Prepping for Halloween in Quarantine? Try These Halloween Activity Ideas to Keep Halloween Safe--and Fun!

“Is Halloween cancelled?”

That’s probably the question on every kid’s mind right now. It’s just not safe to run around the neighborhood grabbing treats out of shared bowls. So how can you show your kids a good time while keeping everybody safe?

Read on for some fun Halloween activities that will keep your kids excited about the season.

Join a Costume Parade

If your kids love dressing up, why not create or join a costume parade? All the kids can dress up and march (socially distanced) down the street, through a park, or around a parking lot to display costumes. It’ll give kids a way to show off, and also get out of the house!

Halloween Zoom Party

Even if you’re not meeting in person, hop online to show off everybody’s costumes! Friends, coworkers, or grandparents will enjoy seeing your family’s fabulous outfits.

Neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Contest

Invite everyone in the neighborhood to decorate and set out pumpkins for a jack-o-lantern contest. Participants can vote for winners online, or just walk up and down the street to admire everybody’s work.

Decorate Masks

Since the face mask is this year’s new fashion statement, why not make it part of the costume? Try creating a mask that matches your outfit, or decorate a fun Halloween mask to wear on its own.

If you don’t sew, don’t worry. The CDC has instructions for making a quick and easy mask with a piece of cloth and two rubber bands. Let the kids choose fabric and decorate it with fabric pens to make their own Halloween statements.

(Note: A costume mask won’t protect kids from germs, so the CDC recommends making a cloth mask a part of your costume. Don’t let kids wear a costume mask and a fabric mask at the same time, as it can make it hard to breathe.)

Make Creative Costumes From Household Items

Since your kids don’t have to impress anybody, make this the year to get creative. What do you have lying around the house that someone can turn into a really fabulous costume? Scarves, hats, old coats, letter jackets, cast-off skirts, oversized shirts, and bath-towel capes can turn your kid into a superhero, a movie actor, a monster, or something you’ve never imagined.

Mad Scientist Candy Lab

Create a laboratory for destroying candy and learning science lessons. Try candy experiments like throwing Warheads into baking soda water to make it bubble, stretching out taffy like ectoplasm, or creating slime by microwaving gummy worms and letting them cool. You can melt, sink, crush, break, soak, and stir--who knows what the kids will discover!

Choose Your Favorite Treats

If you’re not buying 10-pound bags of candy and handing out pieces to every kid in town, why not let your kids choose this year’s treats? This is the year for gourmet chocolate, sour bombs, exotic fruits, or whatever your family really wants. Buying the candy yourself instead of sending kids around the neighborhood also helps you limit the amount of sugar your kids get for Halloween.

Trick-or-Treat Candy Hunt

If you don’t go out trick-or-treating, make the hunt happen at home instead. Hide candy or prizes in Easter eggs, and add glow sticks to make them glow in the dark!

You can also create a scavenger hunt or a treasure map to get kids searching all around the house.

Old-Fashioned Halloween Treats

Try celebrating Halloween the way your great-grandparents did by making the treats yourselves. Kids can mix and shape Jell-O popcorn balls without having to boil sugar, and pulling taffy will get kids involved and teach them about candy chemistry at the same time.

Keep Halloween Fun

Don’t let the current craziness keep you from enjoying Halloween. If you get creative and plan out some new Halloween activities, you can celebrate Halloween 2020-style and keep the day fun for everyone.