75 Halloween Activities

What do you do on the spookiest day of the year? Visit a spooky place, of course! Check out local homes rumored to be haunted, or splurge on a trip to haunted homes you’ve always wanted to visit. This spooktacular activity is sure to bring a bone-chilling thrill to your Halloween celebrations this year.

Put together a list of all the funny, creepy, and best Halloween movies, and get ready for a day, week, or even month of silver screen fun. Amp up the excitement by inviting friends over for these watch parties, so you can be scared silly together.

“Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” This iconic song can set the theme for your ghost-hunting adventure. Take it up a notch by booking an exciting ghost-hunting tour — virtual or real — complete with costumes and ghost-hunting gear. It’ll make for an unforgettable Halloween. 

You can buy this “Ghostbusters” costume here from Amazon.

If you want to experience Halloween with family-friendly thrills and rides, haunted mazes, and live entertainment, an amusement park is the way to go. These places truly embrace the Halloween spirit, going all out to make the experience spooky and fun for visitors. Check out local theme parks celebrating Halloween events, and book your spot!

Here’s a great example of a theme park to visit from Shermans Travel.

Let’s not forget our fur babies in all this Halloween fun. Dress up your four-legged buddies in adorable costumes and watch them strut their stuff. Don’t keep this awesome experience to yourself — organize a parade through the neighborhood and create a memorable experience for the whole community.

Spread some ghoul-will this Halloween by embracing the tradition of “booing” — where you must anonymously surprise a neighbor with a gift and a note instructing them to pay it forward, times two. So, they’ve got to “boo” two other neighbors. Anonymously, of course. Let the fun begin!

What’s better than a festive wreath? A wreath made of candy! This family activity engages everyone — kids get to select their favorite candies, while the adults glue them in the shape of a wreath. Hang up this masterpiece for everyone to see, and as an added bonus, use the candy as rewards for good behavior during the holiday season.

Here’s a great example of a candy wreath from One Crazy Mom.

Bring out this mocktail for your Halloween shindig and we guarantee a bloody good time for your guests. The real fun is in the presentation — grenadine syrup served in syringes, which injects a playful element into your night. Witness the fun as guests gleefully squirt the “blood” into their drinks, creating a night, and drink, no one will soon forget.

Here’s a great example of bloody Shirley Temples from Mom’s Dinner.

Everyone will be knocking on your door with this great idea. This Halloween activity to create a googly eye door only requires three things — some googly eyes, glue, and helpful hands to stick the eyes all over your front door. 

Here’s a great example of a googly eye door from itswrittenonthewalls.

You don’t need to own acres of land and grow pumpkins to have your own pumpkin patch. Simply inflate orange balloons, filling them with little treats like candy or loose change before you do so. Gather your kids and their friends for a festive stomping session, where they can gleefully burst these balloon “pumpkins” and claim the treats hidden within.

Here’s a great example of a DIY pumpkin patch from Delia Creates.

Decorate your boring old mugs with monstrous designs for the holiday season. Create a Frankenstein mug, a vampire mug, or even a “Mike Wazowski-from-Monsters Inc.” mug. Use a Sharpie to draw the monsters and an oven to make this permanent, and your customized monster mugs are ready to serve up some hot treats for Halloween.

Here’s a great example of a monster mug from Made in a Day.

Take trick-or-treat bags up another level with a glow-in-the-dark twist. Stencil cool, quirky, or scary designs onto cloth bags, then paint over them with glow-in-the-dark paint. Hand these out to your kids or neighborhood children, or even set these out as party favors and let everyone join in the fun.

Here’s a great example of a glowing trick-or-treat bag from Minted.

Transform your home into horror-ville by replacing images of friends and family with eerie pictures from the internet. Or better yet, replace existing people in photos with their own images, just in black and white for that spooky, old-time effect. No frame? No problem; a plastic ceiling medallion painted brown or black is a good substitute.

Here’s a great example of creepy portrait decor from This Little Miggy.

