This year, trick-or-treating may not be an option where you live, so we have rounded up some incredibly clever ways to celebrate Halloween with no trick-or-treating. Don’t worry, there’ll still be plenty of spooky treats and seasonal fun to enjoy!

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We had high hopes for creative ideas like this Halloween slide idea that might save the day when it comes to trick or treating, however the reality is that for many children this year it just won’t be possible.

While this year brings all its own complications, these ideas for a Halloween with no trick or treating would also work when you have children who get overwhelmed with going house to house, if the weather is awful, or if you live far from friends and neighbours.

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How to Celebrate Halloween With No Trick-or-Treating

Decorate the House

Start by decorating the house with lots of seasonal decor. Are you a pumpkin and fall leaves kind of style, or perhaps your very own ghoulish Halloween fright house?!

Carve or Decorate Your Pumpkins

Haven’t done it yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time!

Carve your pumpkin with a simple face or an intricate design, or alternatively paint and decorate for a quicker (and definitely less messy) option.

Don’t forget to keep the pumpkin flesh for some deliciously easy pumpkin recipes, and try your hand at roast pumpkin seeds for a truly tasty snack!

Make Window Pumpkins

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw lots of families decorating their houses and windows with rainbows – and the result was a wonderful community feeling of solidarity.

Following a similar theme, get the kids creating their very own pumpkin and Halloween pictures to display in the windows. Not only will this become part of your overall decor, it could also become a stop on the neighbourhood pumpkin hunt…

Go On a ‘Pumpkin Hunt’ in the Neighbourhood

Now that your windows are decorated, it’s time to go and see what everyone else has done!

Make an event of your Halloween walk around the neighbourhood. Your child can dress up in their costume and, instead of calling to different houses, they hunt for window pumpkin pictures. Every time they see a pumpkin in the window you could put a treat into their Halloween bucket. It’s (sort of) trick or treating!

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Bake Halloween Treats

From eyeball cookies to Monster’s Teeth, we’re pretty sure you’ll have no shortage of help in the kitchen when it comes to baking these Halloween cookies or Halloween cupcakes – yum!

Watch a Halloween Movie

We always come home from trick or treating and snuggle up to watch a Halloween movie…and eat til we pop, obviously!

There are so many great movies to choose from – we particularly enjoy The Addams Family, The Witches, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Hocus Pocus!

Get Crafty

Looking for some fun Halloween activities for kids? From haunted houses to mummy candles, here are some fun Halloween crafts your kids will love to make – perfect for keeping little monsters occupied for hours!

Throw a Family Halloween Party

Who cares if no one else can come, have a Halloween party just for your family!

No party is complete without party food, and we’ve got loads of great ideas for fun and quirky halloween treats that look amazing – the monster burgers and ghost pizza are bound to be a success!

Add some healthy Halloween snacks too (so you feel less guilty about the sweets later…), and if you are looking to brew up some spooky concoctions, you’ll find lots of ghoulish ideas for Halloween drinks for kids that will be the ultimate final touch for your family party.

Play Some Halloween Games

You could opt for very traditional Halloween games like bobbing for apples or donuts on a string, or add some mystery and mayhem to the mix!

Entertain your little ghosts and witches with these not-so scary Halloween games for younger kids or some more family-friendly Halloween games that will appeal to all ages.

Have a Spooky Halloween Hunt at Home

This is the one my daughter has been planning for weeks now – a Halloween hunt around the house to look for hidden sweets and treats!

Like an Easter egg hunt, try your hand at hiding Halloween treats around the house (or garden if your weather is dependable). Younger children will love the hunt no matter what, but you can really make this an event for older children in several ways:

• Set a timer and make it a race to find the most
• Close all the curtains, turn off the lights and arm the kids only with a flashlight to find their treats
• Make it a spooky ‘haunted house’ vibe with the occasional scare along the way!

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Have a Halloween Disco

Get a Halloween playlist on and have a kitchen disco together. Who can do the best Thriller or Monster Mash?!

Go on a Halloween scavenger hunt

Make a list of items to find, from pumpkins and witches to skulls and spiders, and then set the kids off to find them all. The best thing about a Halloween scavenger hunt is that everything is open to interpretation and nothing is as it seems…!

Trunk or Treating

Trunk or Treating has become more popular in recent times. Originally started by church groups with the aim of providing a safer environment for trick or treaters on Halloween, Trunk or Treat is a community focused event.

It takes place in a parking lot at school or church; people decorate the trunks of their cars and then kids can Trick-or-treat out of the car. The advantage being it’s generally with people they are more likely to know and you’re not welcoming strangers to the house.

Reverse Drive By Halloween

If your neighbourhood can organise it you could consider having a “reverse drive-by” Halloween where the kids stand at the front of the house in their costumes with an adult present. Other parents in the neighbourhood can then drive by and throw candy out to them.

Have a Virtual Halloween

Many families have used online tools such as Skype, Zoom or Whatsapp to socialise together over the last few months, so you could organise a Virtual Halloween event. There could be a virtual costume parade and then you could take it in turns to play Halloween games with each other.

Another online option is to visit a virtual Haunted House. When you visit these houses you can either roam around the haunted house with some tasks to complete, or view an interactive story e.g. clicking on graves, etc.

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