Creepy and Creative Ways to Celebrate Halloween

Looking for spooky and fun ways to celebrate Halloween with your kids? Halloween is the perfect time of year to break out the crafts, the cookie cutters, and the fall-themed movies. There are so many ways to celebrate this holiday all month long.

Whether you're planning a cozy night at home or seeking alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving, we've gathered creative ideas to make this Halloween unforgettable for your little ones.

This post was updated in October 2025 to include relevant information for celebrating Halloween and additional editorial enhancements.

Here’s an easy way to make slime time exciting! Try our easy-to-make edible slime for the Halloween season. Your kids will be fascinated by this airy, light slime that’s better than Play-Doh. It’s great for little fingers that can quickly make this slime using simple ingredients, plus it’s very delicious!

Pumpkin bowling is an easy and classic game for kids to play. Rolling a small pumpkin to knock down toilet paper rolls is not only exciting and easy to do, but it's also a great way for your kids to get some exercise and fresh air. You can even have the kids decorate the toilet paper with their favorite scary monster.

Writing trays are a great way for younger kids to practice handwriting skills. Making a Halloween-themed one is a fun and educational way to celebrate. You can add cake sprinkles, colorful sand, or small Halloween decorations to instantly to make handwriting fun!

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween with videos or movies as well. Find a whole selection of spooky Halloween videos. Your kids will learn about Halloween across the globe, practice math problems, or try spooky yoga.

If you have a preschooler or toddler at home, then create a sensory bin. It’s an inexpensive and simple way to keep the little ones busy for hours on end. Add pumpkin cake mix, Dunkin Donuts cups, measuring cups, spoons, and cups filled with cinnamon and whipped cream to the sensory board. You can also purchase a Halloween sensory bin kit on Etsy.

If you're looking for a fun Halloween game, try the pumpkin witch broom race. Grab brooms and small pumpkins, break into teams, and watch your kids race to see who can push the pumpkin across the finish line before the timer is up!

Make spooky magnets by gluing small magnets to the back of plastic spiders, eyeballs, skeletons, and more from a craft store. Then, use them for educational activities such as math, arrange them to spell words and sentences, or use them to decorate around the house.

Many people's favorite things about Halloween are the delicious trick-or-treat goodies! Desserts, sandwiches, and even snacks get frighteningly creative and tasty. Try Moms Who Think collection of mouth-watering Halloween treats.

There are so many Halloween crafts that the whole family will love. For a simple option, create these adorable witch paper dolls. All you need is construction paper, scissors, glue, and toilet paper core rolls, and you’re done!

Have your kids help decorate your family table using DIY ghost leaves. Take maple leaves from your backyard, paint them white, and paint two dots for the eyes once fully dried. String them together around the edge of the table for a Halloween garland.

Kids love word searches, so why not give them a holiday-themed one? Encourage your kids to learn new Halloween vocabulary. If you can’t find a great word search, create one! Use colors, items, and eye-catching shapes relating to Halloween.

An easy and delicious project to make with your kids is a candy wreath. Let your kids attach the wreath with tasty treats while you handle the glue gun. Make it colorful with some beautiful ribbons and bows.

If you don’t want to or cannot go out on Halloween, you can stay home and have a great time with your kids. Monster pancakes are a nice way to bring out the artist in your children.

Halloween wouldn’t be the same or fun without handprint painting. Have your kids experience different colors of paint by having them dip their hands into it. Then, have them press their hands firmly onto construction paper in Halloween colors.

These hanging cotton ghosts add an adorable but spooky flair around the house. You'll need cardboard paper, cotton balls, and glue for this project. Depending on the age of your kids, they may be able to glue the cotton balls themselves or you can help them create their ghosts.

Organize a Halloween outdoor party for your kids that they can invite friends to. They can bake and decorate cookies, design and pass out invitations, and come up with games to play along with other fun activities.

Halloween jokes are a great way to help your kids interact with their peers. You can find some suitable jokes for your kids to explore or help them come up with their own. If your child really loves jokes, buy them their own joke book so they never run out of funny options.

That one childhood scary story your sister used to share when you were younger will be perfect for this activity. If you don’t have any scary stories, you can make one up on the spot. Pull another one from your childhood or recite one of these tried-and-true kid-friendly Halloween spooky stories.

Bingo is a great way to improve vocabulary, along with attention and listening skills. Start by designing a traditional bingo card with a Halloween theme and involve your kids in this fun and exciting Halloween activity.

Have each kid pick their favorite candy to include in small goody bags (you can also use a Ziploc bag), then race to see who can assemble the most bags in the shortest amount of time. This race will have your kids entertained assembling bags for hours.

Get into the Halloween spirit with these adorable no-sew ghost puppets! All you need is white felt, permanent marker, scissors, and hot glue. Get ready to haunt your house by using them as decorations or perform a hand puppet show for your kid’s friends.

Store-bought costumes are great for last-minute shopping, but if you want to make something unique and to be proud of when your kids tap into their creative side, then making your costume is the way to go. Challenge your family to find a few items at home and build a costume from there. Grab a sheet to make a classic ghost costume. Take a visit to the fabric supply store and make an Incredibles costume. Making costumes is a way for everyone to get a little more creative and potentially save a lot of money.

Spook up a room with as many glow-in-the-dark decorations as possible. Use Jack-o’-lanterns, glow sticks, balloons, stars, ghosts, and anything that glows in the dark. Turn out the lights and let the Spooktacular party begin.

This germ-free Halloween activity only requires string and a donut. From there, all you have to do is hang donuts from tree branches and invite your kid’s friends to grab their donuts hands-free, by keeping their hands behind their backs during the whole activity.

Create a core memory for your kids by taking them on an apple-picking adventure. This is a classic and all-time favorite Halloween activity. Pick the apple you want to eat and take a break to enjoy some warm cider.

It wouldn’t be Halloween without visiting a haunted house or hosting a haunted house event. Get an adrenaline rush visiting a place rumored to be occupied by ghosts. To set up your haunted house event, rent out space to decorate the interior with spooky décor to make a spooky house that will make you the talk of the town.

On Halloween night, it can be easy to miss all the fun decorations because of the crowds or the excitement. Plan a Halloween scavenger hunt before the big day so the family can enjoy the decor. First, deck the halls with spooky decorations, then walk around the neighborhood to scavenge as a family to track down all the Halloween-themed items they see.

The Origami Jack-O-Lantern isn't as easy as carving a pumpkin, but it can be a lot of fun. This requires an expert at work, but the finished result is beautiful and something you will love to save for Halloween years to come.

Reading Halloween-themed books is a perfect way to encourage excitement ahead of trick-or-treating. Choose a selection of titles, whether Harry Potter by JK Rowling or How to Catch a Witch by Alice Walstead, and read them aloud.

A family movie marathon is another perfect way to celebrate. Open up a few cans of soda and cook a bowl of popcorn to watch Halloween classics with your kids, such as Casper, Coraline, Hotel Transylvania, and The Addams Family.

Instead of buying Halloween masks at your local craft store, challenge your children to make their own. There are a lot of free printable online masks you can choose for last-minute Halloween costume ideas.

Halloween isn’t just about trick-or-treating. While Halloween candy may be the top event, there’s bobbing for donuts, apple picking, pumpkin carving, Halloween crafts, and parties to attend as well. If you’re unable to go trick-or-treating, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun. There are many activities your kids will enjoy to still make plenty of memories on Halloween!