No, we’re not talking about traditional bowling with your moms (although that can be fun too). This one’s more of a Halloween-themed party game. Wrap bowling pins in tissue paper for the “mummy” effect, and feel free to add a couple of bows, hats, and even googly eyes for extra flair. 

Here’s a great example of mummy bowling from The Note Ninjas.

Sure, this one’s pretty obvious. But, you can’t really have Halloween celebrations for kids and not include this timeless classic. Create a Halloween-appropriate DIY trick-or-treat goodie bag — you can decorate any old cloth bag with black paint, drawn-in skeletons, spiders, bats, and more — and send your kids off on their little adventure — with a minder if needed.

Your little guests will willingly choose to wash their hands multiple times once you’ve set out these bars of special soap. These are really easy and budget-friendly too. Just add plastic creepy crawlies to your glycerine bar and voila, you have a sudsy surprise that will leave everyone squeaky clean and spookily satisfied.

Here’s a great example of spooky soap from Kids Activities Blog.

Get your little chefs excited about cooking with this delightfully simple treat. Discover easy recipes online and give kids the opportunity to dress these apples up by adding some food coloring in shades of red, black, or even vibrant orange. It’s a fun way to embrace the spirit of this holiday while enjoying a nutritious snack.

Here’s a great example of toffee apples from Simply Delicious Food.

Find easy and kid-friendly DIY tutorials to make any kind of lantern, from paper to tissue to cardstock. Encourage kids to spook it up by giving them black paint, plastic creepy crawlies to decorate the lanterns, or red paint to add a little creative “blood splatter” effect. Hang these masterpieces and watch as your kids marvel at their handiwork.

Here’s a great example of DIY Halloween lanterns from First Palette.

Now if spooky-yet-classy is what you’re into, this DIY ghost lantern is easily the simplest project on our list. Help kids glue oval-shaped felt or canvas paper onto a white lantern to make a face, or throw a white sheet over a regular lantern, and your ghost lantern is ready to illuminate and scare the neighbors.

Here’s a great example of a ghost lantern from Simply Designing.

Want an alternative to the hanging lanterns? Then try out these paper luminaries. All you have to do is draw creepy faces on paper luminaries, then paste them over glass jars or drinking glasses. Remember to insert fairy lights or tea lights before you do so, for that eerie glow.

Here’s a great example of paper luminaries from Crafts By Amanda.

Kids of all ages will love getting their hands — and feet — dirty with this little Halloween craft activity. The only materials you’ll need are paper, paint, some towels, and of course, their hands. Then, let them go nuts painting whatever monster, vampire, or ghoul they want.

Here’s a great example of monster handprints from The Best Ideas for Kids.

Kids love their cake pops but what if you could take this up a notch? Good ol’ cake pops can be turned into bloody messes, eerie eyeballs, or creepy grinning faces. Hand kids some icing, corn starch, googly eyes, or chocolate-filled piping bags and watch some foolproof Halloween desserts emerge.

A toilet paper roll, with eight “legs” taped on — that’s really all you need to make your own creepy crawlies. Dip the legs in black paint, stick them on white paper, and voila, you have spider stamps. You can also transform the entire roll into a spider by dipping it in black paint and sticking a pair of googly eyes on it. 

Here’s a great example of toilet paper roll spiders from Crafty Morning.

Use paint, dish soap, and water to create cutesy monsters that any kid will love. All they have to do is catch the bubbles — made after blowing on the paint-soap mixture with a straw — and guide them around a canvas. It’s a little messy but a lot of fun, especially if you stick googly eyes onto the dried splashes of paint.

Here’s a great example of bubble paint monsters from Made To Be a Momma.

Another activity involving our favorite arachnid, this is also one of the simplest games on our list. All you need is some playdough and eight pipe cleaners. Insert the pipe cleaners into the clay to create legs and top it off with googly eyes to bring your spider to life.

Here’s a great example of a playdough spider from Sorting Sprinkles.

