15 Things to do This Halloween at Home | AD

Halloween itself wasn’t the best last year. We were all scared, in the middle of a lockdown and I remember taking the girls for a wander around the streets with me neighbour and it was so quiet!! I came home and had a little cry. I wasn’t the same at all. However we did actually have a brilliant build up despite all this. I know we will definitely be going trick or treating this year, I know we will also spend a lot of time at home, as it was really fun! My two year old is already getting a bit of an idea what is going on and is already taking about “candy”, yes too much YouTube and telling me he isn’t sure about being scared!

I remember sitting and brainstorming all the things we would like to do for a Halloween at Home last year with my eldest and I still think it will be pretty relevant this year, as well as having some amazing bits and pieces sent to me, to help me have even more fun!

Halloween at Home

Here were some of our ideas from lockdown Halloween last year!

Decorate the House

We love decorating the house and after last year, I did make more of an effort. I found the build up to Halloween lasted most of October and we had some brilliant fun with the fireplace and outside a little. We have some small pumpkins from last year and there are loads of cheap options of things to buy. You can use fake cobwebs, pumpkins, monsters and ghouls and lights! Even better get the kids to make some decorations.

If you want cheap options, Poundlound can be great! I also saw some fab bits in Asda too!

We were also kindly sent this amazing Suck UK Skull Tidy from Red Candy. I LOVE some of the products you can buy from Red Candy; so quirky and original and this was no different.

Currently on sale for £27.50, this Skull Tidy came in a lovely presentation box and is made from plastic polyresin, with 12.5cm x 16cm x 21.5cm measurements. You can store what you like in it, from keys, to coins to even your phone. It is pretty roomy! It looks great and is perfect as Halloween decor or in our case, likely all year around!

We were also sent this really cool and as my daughter said, pretty scary Lock, Shock and Barrel Figurine – The World of Miss Mindy presents Disney.

This figure retails at £65 and can be found on Gift Giving All Wrapped Up, which has a brilliant Halloween selection this year!

As taken from online,

Designed by Miss Mindy, their mischievous traits are sure to delight any Nightmare Before Christmas fan. Collect the whole Nightmare Before Christmas scene! Miss Mindy’s iconic folk cartoon interpretation of the beloved Nightmare Before Christmas is a must for every Disney fan.

It just looks amazing on my mantlepiece with my other Halloween Decor!

Halloween Crafting 

There are so many Halloween crafts you can do from making spooky decorations, to making pom pom spiders, to drawing some Halloween pictures. I love crafting with the kids, as it’s a real bonding time (even if if completely trashes my house!!).

Have a look at this post for a fab roundup of Halloween crafts.

Halloween crafting may also include some slime making! I’m not a huge fan of slime myself but the kids love it! There are some great recipes online.

Here is a great one here.

Halloween Learning

We were kindly sent this fabulous book of Halloween activities last year and my eldest still now dips into it. You can buy yours on Amazon here. It is aimed at kids ages 6-8. I really like this book as it’s not just your usual colouring in and puzzles. There are some real educational activities and perfect for weekend activities when it is very cold. This currently retails at £5.99, so not too pricey and you get plenty of difference activities for your kids to do.

There are word searches, sentence writing skills, sequences, matching pairs and finishing sentences. I really feel it mixes creativity, English and Maths with a Halloween theme! Kids will forget they are learning and really get involved. My daughter did go straight to the colouring the cat picture but we will be cracking on with more as we lead up to Halloween.

We were also sent this cool The Science of Ghosts from Toys and Bears.

This retails at £17.99 and is a scary science kit for young ghost fans everywhere. They can learn about chemical reactions, phosphorescence, slime and more with this ghost-themed science kit. My kids love slime and mess and this will be a fab educational activity for during the day on Halloween! It is aimed at children aged 8-14, so perfect for my eldest daughter and a mate.

My lucky kids were also sent this really fun Beaker Creatures Skull Mountain Volcano from Learning Resources. It retails at £18 and is great for Halloween fun and bringing in some science too! Beaker Creatures Skull Mountain Volcano is perfect for wacky volcano experiments in your own home laboratory. You drop a Reactor Pod into Skull Mountain, stand back, and watch the crazy fizz! There is a guide pack with some hands on experiments too!

Carve Pumpkins

I can’t believe I only got into doing this since my eldest was born. I feel I missed out! My husband is really good at doing it and even my eldest at 6, last year had a good go at it. Their creations were pretty amazing really. What I like about carving pumpkins is it is really therapeutic and you can use the middle for some delicious recipes, if you fancy it!

Check out this post for some ideas, with no kit needed!

Get Dressed up in Costumes

My girls will be definitely getting dressed up spookily and making the effort. We already have pumpkin costumes for my middley and my eldest will need to choose something too. They love getting dressed up and Halloween this year will be no different.

