Halloween is one week away and for many it will look a little different in 2020. While there is no confident consensus about the right way to celebrate, we have decided that the best choice for our family is to spend Halloween at home.
Our beloved tradition of following our costume-clad kiddos down the sidewalk as they knock on neighbour’s doors belting out “trick or treat” will have to wait another year. There won’t be any marathon of makeup, or epic costume parade, or classic candy dump at the end of the night to see what they’ve collected (not all bad I guess).
And while some of our friends and neighbours might be participating in the usual fare or testing out new trends including trunk or treating or virtual parties, we thought we would keep our festivities all in the family.
Even though this year will look a lot different for our littles, and we’ll miss some our favourite moments from Halloween’s past, I plan on making this October 31st one to remember. Here is a sneak peak at what’s brewing in our world.
Dare To Dress Up (or Down)
While I had originally planned on letting the kids pick out and purchase a new costume this year, I quickly switched gears when we learned our school wasn’t allowing the kids to dress up. Plus, with our plan to keep our pod at home, it felt like we needed something a bit more laid back.
One of our favourite family traditions is matching pjs for the holidays, and since we plan on spending the day cozy and casual at home, I decided to go on the hunt for spooktacular sleepwear. There are so many great options available but I settled on these matching skeleton onesies. You could gather together a wild animal posse, superhero squad or motley crew of favourite characters, or opt for any of these great options.
Marathon Some Monstrous Movies
Since we’ll be dressed in couch couture, a movie marathon of favourite Halloween flicks will be a must. Our fear factor is a bit on the low end so we try to find a good balance between animated and feature flicks the whole family can enjoy.
I think I’ll even bring our jack-o-lanterns indoors and light them for movie night ambience. We won’t be handing out candy either, so this is a great way to uphold this tradition and give our pumpkins presence in a fun new way.
Get Frightfully Fun With Food
Since Halloween wouldn’t be complete without sweets, the littles have already been brainstorming a few ideas they can contribute. Pinterest is packed with inspiring ideas for all sorts of ghoulish goodies. I made these mummy wrapped wieners a few years back and they’ve been a repeat request every year since.
Set A Spellbinding Scene
Of course a themed tablescape is always on the menu for me. With a few favours picked up from the local party store, craft supply or dollar aisle, you can easily whip together a whimsical scene where the family can gather and gorge.
Gear Up For Ghostly Good Times
Since Halloween lands on a weekend this year, we’ve got a whole day to fill with fun. So we’re borrowing from another holiday tradition and setting up a scavenger hunt in lieu of door-to-door trick or treating. We’re trading our easter baskets for pumpkin buckets and the kids can work together to follow clues that lead to candy. If you have tinier tots these plastic pumpkins are the perfect swap for plastic easter eggs.
And instead of going all out on the front lawn with decorations, I think we’ll move some of them into the backyard this year to help set the scene for our spooky scavenger hunt. Of course if Halloween history repeats itself and the weather is too rainy or cold, we’ll take the hunt indoors.
Start A New Spine-Tingling Tradition
A brand new tradition we’re all excited to try this year is making a haunted gingerbread house. I picked up these awesome molds so we can try baking it ourselves and then we will attempt to decorate it together. If this tradition sticks, I’ll likely have to make 3 houses for each of the littles to decorate next year (or at Christmas), but we’ll see how it goes.
Well it looks like another annual tradition gets a revamp in 2020. The important thing in this household is that we’re staying focused on family and appreciating the silver linings this time together affords. Maybe we’ll look back many years from now and realize this is when we created some of our favourite family memories. Wishing you and yours a very Happy Halloween!