Want an alternative to the simple trick-or-treat cloth bags? Try out these treat cups — which are simply plastic cups that are painted to resemble monsters, vampires, or any other creature your kids fancy. Create handles using pipe cleaners or thick string, and you are all set to take them trick-or-treating, or even hand them out as treats during a Halloween get-together.

Here’s a great example of Halloween treat cups from Crafts By Amanda.

Slime is fun to make any day of the year, really, but it reaches another level of excitement during the holidays. Combine glue, water, liquid starch, and a dash of food coloring to create a slime worthy of praise. Mix in glitter and googly eyes, and your monster slime is ready to go.

Here’s a great example of eyeball monster slime from The Moments at Home.

Give your kids an important task for Halloween — decorating the house with these cute bat garlands. Start by helping them stencil bat shapes onto black craft paper, then help them cut these out and string them up using black or orange string. These can be hung onto door frames, windows, shelves, and the kids’ beds for a festive feel.

Here’s a great example of bat garlands from Artful Parent.

Now’s the time to turn your rock collection into Halloween decor. Help kids paint the rocks in all shades, from neon green to vibrant purple to darkest black. They can use Sharpies to draw faces, glue googly eyes on, and even stick on a few pom-poms. For an extra touch, add a layer of glow-in-the-dark paint to illuminate the spooky darkness.

Here’s a great example of monster rocks from The Inspiration Edit.

Let creativity take over in this fun activity for kids of all ages. They start by coloring the outside of a paper bag, then transforming them into vampires, gargoyles, devils, and more. Bonus, these paper monsters can turn into monster puppets too, adding another layer of fun to this Halloween craft.

Here’s a great example of a paper bag monster from I Heart Crafty Things.

Don’t underestimate the Halloween potential of egg boxes! You can fashion them into witches, pumpkins, and just about any Halloween creature you can think of. Plus, the kids will have a blast painting them. These can become party favors for distributing treats or convenient storage for candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters.

Here’s a great example of Halloween egg box decor from The Best Ideas for Kids.

If you’re looking for a fun game for the kids to play at your Halloween party, this candy corn ring toss is the perfect activity. Paint safety cones in white and yellow, then set them out to dry. Grab a bunch of plastic rings or glow necklaces and your game is ready to be played.

Here’s a great example of a candy corn ring toss from Fun365.

A round of (pumpkin) golf, anyone? Simple materials like a plastic pumpkin with a carved-out face (or you can carve one yourself), golf balls, and little golf clubs can elevate the kids’ party experience. Set up pumpkins with various mouth sizes and reward each pumpkin putt with candy.

Here’s a great example of pumpkin golf from A Girl and a Glue Gun.

Get ready for some gourd-geous fun with this one. Buy a pumpkin or two, grab your carving tools, and let your imagination run wild. Funny faces, spooky expressions, and other whimsical creatures are all welcome in this classic Halloween activity. Don’t forget to display these masterpieces in a prominent place.

After skillfully carving your pumpkin, put its flesh to use by baking a delectable Jack-o’-lantern pumpkin pie. Get into the Halloween spirit by decorating your pie with a spooky face, then add some Halloween candy as garnish, and enjoy the treat.

Cast a spooky glow with bloody candles, made in two ways. Dip a red tapered candle in white wax that “bleeds” as it melts. Or, load a hot glue gun with crimson glue to draw dripping “blood” on your white candles. Extend this bloody effect to other dinnerware for a truly macabre experience.

Here’s a great example of bloody candles from DIY How To.

Instead of the recycling bin, why not use all those glass jars to amp up the Halloween vibe? Stick tissue paper or paper luminaries around the jar, or paint them orange and stencil shapes or Sharpie scary faces on, and your little “pumpkin” lights can be placed at the doorstep, ready to illuminate the way into your home.

Here’s a great example of glass jar lanterns from Women’s Day.

