Fun Freetime: Quarantine-O-Ween

 

It should come as little surprise that Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating will look different this year, but don’t go ghost just yet! To celebrate the day, RetailMeNot created a list of ideas on how to safely get your spook on this Halloween season, listed below.

How to Celebrate Halloween During COVID-19

Decorate Your House to the Max Haunt the neighborhood with store-bought or DIY (or shall we say boo-it-yourself) Halloween decorations to transform the inside of your home, porch and more. We’ve compiled DIY ideas that range from Ombré Candy Corn Wine Bottles and Glow-in-the-Dark Slime, all of which you can tackle with the kiddos. On the store-bought front, The Home Depot has SO many cool Halloween decorations this year–check the out! Also, apparently people are turning their Christmas trees into kitschy Halloween trees. I am here for that. Plus, there’s this super-popular RJ Legend 15-inch Halloween Ceramic Tree.

Set up a Candy Graveyard I got this idea from Oriental Trading! The concept is extra cool because your yard gets decked out for Halloween and gives kids a way to social distance while trick-or-treating in it. Set up fake tombstones in your yard with prizes and candy piled up next to each tombstone. You could have each kid enter the graveyard one at a time and package up candy and prizes into individual treat bags for extra safety. Host Zoom Costume Parties and Pumpkin-Carving Contests Host a Halloween-themed costume or dance party on Zoom for friends and family. Create a spooktacular playlist for everyone to shake their boo things to, and have attendees show off their costumes on camera. You can also gather remotely to decorate and carve pumpkins safely from your own homes. Interact while you craft by sharing spooky stories. At the end, award prizes (virtual prizes or ones you send via snail mail) to the best looks! Speaking of Zoom … Halloween Zoom Backgrounds = Yes Over at Redbubble, you can download five Halloween Zoom backgrounds and fun printable props, so you can attend your virtual event in spooky style, or you know, just creep out your co-workers in the October meetings. Attend a Trunk-or-Treat Trunk-or-treating is one of the trends buzzing this year in terms of socially distant trick-or-treat substitutes. An organized event usually held in a school or church parking lot, trunk-or-treating entails decorated vehicles, and kids go trick-or-treating from car to car. You can host this in your neighborhood, too, with neighbors setting up trunk displays in the driveway and passing out candy. Note: Consider having designated adults (who commit to applying hand sanitizer) give out the candy rather than encourage lots of little hands to reach inside the bowl. Party City has a list of 17 trunk-or-treat ideas for inspiration! Be on the Lookout for Socially Distant Costume Bicycle Parades Another trend we’re hearing about are Halloween parades or a form of drive-by trick-or-treating. With the former, costume wearers take to the street as a catwalk to show off their costumes and hand out and collect candy. People also decorate bikes, wagons, golf carts and cars to show off their looks! Reverse Trick-or-Treat in Neighborhoods With reverse trick-or-treating, people drive by houses similar to the COVID-19 birthday parades. Those in the car will throw candy or deliver it to the kids in costumes in their yards.

Or Create a Candy Chute Like This Genius Dad Did Last year, Andrew Beattie, a Cincinnati dad, invented a candy chute for contactless trick-or-treating, and we are obsessed. He used an old Amazon delivery tube for it, and said it only took 20 minutes to create and attach to his front stairs. Now he just has to drop treats from the top into candy bags or buckets below! Boo or Ghost People No, not that kind of ghosting of people, y’all! Spread anonymous cheer by dropping a Halloween goodie bag or pumpkin on the doorsteps of friends and loved ones as a contact-free way to celebrate. This usually works by sneaking to your boo-ing subjects home after dark, ringing the doorbell, leaving the treats on their doorstep and running! Oriental Trading has all sorts of fun treat bags, buckets, toys and candy to work with. Princess Pinky Girl has all sorts of fun boo ideas. Have a Halloween Movie Marathon You can choose to do this one via a projector in the backyard, through Netflix Party or just with your family bubble on the couch. Pop some popcorn and throw on your favorite spooky movies and TV shows. Check out our list of Halloween-movie recommendations categorized by age. Organize a Glow-in-the-Dark Egg Hunt Egg hunts aren’t just for Easter. Buy Halloween-themed eggs at Amazon, or Halloween-ify old plastic eggs you already own (glow sticks work, too!) with stickers or markers. Add candy, and hide them in the yard or around the house! Grab glow sticks and glow-in-the-dark eggs at Amazon for a nighttime search.

Decorate Face Masks This is the quintessential pandemic Halloween idea: decorating a face mask. Whether it’s a DIY project for yourself or a family activity, decorate a cloth or surgical mask to match your costume or have it be the costume itself. Get inspiration for the DIY Halloween face masks pictures above from Frog Prince Paperie.

Set up a Trick-or-Treat Driveway Table Ditch the traditional communal Halloween candy bowl and have adults set up decorated tables or booths in their front yards where they can hand out individual bags or cups of candy. This keeps contact to a minimum while also still showcasing decorations and hauntingly good personality. Oriental Trading has ideas for a Fortune Teller Halloween Table, Ghoul Gang Halloween Table, Peanuts Halloween Table and so much more. Plus, they’ve got you covered on all the items you need to achieve the look.

