How to celebrate Halloween at home

Halloween 2020 is shaping up to be different to the usual fright fest due to restrictions related to coronavirus. Despite the fact that big parties may well be off the agenda, it’s still more than possible to celebrate Halloween at home with your family. So, here’s the Party Pieces guide to doing just that, with ideas for games, decorations, trick of treating alternatives and plenty more besides…

Halloween game ideas

Games are essential for Halloween celebrations, and one of the easiest and most traditional ones to play is bobbing for apples. Put a load of apples in a bucket of water and then players take it in turns trying to grab one with just their mouths - and their hands held firmly behind their backs! A treasure hunt around the home or garden for homemade eyeballs (use ping pong balls) is another option, or you could let your kids get messy by hiding the eyeballs in slime or spaghetti for them to find while blindfolded. You could also adapt Pin the Tail on the Donkey to Pin the nose on the Witch or get a pumpkin piñata to guarantee a smashing time. Young children will enjoy playing Halloween versions of popular party games: try musical chairs with appropriate tunes such as Monster Mash, Thriller and the Addams Family theme.

You can’t do Halloween without a pumpkin or two. Helping kids carve one is a fun activity to get stuck into. Once you’ve cut out the face for your pumpkin, get the little ones to paint it, cover it in glitter and plaster it with stickers. The main thing is to let their creativity run wild.

Outdoor Halloween decoration ideas

Alternative trick or treat ideas

If traditional trick or treating isn’t possible this year, there is an alternative option so children don’t miss out completely. . During lockdown in the UK, many children took part in a rainbow hunt, searching for images of rainbows that people were putting in their windows as a show of support for the NHS. It has been suggested that a similar ‘pumpkin hunt’ could take place for Halloween. Encourage your children to draw pictures of pumpkins and stick them in your front window. Ask other parents in your neighbourhood to do the same and when it comes to the night of October 31st, take your kids out to search for pumpkins, giving them a treat for every one they spot.

Creepy Halloween food ideas

Prepping your home-based Halloween celebration will almost certainly involve putting on a spread. This is another excellent chance for you to do a hands-on activity with your children. You might struggle to get them to try any pumpkin soup you make with the remnants of the carving session, but the sweet treats we recommend in our Halloween party food blog will be extremely popular, we’re sure. The Spooky Ghost Muffins and Menacing Monster Cookies are a must!

Film fright night

Film night is always a guaranteed winner for a stay-at-home party. Pick a family friendly movie to settle down in front of: the Hotel Transylvania series (Netflix), the adaptation of Room on a Broom (iPlayer) and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Netflix) are all great fun. For an all-time classic, ET (Amazon Prime) is the one to choose, and older kids will absolutely love the original Ghostbusters (Amazon Prime). You’ll need some popcorn, of course, and these popcorn boxes will help make your Halloween at home one to remember for your little devils.