Add whimsical charm to your home with spooky floating witch hats that only need witch hats (store-bought or DIY), LED lights, string, and sticky hooks to hang these up. Remember to choose your lights carefully and to turn them off when not needed; this will make them last longer.

Here’s a great example of witch hat lanterns from Polkadot Chair.

There are tons of really great, super easy, costume ideas online. For all ages and genders, these costumes can be created with just a few knick-knacks like craft paper, Sharpies, or scarves. If you’d prefer costumes with the least amount of fuss, however, then Amazon is your best choice.

You can buy it here from Amazon.

Your kids’ costumes might be ready for a night of trick-or-treating, but are you? Instead of simply sending them on their way, take their fun up a notch by transforming your ride into a spooky spectacle. Add ghosts, some balloons, and some eerie pumpkins for a ghoulish experience, and drive your little trick-or-treaters around in their very own ghost ride.

Here’s a great example of a trick-or-treat ride from Motor Biscuit.

We even found a way to use those dried blooms you would usually throw away. Give them new life by arranging them in old glassware to emphasize that gloomy, Halloween vibe. Plus, dried flowers are actually better for your home and environment than fresh ones and are super trendy too, so you’re actually doing the world a favor.

Here’s a great example of dead flower vases from Ecstasy Coffee.

Another wreath activity made it to our list because you can never have too many of these festive decorations. This one also uses dried flowers, glued onto a wreath shape. Fill this in with more dried grass and twigs, and add spooky Halloween details if you wish. Then, hang it up for everyone to see.

Here’s a great example of a dead flower wreath from Felt Magnet.

Terrify dinner guests with DIY tombstone chair covers. They may require a bit more effort but we promise the results are worth the effort. If you’re out of time, then let Amazon come to your rescue. You can get a six-pack of high-quality chair covers and it’ll fit nicely into your budget.

You can buy them here from Amazon. 

Halloween plus bugs equal a match made in spooky Heaven (or Hell), which makes the DIY bug portraits a perfect addition to our list. Grab some large or small plastic bugs, spray paint them any color you like, then hang them up in taxidermy frames all around your living room. After the festivities, these can be repurposed to decorate your kids’ playroom.

Here’s a great example of bug portraits from thesweetestoccasion.

Is finding the perfect holiday decorations and planning the perfect celebration stressing you out? These holiday-appropriate stress balls are extremely easy to make. It’s as simple as filling orange or white balloons with rice and flour. For added fun, you can even give the stress balls a face.

Here’s a great example of Halloween stress balls from Little Bins For Little Hands.

Take some time off from all the decorating and craft-making to indulge in a little self-care. Treat yourself to a Halloween-themed manicure to perfectly spook things up. From beetles and pumpkin seeds to skeletons, the design options are endless. Go bold with vibrant colors like blood red or vibrant orange, or opt for a more subtle nod to the season.

Here’s a great example of spooky Halloween nails from Elle.

Our list is not all arts and crafts; we have a literary treat too. Discover fearfully good book recommendations for your very own Halloween-themed bookshelf, from delightfully sweet tales to the hauntingly macabre. Add the best Halloween books to immerse yourself in a boo-tiful reading experience.

Give your drinks the old Halloween touch by decorating the glasses too. Rustle up some cats, bats, mummies, or ghosts using the variety of DIY tutorials online, apply this to your glasses, and presto, your Halloween beverages are ready to scare guests.

Here’s a great example of Halloween drinking glasses from Shelterness.

You can never have enough lights, especially on Halloween. These little spider string lights look great and give you the perfect photo op too. Stick pipe cleaner legs onto small plastic shot cups, add googly eyes, then string them up using LED string lights for the perfect Halloween party decor.

Here’s a great example of spider string lights from The Reject Shop.

Just ask Hollywood — no scary lair is complete without a smoking potion. And our Halloween potion recipes are just what you need to complete your party decor. Mix vibrant food coloring into your “cauldron,” using cold tea and water for kids or combining baking soda and vinegar for grown-ups. The result? The perfect eerie concoction for your party.