Whip Up DIY Treats or Order Halloween Specials From Restaurants and Dress the Part Brew up your own Halloween desserts and snacks (popcorn balls, anyone?) to enjoy at home, or order takeout from one of the restaurants serving up Halloween-themed menu items and deals. Raddish has a new Halloween-themed kit called Frightful Fiesta (pictured above), which includes recipes for mummy enchiladas, creepy corn dip and haunted tres leches cake! Other free online recipes include strawberry ghosts and mummy quesadillas. Prices for these range from $20 to $24. IHOP, Papa John’s and Chipotle are expected to resurrect their themed pancakes, Jack-O’-Lantern pizza and boo-rito! Chuck E. Cheese is doing a special at-home Halloween party with Kidz Bop featuring special menu items and activities. And Krispy Kreme announced that on Halloween, guests in costumes will receive a free doughnut of choice, and that every Saturday through Halloween, customers can get a $1 Sweet-or-Treat dozen, which includes a special-edition Jack-o’-Lantern Doughnut. To REALLY make this fun, have everyone get in costume and character while eating. Maybe tell family and friends to come up with a backstory before the dinner begins, so a bit of roleplaying is involved. Organize a Scavenger Hunt in Your House Decorate themed rooms throughout your house, hiding candy, toys, prizes or gift cards throughout the rooms. Send the kids on a scavenger hunt to discover all the hidden objects. Get free printable scavenger hunt from Play Party Fun. Try Out a Drive-Thru Haunted House if You’re Feeling Brave Haunted houses will certainly look different this year, too. But drive thru, contact-free Halloween experiences are starting to make headlines. Search online for “haunted roads” or “drive thru haunted houses” to see if there is one near you!

Head to a Drive-In Theater for Halloween Movies Drive-in theaters have made a major comeback during the pandemic. Search for a drive-in near you. Many plan to screen Halloween movies and host socially distant activities. Head to a Pumpkin Patch Pumpkin patches are open but with safety precautions, including cashless payment, masks, hand sanitizer and limited capacity to ensure social distancing and safety.

Celebrate Halloween Around the World but From Home You might not be able to travel the globe right now, but you can do so in spirit. Educate your family and friends on Día de los Muertos in Mexico, Samhain in Ireland and Scotland, Dzień Zaduszny in Poland or Ghost Festival in East Asia. Celebrate these other traditions, and consider cooking or baking traditional foods and making crafts associated with those international events. P.S. The Halloween Tree is a great animated movie to watch with the family; it educates and celebrates the origins and influencers of Halloween around the world. The movie is based on the novel by Ray Bradbury, and he even narrates the film!

Play Halloween Bingo Halloween bingo cards are a fun way to get children of all ages playing virtually with classmates or at home with family and friends. Bonus: Halloween bingo is also awesome for teaching kids listening skills. Check out free printable Bingo cards of spooky illustrations, cute icons and Disney villains (pictured above in that order). Celebrate a Virtual Halloween With an Online Photo Booth Halloween is prime time for photos, right? This year, have fun with the virtual photo booth platform VirtualBooth.me. They’ve created an online way to take booth-style pictures with Halloween-themed stickers, backgrounds and filters—no app required—that you can share across your social channels and with friends and family. Test Your Luck With Virtual Escape Rooms Escape rooms have been a popular activity for years now, especially during Halloween because they can be as spooky or family friendly as you want. Due to the pandemic, escape rooms have pivoted by going virtual! Check out this list of the best virtual Halloween escape rooms, or contact your local escape room to see if they’ve got virtual options. More Halloween Virtual Activities for Kids Outschool is also offering Halloween-themed virtual classes, such as a special FX makeup class, escape room from The Pumpkin King, Pokémon Halloween mythology and Hocus Pocus Chemistry. There’s something for a mix of ages from 3-year-olds to teens. And when it comes to a STEM activity, CodeWizardsHQ has kid-friendly guide with instructions on how to build your own Halloween Candy Collecting game using the free Scratch platform. It’s a block-based system with text, pictures and GIFs explaining each of the steps and with opportunities for kids to truly customize their game. Halloween Piñatas, Anyone? Either in your house or in the yard, string up a Halloween-themed piñata filled with candy. Amazon and Oriental Trading have boo-tiful piñatas sure to be a hit.

Surprise Your Halloween-Loving Friends With a Spooky Celebrity Shoutout Cameo is a service that allows you to pay actors, musicians, reality TV stars and other public figures for personalized shout-outs. Request a Halloween message on Cameo from creepy characters and beloved actors from Halloween movies, including Pennywise, Mark Patton (Jesse from Freddy’s Revenge), Danielle Harris (from Halloween) and Kimberly J. Brown (from Halloweentown). Something tells me Cameo will curate a Halloween landing page closer to October 31 with more creators! Trick-or-Treat Virtually for UNICEF UNICEF USA is launching a virtual Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF experience. Starting October 1, you can collect donations for UNICEF virtually while teaching children the importance of giving back and helping others. Teachers, parents and children can register for their digital orange box and participate in fun activities to earn “coins” that amount to a lifesaving impact.