10 Fun (Kid-Friendly) Activities That Are A Must For The Spooky Season
Iβm a sucker for the fall. I love the cooler weather, and the leaves changing, but especially the spooky fun that comes with it!Β
I take full advantage of the enchanting nature that season has to offer from decorating, baking, adventures, and the coup de grΓ’ce, Halloween.
Even though my son isnβt yet old enough (heβs just shy of two years old) to really appreciate my love for this wonderful season, it doesnβt deter me from my traditions. In fact, Iβve been working on ways to involve him that help him hopefully develop strong feelings of attachment to my most favorite time of year.
There are several activities and customs that I love delving into to celebrate the oncoming of this autumn atmosphere. As soon as September 1st hits, I dive into planning mode.
Read on for some excellent ideas on how to have fun with this most delightfully spooky season.
Decorating Your Home – Inside & Out
As soon as the first day of fall reveals itself (in my book, thatβs September 1st), I break out the many tubs of fall and Halloween decor to envelope my home, inside and out, with a ghoulish galore of decorations.
Iβve accumulated my collection over the years of all things creepy and colorful to grace my home during these few months out of the year. My top places for sourcing these items include Michaels, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Ross, Amazon, and second-hand stores.Β
I get pumped when these stores bring out their recent yearβs stock of Halloween decorations. Iβm like a kid in a candy store.Β
Thankfully, my sister helps me temper my excitement so I donβt go too crazy or take a huge hit in my wallet. She reminds me that we have a smaller home and donβt have room for much more, but I still end up adding at least a few new things to the collection each year.
Some staples for inside my home are:Β
- Festive Pillow Covers: Changing my couch pillow covers to oranges, whites, and blacks. I also found some super cute accent pillows at TJ Maxx and Ross.
- Black Webbing: I put this all around my home. On the mirrors, lights, around the windows, down the hallway, and on the bookcase.Β
- Halloween Accent Decor:Β
- – Pumpkins of all kinds and sizes go everywhere
- – Halloween gnomes hang around the house on shelves and the fireplace mantle
- – Fall Candles
- – Skeleton Hand Wine Glasses – found these second-hand and had to grab a bunch
- – Halloween Wreath – I made it myself with fun finds from Michaels and the Dollar Tree.Β
- – Michaels Halloween Accents for Wreaths & Decor – They have so many cute and spooky accents on sticks for making wreaths and things. I pop them into vases and around with my staple home decor.
- – Bats – I get the flat, shiny, plastic ones from Amazon that you can stick all around the house and even put on the inside of your lamp
For the outside decorations, I usually go with:
- A Halloween-Themed Flag – I have a flag pole that hangs from my porch. I got a Ghostbusters flag from Amazon that has been my go-to these past couple of years
- Big Fuzzy Spider – he hangs out on one of my porch rocking chairs with his legs wrapped around the top so he stays put
- Life-sized Skeletons – I have two and they stay on my porch in two of my rocking chairs all year round with one hand up to wave to all the people passing by
- Witches Hats – I got a cheap 12-pack from Amazon and used fishing line and thumbtacks to hang them from my porch ceiling as if they are floating there on their own
- Welcome Sign – I found a cute skeleton βWelcomeβ sign at Ross that I had to have standing next to my door
- Lights – I drape LED lights that are solar-powered over my bushes in front of my porch that light up orange and purple
- Pumpkins – I grace my house with these after we go on our yearly trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Since we live in Georgia, I try to wait until the temp gets a little cooler out because Iβve learned that the pumpkins donβt last long in the heat, especially after youβve carved them
My outdoor decor game could definitely be dialed up, but I like to make sure that I add some fun festive flair to the outside of my home.
Baking: Halloween Cookies, Cupcakes, and More!
One thing that truly gets me into the spirit of this wondrous spooky holiday season is the baked goods. I love baking and being creative with all the fun ideas that I find on Pinterest.
I start pinning things as if I were planning a huge Halloween-themed party, which usually ends up being pretty small and sometimes just me and the fam at home, but I get amped up by all the fun and festive ideas I find.
Iβve started the tradition of baking Halloween sugar cookies that I decorate with royal icing. Trying out some new design ideas each year and of course, keeping a few of the staples mixed in.
The first yearβs cookies werenβt the best looking. They definitely take some practice, but they are so fun to make and I love seeing my techniques improve each year.
There are also so many fun Halloween-themed cupcake ideas out there. Iβve done up some pumpkins and just spooky-colored ones before, but Iβm looking forward to trying out more creative ones like the creepy brains one I found.
People come up with such creative ideas for themed foods and Iβm here for it! Check out Pinterest to get some fun ideas to try at home. There is a plethora of options that go from beginner level to get you started and up to advanced if youβre feeling frisky.
Fall Pictures
Take advantage of the beautiful scenery around you and create some fun memories with your little one. This is the perfect time of year to get outside and capture some stunning images of your kiddo in the fall season.
You can use a fancy camera if you have one, but the lens on phones nowadays will be able to take some excellent photos that you can use to add to your photo album or print out and frame for your household decor.