Here’s a great example of Halloween potions from Mama Makes Good.

This one’s a twofer — create wonderfully spooky Halloween decor, and take care of those pesky water rings on your tables at the same time. Just a bit of puff paint and wax paper can create spider web placemats, which look best under clear plates and glassware.

Here’s a great example of spider web placemats from Delia Creates.

Toilet paper rolls can be more than just cat toys and spider stamps. They can become the ultimate party poppers too. Stuff them with sweets, wrap them in colorful, Halloween-themed paper, and share them with party guests. While sticking to the holiday theme, you can even add a small plastic creepy crawly or two for a small scare.

Here’s a great example of toilet paper roll party poppers from Onion Rings & Things.

Scare your boos with this spooky mirror trick. Modify any mirror frame using black paint, print out spooky images that can be taped to the back of the glass front-side up, then pass it over with Looking Glass paint to create an un-boo-leivably creepy Halloween party decor.

Here’s a great example of a creepy mirror from countryliving.

Invite some extra sweet guests over this Halloween. All you need to make these additions are round lollipops covered in Kleenex and tied off with tiny elastics. Your lollipop ghosts are ready for the party. Also, you can hand them out as party favors at the end of the night.

Here’s a great example of a lollipop ghost from One Little Project.

Set the stage for a spooktacular soirée by combining tracks like Bobby Pickett’s ‘Monster Mash’ with Billie Eilish’s hit, ‘Bury a Friend,’ in your ultimate Halloween playlist. Get friends and family in the mood to slay the night with a collection of tunes that will leave everyone howling for more.

This fruity concoction only needs some eyeballs — frozen blueberries inserted into pitted and peeled lychees — and the rest can be customized as per your preference. Whip up a sparkling cranberry orange punch or a blackberry lychee lemon punch. Make it with or without liquor for party ghouls of all ages.

Here’s a great example of eyeball punch from Dixie Crystals.

Convert old bottles and jars into poison jars with just a couple of stickers or labels. “Arsenic,” “snake venom,” and “pig’s blood” can sit side-by-side with your jars of sugar and candy to give guests a fright. Take it a step further by adding poisonous labels to your alcohol decanters for an extra touch of Halloween mischief. 

Here’s a great example of poison bottles and jars from Entertaining Diva.

Now that the decanters and bottles are ready, it’s time for the drinks. Create another dash of creepy wonder with these easy-to-make “poison” cocktails — simply add food coloring to your beverage of choice. As an extra touch, you can even serve them up in test tubes or the poison-labeled bottles from before.

Here’s a great example of poison cocktails from Three Olives Branch.

Add a bit of festive cheer to your party with a Halloween-inspired balloon garland. Select balloons in fall colors, inflate them, and arrange them in a shape you like. Hang the garland up in your chosen spot and embellish it with flying bats, googly eyes, witch hats, and other spooky items. Now, your home is finally Pinterest-ready for Halloween.

Here’s a great example of a spooky balloon garland from HGTV.

Line a cardboard box with a plastic garbage bag to avoid leaks and fill it up with everything that could potentially feel gross — peeled grapes, cooked spaghetti, steamed cauliflower, a glove filled with flour, and more. Add to the spooky vibe by dressing the box up like a tombstone or coffin and daring your guests to guess the contents. 

Instead of a traditional dinner party, how about a midnight picnic at the witching hour in your own backyard that’s been set up to look like a cemetery? You can use the many decoration ideas mentioned in this very article, like the spooky wreaths and mason jar luminaries, to set the atmosphere.

Get kids to join forces to make clever estimations on a range of spooky-themed questions. Kids can guess the probability of people getting the candy corn ring toss nine times in a row or finding the one flour-filled glove in the mystery box. It’s eerie and educational too.

Any simple math worksheet can be transformed into a Halloween-themed game. All you have to do is hand out orange or green colored pencils and the kids to color the right answers to the math questions. It’s perfect for the pre-holiday practice and helps kids enjoy their work a little more too.

