Fun ways to celebrate Halloween at Home in 2020

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Thanks (or let’s face it, not so much) to COVID-19, Halloween in 2020 is going to be a little different to what we may be used to.

A big change from our usual plans of going trick or treating from door to door in the local neighbourhood or hosting a big Halloween party with friends and family, in 2020 many families are looking for ideas on how to celebrate Halloween at home, or for socially distanced Halloween ideas that will still keep the kids entertained.

Its important to remember that Halloween during a pandemic can still be lots of fun and whilst Halloween during Covid times will certainly be like no other before, I am still determined to make it an enjoyable experience for my children.

Here’s my ultimate guide packed full of ideas and inspiration for Halloween 2020 from food and activities to decorations and entertainment (and there’s even something for the grown ups too!)

Halloween at Home ideas for Kids 

Create the Ultimate Halloween Movie Night

Creating a spooky Halloween themed movie night is a great way to celebrate Halloween at home with children of all ages. For an extra Halloween effect, dim the lights and use a projector to view your film on a blank wall. The strobe of light as the movie projects adds a slightly spooky vibe to your room setting.

If you’re unsure which movies will be suitable for your little ones, check out our Ultimate Halloween Movie list for kids -a round up of the best films available on Sky, Netflix and Disney+ this October that will help create a spooky Halloween vibe you’re looking for without causing nightmares or keeping them awake all night!

Bring out the Halloween Themed Books and Activities

We always try and read some spooky Halloween themed books on the run up to the 31st October, and there are some great new releases for Halloween this year. I can recommend Ten Little Pumpkins, Isodora Moon and Hagwitch and the Cauldron of Colour, but please see our round up of other Halloween Themed Books here.

Create an Awesome Halloween Disco / Spooky Soundtrack

With classics such as The Monster Mash, Somebody’s Watching Me and of course Thriller, why not spend some time making a Spotify Halloween play list with all the kids favourite songs? My girls would love getting dressed up in their best Halloween outfits and dancing the night away on the living room floor to some spooky classics – simple things!

Embrace the Halloween Crafts

Both my girls love craft activities and Baker Ross have a huge range of Halloween craft kits at bargain prices – my personal favourites are the Bat Dreamcatcher Kits, Scratch art Wizard Hats and Wands and Spider Web Weaving. Check out the full Halloween range here.

Halloween Baking with Kids

If you don’t mind a little bit of mess (with the added benefit that flour can be the perfect finishing touches for their outfit!) these Mummy biscuits and ghost pretzels are super easy to make with kids.

Other fun Halloween food ideas include:

• Little Paper Swan’s Nutella Pumpkin Cookie Pies
• Halloween Brownies at BooRooandTiggertoo.
• Huge range of Halloween food ideas at Eats Amazing

There’s even some healthy Halloween food ideas over on Twinderelmo or for a sit down meal with a difference – what about a Pepper Brain Monster?

We’ve also been using the Chocolate Pen from Skyrocket to make fun spooky decorations for our cupcakes. The chocolate pen set comes with two trays of moulds to create lots of little chocolate characters; as well as offering the ability to create freehand designs of your choice. The pen works best with cooking chocolate or chocolate melts (they sell Orange melts at Hobbycraft should you wish to create mini pumpkin toppers!). You can also mix a number of colours within the same moulds – something we plan to attempt on Halloween night itself!

If you can’t be bothered to faff around with party food and want to take the pressure off – these Halloween Party Boxes from Morrisons are great and have everything you need for a family to celebrate Halloween at home (including the decorations!)

I love the look of the Slime cupcake kit; however Haribo also have their own Halloween range of sweets, so you may want to supplement the pack with these too.

Halloween Games and Activities

From Halloween themed piñatas, to pin the spider on the web – there are some great Halloween themed games you can play at home with minimal effort required!

We are HUGE Harry Potter fans and as October is also #DarkArtsMonth, you may want to get involved with some wizard magic too! The Harry Potter invisibility cloak is a great way to create some ‘mischief managed’ style pranks and record them on camera. For the Harry Potter fans amongst you, its worth nothing that the invisibility cloak is now available in junior sizes too! Simply download the WOW Stuff app and register your cloak, before creating scenes where your body appears to magically disappear! You can see the original Invisibility cloak in action in my video below.

As well as the invisibility cloak there are loads of other Dark Arts Harry Potter products for muggles and wizards alike here.

Decorate your home 

There are lots of fun socially distanced Halloween trails taking part in local neighbourhoods this October – and I love the community spirit of this. Just like we seemed out the rainbows in windows during lockdown, people are now putting pumpkins (real or printables) in their windows so that children can spot them whilst on their walks.

We also used these fab Snow Windows Spray Stencils to make the windows spooky! The Snow Windows Halloween Stencils set is currently just £9.99 and comes with a variety of different stencils you can use on windows to create a really spooky effect!

You can see a video of it in action here:

For a slightly more spooky way to serve your Halloween Beverages, something like the Kilner Stackable Jars set with taps and stand works really well. Fill to the brim with witches potion (cherryade or red tango drinks work well) and let kids help themselves! The girls absolutely loved this at our (early) celebrations at home!

Virtual Halloween Party Ideas for Adults

Who says that Halloween is just for the kids? Here are some ideas for how adults can join in the fun too!

Set up a Fancy Dress Zoom Party with friends – The thrill of a fancy dress party of Zoom or Microsoft Teams – get your friends together and ask them to dress in their wildest and most creative Halloween costumes! The moment when those cameras first kick in and your friends outfits are revealed will be priceless! You could even have a prize for the best outfit! (with voting)

Spooky Cocktail Making Sessions – are also fun to make over Zoom with friends. Get all the kit down in your living room in advance and follow the steps on Zoom together. There are some great ideas for Halloween Cocktail Ideas on BBC Good Food here.

Pumpkin Carving Competition – Pumpkin carving is just as much fun for the adults as kids – start the virtual party with each person having a pumpkin ready to go, catch up and chat as you normally would whilst creating your Jack O Lantern, and then reveal at the end of the call – you could have a prize for the best!

How are you celebrating Halloween this year?