It doesn’t need to be an elaborate setup. Mother Nature has provided you with the perfect backdrop.Β
Just grab any fun additions that you would like to add to the frame and have a blast encapsulating your little ones in the beautiful moments of their experiencing this wonderful season.Β
Visiting an Apple Orchard
Growing up in Minnesota we had an apple orchard that was minutes away from our house and every fall our family would go. We would pick apples, go on hayrides and horse rides, and raid the store for apples, cider, caramel apples, the works.
Now that we live in Georgia, the closest apple orchard is almost two hours away, but I still try to make the trek to keep the tradition alive. And the one down here is massive and has so many goodies to enjoy.
Our apple orchard growing up was a beautiful, but small operation. This new one has so many different options for apples, a gift shop, cider options (both alcoholic and non), and more!
You can walk the orchards, pick your own apples, relax on their spacious deck, and/or peruse all the premade goodies that are ready to be gathered in abundance in your shopping cart. Perfect little adventure for the season.
Homemade Apple Cider
One of the great things to do with all those apples you acquired from the orchard is to make homemade apple cider. There are several methods to doing this, but I prefer the stovetop method with my Dutch oven.
There are so many different recipes that you can find on Pinterest for this. You can try out unique twists, get spicy, maybe you want to spike some of it, or just stay the traditional route.Β
The options for all are on Pinterest. Make up a big βol batch or several different batches and have some fun with it. The whole family will enjoy reaping the benefits of your labors, including you.
Visiting a Pumpkin Patch
I know that grocery and retail stores like Walmart have pumpkins for sale outside their storefronts, but I prefer to get mine straight from the source, a pumpkin patch. You are surrounded by the atmosphere of fall in these magically festive farms.Β
They typically have the option for you to pick your pumpkin from the actual patch or from the ones they recently harvested. This is where I choose the easier route and pick one thatβs already cut and ready to go.
They also tend to have other activities for you and the kiddos to enjoy, like hayrides, face painting, cute picture opportunities, and gift shops to explore for more fall goodies.Β
Since we live in Georgia and the summer takes its sweet time making its exit, I typically try and wait until about a week or so before Halloween for this adventure. Unfortunately, the humidity and heat in Georgia mean a short life for carved pumpkins if done too early in the season.
Carving Pumpkins
When carving pumpkins I let my creativity and competitive side emerge. I like to find different ideas for what I want to carve into my pumpkin on Pinterest.
There are so many fun designs that people have done previously and on all skill levels. I try to stay somewhere in the moderate skill level, giving myself just enough of a challenge, but not so high to get in over my head.
I loved doing this ever since I was a kid. Iβm so excited to involve my son this year by letting him dig his hand inside the pumpkin to pull out the seeds. I think heβll have a blast with that.
I canβt wait for him to carve up his own pumpkin, but heβs still a bit too little for that. Maybe next year.
Watch Halloween Movies
I start this on day one of the season (which is September 1st in my world) and put on one of the seasonal favorites while I decorate my house with festive and spooky decor.
The strong contender for the first slot of viewing is typically Hocus Pocus. Iβm not big into horror movies, so I stick with the spooky, light-hearted, funny, kid-friendly, or interesting Halloween movies, but to each their own.
I typically have some variation of one of these holiday-themed films on in my house at least once a day up to the day of Halloween. I imagine the people in my house get sick of it, but I donβt care.
Itβs just another one of the ways that I like to enjoy the holiday season and Iβm starting to involve my son in this wonderful tradition with the more kid-friendly ones.
Halloween Costumes
Of course, this is a common custom that is widely celebrated during the spooky season, but itβs still one that I have a lot of fun with each year, even when I leave it to the last minute.
Some years I will plan ahead and have an elaborate idea of what I want to dress up as. This usually depends on the plans I have going on that year.Β
Even when itβs not a high-traffic for social events type of season and I figure that Iβll probably just skip it, I always end up getting festive in the end.
I like to try and think of costume ideas that arenβt as common or a little more unique to make the year stand out.
Β For example, last year I was going to have my son and I be matching bats because it was easy, but then I came up with the idea of dressing him up like a mad scientist and having me be his bat, which was way better. We also had my sister be the thing he reanimates. It was classic.
My sisterβs boyfriend and his dog are now part of our family traditions, so I think we might be the Scooby gang this year, but weβll see if I change it last minute, lol.
Halloween Party
I love a good themed party, especially a Halloween party, but they are a lot of work to put together, so I only throw one every few years or so.Β
I have a few friends that have their birthdays around Halloween and they typically are the ones throwing the parties, so I donβt have to worry about hosting for the most part.
But every year I get the itch to throw one when I start seeing all the cool ideas for themed foods, decorations, cocktail ideas, etc., on Instagram and Pinterest. If this month wasnβt already so jam-packed and I didnβt have a wedding the weekend after Halloween, I would have seriously considered it this year.
If youβre planning on hosting one of these parties, I would suggest hitting up Pinterest for ideas on what direction you want to take for the theme of your Halloween party because letβs be real, there are several different types of Halloween-themed types of parties that you could do.
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Cheers, Warriors!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it entertaining, educational, inspiringβhopefully, all three. Please be sure to leave any comments or questions you have in the Comments section below.Β
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