Fun Things to Do on Halloween with Your Kids Besides Trick or Treating

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's in autumn, the weather is wonderful, the leaves are wonderful shades of colors, the grass has just about stopped growing (which is good for those of us who have to cut grass), it's perfect weather for being outside, and great to be indoors too! Halloween offers the one time of year that even adults can get dressed up and nobody thinks you're crazy. It's also one of the few times of the year when you can eat junk food and not feel terribly bad about it. Most people think that Halloween also means trick-or-treating, but it doesn't have to! With more and more scary news reports of tainted candy, dangerous people on the loose, and crimes, it's gotten to be safer to bypass trick-or-treating and find something else fun to do!

Fall Festival or Carnival

Most churches and cities have fall festivals or carnivals for Halloween. They are generally free, and offer loads of fun! Some offer inflatables (like slides, ball drops, etc) for the kids to play on, and numerous games to win prizes. Face painting, apple dunking, coin tosses, musical chairs, mazes, spook houses, and humorous skits are just some of the things offered at these festivals. And, there is always free candy!

Movie-thon

This is my family's favorite Halloween activity. We turn it into an all day event. We usually have a movie-thon. Movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, Indiana Jones, and Lord of the Rings are just some options that can stretch over the day and be great fun. Dress up like the characters, and have your own mini-skits in between movies. Make meals fun by having theming the food with the movies you're watching or just Halloween in general. Then, of course, when the sun starts to set, pull out the candy and snack away!

Take A Day Trip

There are so many activities throughout the day on Halloween, it's easy to go from town and to town and visit several different places of interest. Many stores have interesting Halloween themed sales. Community centers offer things like pumpkin carving or costume contests. There are usually tours offered of interesting places like buildings thought to be haunted, or just interesting. There's cook-offs, bizarres, and craft shows. It takes a little planning to check out the places of interest you might like to visit, but well worth the effort. You can end the day with a movie at the theater or a fall festival.

Check your area and see what kind of fun things there are going on around you. You may be surprised to find that you've been missing out on some really fun opportunities for years!