Say Boo to COVID! You Can Still Have a Spook-tacular Halloween!

by Emily Webb

Halloween may look different this year, but it can still be a terrifyingly fantastic time! Check out our ideas on how to celebrate in quarantine that are sure to excite every boo and ghoul!

Monster Mouths

Dandies Mini Marshmallows

1 sliced apple

Nut butter

Take two apple slices and spread nut butter on one side of each. Stick several mini marshmallows into the nut butter of one of the slices. Top with the other slice. Repeat with the rest of the apple. dandies.com

Virtual Viewing

Set up a costume contest on a Facebook page with your friends and family for a fun way to make sure your kids can show off their cute looks. The picture with the most likes gets a fun prize.

Ghostly Guests

Light the way in your home with Mason Jar Ghost Luminaries. Cut out a piece of lace to wrap around your mason jar. Secure the lace to the jar with a piece of clear tape. Cut out round pieces from black duct tape for the eyes and mouth. Stick the tape to the mason jar. Place a battery operated tea light or votive candle in each jar. thisfairytalelife.com

Candy Graveyard

Create a safe socially distant space for a candy hunt with Oriental Trading. Decorate your yard with tombstones, ghosts, skeletons and more. Place candy and toys for kids of all ages to find as they walk through the creepy scenery.

Carving Contest

Have each household pick a Halloween character: vampire, bat, zombie, witch or monster. Each family carves and displays their pumpkins prior to Halloween so that the street can vote on the best one. You could also hold a contest for best decorated house.

No-Bake Halloween Cheesecake Parfaits

14 Oreo cookies

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened

½ c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 8 oz. container Cool Whip, thawed and divided

Orange gel coloring Toppings: Ghost gummies or lollipops, Halloween sprinkles, candy pumpkins

Crush seven Oreo cookies and divide crumbs evenly into 7 5-oz. cups. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and extract until creamy. Add 2 cups Cool Whip and fold in gently. Divide the cheesecake mixture evenly into two bowls. Tint one batch of cheesecake orange. Spoon white cheesecake evenly onto the crumbs in the cups. Crush the remaining seven cookies and divide the crumbs evenly into the cups. Spoon layer of orange cheesecake next. Add a dollop of Cool Whip on top of the parfaits and decorate with ghost gummies or lollipops, sprinkles and candies right before serving. insidebrucrewlife.com

Spirited Parade

Don’t let old costumes go to waste! Dress up as your favorite characters, decorate your bikes or car with spooky decorations, and schedule a parade with your neighbors for a festive walk down the street. Designate someone as a DJ to play classics like “Monster Mash” and “Thriller” as you make your way through the neighborhood. Throw candy from your “float” to the kids who gather and watch.

Distressingly Good Decorations

Spread the festive spirit to those in your house and in your neighborhood with decorations. Turn your house into its own haunted house with tombstones and a cemetery in the yard, ghosts on the porch, bloody handprints in the window, spider webs in the entryway and halls and skulls on tabletops.

Mad Scientist in the Lab

Use screw top jars and fill with water dyed with green or red food coloring. Deposit plastic spiders, snakes, rats and eyeballs for a creepy feel. Make slime with glue, saline solution, water and baking soda. Add Halloween glitter, plastic spiders or bats, eyeballs, confetti and other small, decorative items for a festive feel. foodnetwork.com

Haunted Houses

Take what you love about decorating gingerbread houses for Christmas and make them Halloween-themed. Get inspired with Food Network.

Cute Pumpkins

Decorate your porch with these emoji pumpkins from HGTV. Draw different sets of emoji-inspired eyes, mouths and other details on construction paper. Cover the stem on each pumpkin with painter’s tape; then spray paint the pumpkins yellow. Let dry completely. Attach one adhesive magnet to each piece of paper and three magnets to each of the pumpkins where eyes and a mouth would go to create the specific emoji.

Crescent Mummy Dogs

1 can Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls

2 ½ slices American cheese, quartered

10 hot dogs

Mustard or ketchup

Heat oven to 375°. Unroll dough; separate at perforations, creating four rectangles. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough. Slice cheese slices into quarters. Wrap four pieces of dough around each hot dog and ¼ slice of cheese to look like “bandages.” Place wrapped hot dogs cheese side down on a cookie sheet; spray dough lightly with cooking spray. Bake 13-17 minutes or until dough it light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard or ketchup, draw features on for the face. pillsbury.com

Ding Dong Ditch the Ghost

Make goodie bags with Halloween-themed fun and treats for neighbors, but don’t label them. Drop the bags at the door with instructions to hang a ghost in their window once they discover their gift, so others know they have already been ghosted. Then, instruct them to pass it on by sharing the fun with another family to continue the chain of Halloween excitement.

Halloween Face Masks

Get into the spirit with a new themed face mask. Find characters from DC, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, Peanuts, Hello Kitty and Harry Potter at maskclub.com. Redbubble.com has sharks, whales, dogs, pandas, ghosts and more patterned masks for kids. Shopdisney.com has character masks including Mulan, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Marvel and more. Zazzle.com has ghosts, witches, skulls, monsters and more, and they have decorative face shields if your child wants a themed one to match her costume. redbubble.com

Sensory-Friendly Halloween

Fun Create a sensory bin for your toddler with purple, green, black and orange items. Try pom-poms, candy corn, snakes, eyeballs, spiders, bats, dyed rice, candy pumpkins, skeletons and beads.

Build the Best Scarecrow on the Block

A silly or scary scarecrow would be a great addition to your yard. Use old materials to create the scarecrow’s body, and decorate with permanent markers, acrylic paint or cut out felt shapes and glue on using a hot glue gun. Visit your local thrift store or look in the back of your closet for plaid shirts, jeans, overalls, gloves, boots, hats and bandanas. Or use an old Halloween costume for a festive spin. Create a family portrait using scarecrows. Have each person in your family decorate a scarecrow to represent themselves with their old clothes, Halloween costumes or decorative items. Stage them like you would a family photo, or have each scarecrow posing with their favorite hobby.

A Spooky Candy Hunt with a Twist

Reuse Easter eggs to create a fun candy scavenger hunt for Halloween.

Trunk-or-Treat

Decorate your ride for a neighborhood trunk-ortreat with ideas from Party City. Use characters and scenes from your kid’s favorite movies, such as “Frozen” or “Spider-Man,” or keep it spooky with ghosts, spiders or witches.

Ghastly Games

Divide into teams to see who can wrap their teammate the fastest in toilet paper to become a mummy. Put on “Monster Mash” to play freeze dance. Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey, pin the stem on the pumpkin or the hat on a witch. Face your fears by guessing what creepy or gross item is in the box by touch alone.