We love halloween in our house. Carving pumpkins, putting up decorations, dressing the girls up and indulging in pumpkin spice lattes. We usually do some halloween activities such as pumpkin picking, halloween events at local attractions, with friends when we're able.
Olivia and her friend Ania - 2017
This year's plan was a holiday to Tenby to enjoy the activities there. Covid has put the caboosh on that this year. Wales is having a circuit breaker lockdown so we can’t socialise outdoors at all, so now I’m planning for a COVID-friendly halloween at home and I thought I’d share my ideas with you guys. Comment with extra ideas and lets make this list great!
Pumpkins
This year GO BIG. Usually we have them just for actual halloween but this year we’ll have a few different ones in the weeks running up to half term, we started last weekend and those photos are below. They won't last but I see pumpkins are biodegradable fun this year and hopefully will share a bit of cheer for people passing by! Don’t forget to leave them out in the flower beds after to feed the birds and bugs. Try making a 'family' with a butternut squash and other sizes and colours of pumpkins. Pumpkin scarecrows? Be topical and have a pumpkin wearing a mask! This was our first pumpkin carving session this year last weekend.
A mini-disco
It’ll be just the 4 of us due to Wales’ circuit breaker lockdown, so I’m planning a party. A mini disco with the help of Alexa (so many halloween soundtracks), some party games - I’m thinking bobbing for apples, pin the broomstick on the witch or tail on the cat, and a spooky pass the parcel game. Trick or treating is out this year so I’ll put together some party bags so I’ll have two happy little girls!
Halloween YouTubing
I've had a few ideas for some videos. I'll update this section when I've done them and they're live. WATCH THIS SPACE! Link to out
A horror film night
My two are fans of Hocus Pocus and this was our halloween film night last year. I’ll be on the hunt for a new film this year - The Witches has been remade so I may try that, it’s being released straight to digital rather than the cinema due to COVID. Other films we’ve enjoyed in the past are:
The nightmare before Christmas - I love that we can watch this film for halloween and for Christmas!
The Hotel Transylvania trilogy - all are great, not sure which our favourite is, I think the girls like the second the most
Casper - An oldie but a goodie!
Toy Story of Terror - short but really funny
Labyrinth - Olivia and I watched this a few months ago and she enjoyed it. Molly left after about 15 minutes to play instead.
Think blankets and enjoying some halloween snacks while cuddling up together, maybe a hot chocolate added into the mix.
Cupcake decorating
Easy peasy activity (says the absolute non-baker!). Plenty of kits to buy in the supermarket if you want an easy life. Olivia and Molly’s favourite parts are cracking the eggs and licking the spoon so if I’m busy and want an easy pass - we do that! These rice crispy cakes have a simple recipe and look cute. Ours didn’t go so well - see our attempt here - top tip from our feedback, try using white marshmallows only!
Autumn activities
Get the kids to collect different coloured leaves and bring them home. We did a super-cute activity last year where I cut out a hedgehog shape out of cardboard (use a cereal box or we went big and used an old box). The girls then had a paintbrush each and tub of PVA glue to stick the leaves on the body, we then drew on a face. Annoyingly I can't find my photo from last year - sorry!
Spread the festivities
Remember the rainbows in windows for lockdown 1? For the impending lockdown 2 were going to do the same with Halloween pictures! Then replace these with Christmas ones in November. Achieves two things:
Something for passing kids to see on walks
Project for Olivia and Molly.
Think outside the box, doesn't have to be a drawing, maybe a spooky scarecrow outside? Some old clothes, stuff them with hay or cardboard, a spooky mask and you're done. Put your pumpkins outside. Chalk up the pavement if it's dry. Really go to town. I’ll add our photos when we’ve done them.
I hope you've enjoyed this article. A massive thank you to my friend Katie, we had a socially distanced walk during our daughters Drama class and were sharing ideas! I'm just starting out with this blog so if you have any feedback or ideas for halloween, please comment below. If you have any ideas for articles I could investigate and look into, again comment or below or use the contact us feature on the website
Stay safe xx