precautions is to take them to a trunk-or-treat. Instead of going to people’s homes, this is an organized event, usually at a local church or other organization that can be trusted. Everyone drives in their vehicles and opens up their trunk to put bowls or bags of candy. The kids get to go to each car, get their candy, then there is usually a party during or afterward the main event. This is a fun and safe way to spend Halloween with your family.
Our town is having a “drive thru” event with a parade of cars through our business district with a goody bag from those normally participating in the Downtown Trick or Treat.
Create Fun Halloween Crafts
For the kids or teens that enjoy being creative, crafts are perfect. It is another option when the weather is too cold or rainy outside on Halloween, so going door to door would not be the best idea. Instead, keep your kids interested in staying indoors by setting up some different craft stations inside. You can have regular pumpkins to carve or plastic pumpkins with pens and paint they can use to decorate them. You can make a big ‘pin the stem on the pumpkin’ for the door, or do any number of other crafts. As we all know, Pinterest always has tons of ideas for fun! They even created a similar post, How to Celebrate Halloween at Home. I had fun creating a separate Halloween Craft Board worth checking out.
No matter what is going on, I hope I’ve given you some alternatives to trick or treating.