You may want to buy one or make! Check out my Pinterest Board for some inspiration.

Paint Your Faces

I am shocking at doing this but even if you are not going to venture out (it is such good fun!) My eldest loves to do my face and again it is nice bonding time for us. There are some fabulous tutorials on YouTube and you can also find ideas on Pinterest too!

Outdoor Games

Last winter when we were in lockdown for such a long time, we got used to playing out in all weathers! I still remember watching the kids bomb around on the road in minus temperatures but we had nothing else to do! We used to chat to the neighbours and they probably saved my sanity over the winter months.

We have continued that over the summer and the kids love playing on the front on their bikes and messing around, so I know we will probably play out a lot over the winter too. So why not to make Halloween fun too?

We were kindly sent this amazing Waboba MoonShine. This is a gravity-defying ball which turns a routine game into an out of this world free-for-all.

It makes a unique “pop” sound when it hits the ground, bounces up to 100 feet and lights up for seven seconds when bounced. You can find on Amazon.co.uk and leading toy and leisure stores. It currently retails at £7.99 and is great fun for active kids!!

Go for a Halloween Walk or Treasure Hunt

Last year we couldn’t go trick or treating but we still did go out for a walk to see some decorated house (this is one of my favourite Christmas things to do too). Take a torch and make it spooky!

You may also want to do a treasure hunt in your garden or out on your walk, if possible. Hide sweets or Halloween treats. Kids will love this! Perhaps when it is still light!! I always think a treasure hunt is a good way to get some learning in, especially if you write clues. Brilliant for reading skills.

Have a Halloween-Themed meal

For me I always think of hot-dogs and beans but you may want spooky spaghetti and meatballs.

We were also sent a delicious Toblerone Cheesecake that you can adapt for a spooky dessert! It is available in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and B&M stores and has a recommended retail price of £3.50. It serves 4-5.

To create below, this is what you do:

1. Defrost cheesecake thoroughly by taking it out of the freezer and put into the fridge for 5 hours.
2. Melt 100g milk chocolate in a microwave stirring every 20 seconds or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water
3. In a separate bowl melt 50g white chocolate in the same way
4. Prepare a piping bag with a small circular nozzle or simply snip off the very corner once you’ve put the white chocolate into it
5. Place the Toblerone cheesecake on a large plate and pour the milk chocolate directly onto the centre of it, let it flow over the edges
6. Starting in the middle, pipe a white chocolate circle about the size of a 5 pence
7. Moving outwards approx. 1cm away from the centre circle, pipe concentric circles around the cheesecake 1cm apart
8. Drag a chopstick in a line working outwards from the centre circle through the circles of white chocolate approx. 10 times.
9. Turn the plate after every line until you’ve completed the spider’s web design.

Halloween Baking

There are so many amazing recipes on Pinterest for ideas for some Halloween-themed cooking and meals.

You can have a look at this Halloween dessert recipes post for some ideas. Cupcakes, biscuits and cake! Yummy treats and keeps the kids busy for a little bit.

You may want to try making some Halloween Chocolate Bark which is so fun and delicious.

You can check out my very easy recipe here.

Treat the Kids To a Halloween Toy

Halloween is right at the end of our half term this year, so I know I will be wondering what to do with my three for the entire week. I also know one of the things I will end up doing is taking them to town and treating them to something!

My middley is a HUGE Batman fan and we were kindly sent this a Bat-Tech Batman Figure from Spinmaster. These retail at £8 and can found in the Entertainer.

Tell Scary Stories

When I was a kid, I used to LOVE this. Telling scary stories. Getting myself really scared and even better was making up stories. Of course you have to tailor these to your child’s age but get creative and get yourself spooked.

Watch a Scary Film

My eldest’s current favourite films are the Hotel Transylvania set and she also quite liked the new Addams Family remake. What I love about some of the streaming services like Netflix or NOW TV is they put on films for Halloween, so you will probably find a good few.

Also check out this post for some Ideas for Halloween Spooky films.

Play Hide and Seek when it’s Dark

I loved this game as a child. We used to turn traditional hide and seek into a scare-fest. Trying to find people when it’s dark is pretty scary. It’s definitely more spooky being the seeker. Just be careful you don’t fall over someone!!

Learn about Halloween

The kids sometimes ask me where Halloween came from and why we celebrate it? I’ll be honest I don’t always feel like I really know the answer so having a Halloween at home is the perfect time to learn a little more. This resource is good for reading up on all the traditions and YouTube is always fab for some videos too!

Halloween at home was pretty fun last year and this year we can trick or treat!  Fun and spookiness can still be had and hope some of these ideas give you some inspiration.

Disclosure – we were provided with these products in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Disclosure – we were sent some products in and compensated for our time. All Thoughts and opinions are our own.