Fun Ideas for Halloween Activities
By Zach Roozendaal
As the world is still battling the threat of COVID-19, many families are going to unfortunately be looking at having to cancel trick-or-treating this year. But don’t worry, because if you’re one of those families who hasn’t got candy to hand out or is going out to take a child to get a big supply of candy, then here are some great alternative ideas to help you beat your fear of being bored to death this October 31st.
First of all, look at getting a pumpkin. Nothing says fall like pumpkins, and you can make jack-o-lanterns with them. You can carve all kinds of cool designs into them, or go for a classic toothy smiling face with the triangular eyes and nose.
Still wishing to dress up? Invite a few close friends over, maybe like 5 or 6 and get a few drinks and some snack sized candies and have a costume party at your place, just make sure everyone is safe and uses hand sanitizer on the way in and hasn’t been feeling sick lately.
Another great idea you can try is watch a scary movie, as it is Halloween after all. You don’t have to watch a horror movie necessarily, I mean you could binge all the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons, or watch the Charlie Brown Halloween special. If you want to watch a scary movie on Halloween, then my personal recommendation is maybe something sci-fi.
If you’re really looking to get into the spirit of all things scary and creepy, then check out the immortal and timeless classic from 1978, Halloween directed by John Carpenter and Deborah Hill, besides despite Michael Myers reputation of being a cold blooded killer he only manages 5 kills in the film, and only 4 take place on screen and they’re not very gory, since it was the 70’s after all and that’s not something audiences were used to at the time.
Go buy yourself a kiddy pool at your local store, and fill it with apples and go bobbing for apples, and buy some caramels and nuts and seeds and candies and you can make candy apples after you’re done. Caramel and candy apples taste great, and if you’re looking for something a little more interesting than caramel, you can always melt down candies like starbursts or Jolly Ranchers to use as a different sweet coating.
In addition to carving pumpkins, you can use the seeds for some baking. Make some spooky pumpkin seed muffins or cupcakes with pumpkin spiced cream cheese frosting that’ll bring out the fall festiveness in everyone. Get some pumpkin spiced coffee from your local coffee shop, like Starbucks, Tim Hortons or Forbidden Flavours.
Make sugar cookies and get pumpkin, ghost, witch, skeleton, bat and vampire shaped cookie cutters. You can also get cat shaped ones or maybe even tombstone or spider shaped ones too. Get lots of multicoloured frosting or sprinkles in Halloween colours like orange, green, purple, white, yellow and black.
Maybe this year you won’t be going out for treats, but you can still stay at home and do plenty of tricks. For example, you can get a cheap mask from your local costume shop like I did, (I got Michael Myers, what can I say? It’s a great film!) and scare your friends or family.
Looking for costumes ideas this year? Well with my vast pop culture knowledge, that’s no problem my friend! You could always dress up as Joe Biden or Donald Trump, since it’s an election year and those costumes will be trending. Don’t have enough money? No problem. Go to your local thrift store and buy some old clothes or an outfit to do a simple costume. Get a Hawaiian shirt and pop on some shorts and grab a coconut or two and some rum and soda with a pair of shades because who said you can’t go as a beachgoer for Halloween? Put on a black suit and black tie with a white shirt and grab some shades and go as one of the agents from Men in Black. You can also just put on a collared shirt and tie with some dress pants or khakis and carry a mug and go as an office employee. Get some scrubs and go as a doctor, or wear a suit with a white pillowcase and dress as Slenderman. Or you can be like me and print off a Kazakh flag and get a grey suit and beige tie with a fake moustache and go as everyone’s favourite Kazakh journalist, Borat Sagdiyev, which is sure to be a smash hit and a great success, high five wawaweewa!
Go visit a spooky location and record an EVP session. Get palm readings and visit a psychic or do whatever, or take a walk in the woods in the dark, but just in case bring a flashlight or lantern. Play a scary game, like Slender or Amnesia, although my personal recommendation is Dead by Daylight, a game I’ve been hooked on for months on mobile, and they’ll have released their Silent Hill Chapter on mobile by Halloween, meaning you can play as Pyramid Head or Cheryl Mason, or a whole list of other characters, like Ash Williams from Evil Dead, (as voiced by Bruce Campbell), Ghost Face, Freddy Krueger, Bill Overbeck, Laurie Strode, Leatherface, the Demogorgon, and Michael Myers. Check it out as it’s free on the app store.
And there you have it, some fun and safe activities this Halloween. Remember to wash or sanitize your hands often and wear a mask, social distance when possible, stay home if you feel sick and have fun and be safe this Halloween season. And now as always, here’s my final thought for this article:
Fear is something that can both strengthen and cripple us, but in the right scenarios, it prepares us.
Until next time, this is Zach Roozendaal, signing off. Goodbye for now, and Happy Halloween.