The short answer to a never ending question.

What can kids do on Halloween besides eating candy and staring at a screen? Sometimes that does seem like the only option. But thankfully, it’s not.

Give them a scavenger hunt, a costume mission, or a spell to cast, anything with a small goal wrapped in a little mystery, and they'll forget the screen was ever even an option. Hooked already? Let’s turn one of these 25 turned into your next family's yearly tradition. 

To know the future, you must look at the past: How every Halloween always goes.

Every October, the same thing happens. The before and during is always exciting. But the after? Once the candy bowl empties, the sugar wears off, and when they have nothing left to do: they start asking for screens once again. What is Halloween even about?

It was never really about the candy. It's the one night of the year when pretending is allowed out loud, when a cape makes you a hero and a whispered spell makes you a magician. Kids don't need more sugar to feel that. They need a small adventure to walk into. It’s within them.

 

Magic comes from the inside out, not from the outside in.

 

That's the difference between an activity and a memory: one fills an hour, the other becomes something they ask for again next year. And it could be something simple for you too, not extra work this year nor something you dread for the following one.

 

No decorations to build, no all-day crafts. Just small, real things you can do with what's already in the house.

25 Magical Halloween Activities for Kids That Create Family Traditions.

1.     Backyard potion scavenger hunt: Hide 5 'ingredients' for a potion around the yard.

BONUS: give them a jar and have them mix their ingredients up. Ask them some open-ended questions: what’s its name? What does it do? How strong is it? 

2.     Flashlight shadow puppets: Turn off the lights and tell a two-minute spooky story with hands

BONUS: Take turns making shadows and create one story all together.

3.     Design your own costume badge: Draw a symbol for the 'power' their costume gives them. Stick it to their costume. They can also do other drawings for other parts of their costume.

4.     Pumpkin math: Guess and count the seeds before carving.

5.     Spell-casting relay: Invent a made-up spell and 'cast' it across the room. The others have to guess what is it about.

6.     Candy sorting challenge: Sort the loot by color, then by favorite, then trade. What are the top 3?

7.     Glow-in-the-dark obstacle course: String, tape, and a flashlight are enough.

8.     Write a one-page ghost story: Swap halfway through and finish someone else's

9.     Halloween shadow theater: Cut up a box, decorate some socks and have a blast!

10.  Costume fashion show for stuffed animals: The toys are the aura judges, pose in front of them so that they can give a verdict!

BONUS: Parents can join too! Who is the spookiest?

11.  Mystery box guessing game: Put something on a box, another has to put they hand on the box without looking inside and try to guess what it is. Rinse and repeat!

12.  Pumpkin carving switch up: Each start carving a pumpkin and halfway through switch up.

13.  Mini haunted house: Build a haunted house out of cardboard boxes. Decorate as much as you’d like.

14.  Trick-or-treat bag decorating: Before the candy goes in, not after.

15.  Halloween word scramble: 5 words, whoever unscrambles first picks the next game

16.  Spooky freeze dance: Music stops, everyone holds their scariest pose

17.  What’s the spooky word?: One says the first letter, another says the last one. What word starts and ends with said letters? Ex. “G” and “T”. “Ghost”.

TIP: If you’re more than 2: The winner stays, the other is replaced!

18.  Paper bag masks: Cut eye holes, decorate, wear for the rest of the night.

19.  Count the jack-o'-lanterns walk: A slow walk around the block with a tally sheet.

BONUS: Also count type of Halloween decorations & repeated costumes

20.  Invent a family Halloween handshake: Spooky version, keep it every year.

21.  Candy taste-test blind ranking: Blindfold, guess the candy, rank the top 3.

22.  Draw your own trading cards: One monster each, trade at the end.

23.  Spider web string game: Yarn strung across a doorway, 'catch' small toys in it.

24.  Ghost story campfire (no campfire needed): Flashlight under the chin is enough.

TIP: If your kids don’t do well with ghost stories, you can change it to “making the scariest face” the flashlight. Same energy, waaay less nightmares.

25.  Halloween scavenger photo hunt: Find 10 different Halloween decorations throughout a neighborhood walk.

BONUS: If you’re multiple people, assign each kid one decoration in particular. They can only photograph that one. How different can “spider decorations” actually get?

EXTRA BONUS!

Costume swap night: Trade one piece of the costume with a sibling / friend and improvise.

If tonight goes well...

If tonight goes well, the next rainy afternoon doesn't have to start from zero. Cast Your First Spell keeps that same feeling, a small mission, a bit of mystery, something to do with their hands, ready whenever you need it, not just on October 31st.

By the end of the night the candy will be gone either way. What's left is whichever moment they choose to tell at breakfast tomorrow.

Make it the scavenger hunt, not the screen.

 

See you in the Beyond.