Have you ever realized candy corn resembles the greater than/less than symbol? This makes the sweet treat perfect to help kids understand the concept of inequality symbols. Plus, when they’re done, the kids get to eat the candy as a reward. Sweet, right?

Engage their brains and interest with this zombified take on graphing lines. Kids learning about linear equations get a spine-tingling lesson as they figure out which zombie each graph line goes through. Wondering how to create this? Fear not, as there are plenty of online resources that offer up inspiration, guides, and printables to help you design this math game.

Here’s a great representation of playing with graphing lines from St. Albert the Great School.

Are your kids struggling with the order of operations? Then this one’s for you. Craft pumpkin-shaped cutouts featuring equations on top and corresponding answers at the bottom. Mix up a collection of these equation pairs and challenge them to match the correct top half with its bottom half. They get to practice some math and have loads of fun doing so.

Here’s a great example of a pumpkin puzzler from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.

No prizes for guessing this one; we’re handing out treats to the kids who answer math questions correctly. Whether you want to review a specific topic or practice your current lessons, this game offers a fun and educational experience. Set out a bunch of treats and let kids compete to be the trick-or-treat master.

Here’s a great example of the trick-or-treat math edition from Super Simple.

Write a math problem on the bottom of one Hershey’s Kiss and the answer on another. You can use multiplication, addition, or equations too. Played like a regular memory game, this can be played solo, or with a bunch of kids. Kids can also compete to win Hershey’s Kisses as a reward.

Unleash your math skills with a playful twist! Grab some plastic pumpkins and label them with numbers. Equations on popsicle sticks have to add up to these numbers. Challenge kids to match the equations to the right pumpkins. This game can even be converted for the youngest ones using dots.

Here’s a great example of a pumpkin match game from Kids Activities Blog.

Reuse your pumpkins from the previous activity for this game too. This time, create sorting cards for different math concepts, such as odd and even numbers, greater than/less than, and more. Challenge participants to correctly sort the cards into the corresponding pumpkins. You can even ask them to explain their choices for a deeper understanding of the concepts.

Here’s a great example of fill the pumpkin from Mr. Elementary Math.

Anyone can participate in this little guessing game, where individual trick-or-treat bags are weighed at the end of a night trick-or-treating. Make sure that all the kids’ candy is put into one big bowl to avoid the competition over who got more candy and, instead, keep the focus on the guessing game.

Here’s a great representation of a simple guessing game from Your Tango.

Halloween candy to explore probability and sample sizes? Why not, say the math experts. Give each kid or team a handful of Halloween candy and ask them to sort the candies by color and estimate the frequency of each color. Then, cap it off by asking them to explain their answers and debate whether or not they make sense.

Pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and more might make the cutest little Halloween-themed erasers, but they can also be repurposed to teach kids about graphing. Give out little cauldrons full of erasers to each kid, then ask them to use “bones” (a.k.a. cotton swabs) to tally how many they got. It’s super simple, a teeny bit creepy, and heaps of fun.

Here’s a great example of graphing with Halloween-themed erasers from Miss Giraffe’s Class.

Something about Halloween screams “skeletons and bones,” which is probably why the bone bridge made it to our list. It’s a pretty cool STEM challenge — task kids with making a bridge of bones (again, cotton swabs), that can be tested for length, capacity, or strength. It can be modified too, depending on the age of your kids.

Here’s a great example of a Halloween bone bridge from Feel-Good Teaching.

Create a big bowl of Halloween treats for this one. They can be anything from Halloween erasers and little creepy crawlies to Halloween candy. Write math questions on index cards and quiz students on whether they are true or false. The ones with the right answer get to pick one treat each.

Make your own spider using craft paper or construction paper. Then, write an equation on the spider body, like 95-20 is the same as. Kids must write equations on each spider leg that add up to the same amount. They’re enhancing their math skills while having a spidery good time.

Here’s a great example of spidery equations from Mr. Elementary Math.