Halloween can definitely be celebrated at home and tons of fun even without big parties or trick-or-treating. So, here’s some fun Halloween trick-or-treating alternatives to help you celebrate safely at home this year!
Halloween will look different this year. Certain activities are cancelled, some cities have banned trick-or-treating and community events, and many people are just choosing to remain at home to help keep themselves and their communities safe. None of those changes in tradition means Halloween is cancelled though. With a little creativity, there are SO many ways to have a fun Halloween at home just with your family.
Trick-or-Treating Halloween Alternatives
We’ve brainstormed, talked to friends, and polled Mom Endeavors readers to come up with a full list of fun and safe trick-or-treating alternatives. Hope they spark some good inspiration for you as we all navigate this strange 2020 Halloween! (Note: some affiliate links are included below – from which we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase)
Do a Halloween Egg Hunt
Take the idea of a classic at-home Easter egg hunt and do a Halloween candy hunt instead! This is our plan and the kids are SO excited about it! I even bought black eggs to make it feel more “Halloween-y”! 
So fun! The kids can use pumpkin buckets (or trick-or-treat bags) to collect their fun eggs in. You could hide things outside in the backyard or even around the house! And just like an Easter egg hunt, you can fill the eggs with candy, money, little toys, slips of paper for prizes…whatever!
Make a Halloween Piñata
Kids LOVE piñatas! So, why not have some fun with a DIY Halloween piñata?! Click here for a list of great ideas –> 13+ frightfully fun Halloween piñatas! This year, having something to smash and hit might even be extra appropriate and even cathartic! 😉
Have a Family Pumpkin Carving Party
Carving pumpkins is a standard Halloween tradition for most. So, you could make that a little bit more fun and themed by turning it into a whole pumpkin-themed dinner or little party for your family! 
Cute right?! Definitely more effort, but it’s a HUGE hit around our house and definitely makes things feel a little more special. The great thing is that all of these pumpkin carving party foods are really pretty easy to make, so it’s not a ton of extra effort!
Make a Fun Festive Feast
Make a fun Halloween dinner! You could obviously do a pumpkin-themed spread like the ideas above, but there are SO many other fun ideas! You can go with a theme. You can do gross & gory or fun & cute. You can do Here’s just a few:
- 15+ Halloween dinner ideas
- 20+ Gross & Gory Halloween foods
- Witch’s Potion Buffet Dinner
- Non-Candy Halloween Themed Food
- Fun Halloween Foods for Kids
- Disney Inspired Halloween Recipes
Decorate a Halloween Candy House
Gingerbread houses are perfect for Christmas, so why not a candy house for Halloween?! We actually had a blast creating our own Halloween gingerbread house a few years ago! Isn’t it so fun?! 
You can make your own with gingerbread or graham crackers, along with all sorts of your favorite Halloween candies! Or, we’ve seen quite a few places selling cookie haunted house kits the past few years. We know OREO makes one, as well as one sold at Trader Joe’s. So, if you don’t want to create your own, you can always pick up one of the kits! This would maybe even be something fun to do WITH some of the Halloween candy after doing a piñata or candy hunt. You could even do a family candy house building competition. Or you could make them as part of the next activity idea…
Do a Halloween Movie Night
You know we love a good movie night, so this is another part of our “safer at home” Halloween plan. We’re going to do our fun Halloween candy hunt, have some delicious themed treats, and do a movie night. For us, that’s going to be Harry Potter (because we’re about to finish book 5). But if you want to do a Disney Halloween movie night, we have some great ideas rounded up for you here:
If the weather is nice in your area, having an outdoor movie night (using a projector set-up) could be extra perfect for Halloween. Set-up a spooky movie set-up under the stars in your backyard!
Have a Halloween Craft Night
Whether it’s to go with your movie night or just for something fun, Halloween crafts are a great idea. If you want to go the DIY route and have something that would make a cute keepsake, you could do some of these handprint Halloween crafts. But there’s also so many cute Halloween craft kits and cute, fairly inexpensive ideas you can buy! My mom sent a few kits over for the boys and I grabbed the paint-by-sticker book (we LOVE those books)! 
Play Halloween Games
You can do a whole Halloween game night too. We actually just picked up this fun Halloween ring toss game set! So easy and so fun! 
So, you could set up a few more carnival-style games like this for fun outside (or even inside the house depending on the weather). Or, you could even pick up a new Halloween-themed board game and play some games – maybe even play in your costumes!
Virtual Costume Contest
And speaking of costumes, you can still totally have fun dressing up even if you’re not trick-or-treating. We LOVE family themed costumes, so we’re not about to break that tradition. We’re still planning some themed costumes! To even make it more fun, you could have a virtual costume party or virtual costume party with friends. You could even do a virtual game night in costumes!
At-Home Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Another fun virtual way to have fun with friends and family is by doing a virtual scavenger hunt! Here’s a comprehensive explanation on how to make that work –> Halloween Text Scavenger Hunt. Or, you could make your at-home candy hunt a little harder by doing it scavenger hunt style!
Boo Basket Surprise
And last but not least, you can do some form of “Boo Basket” for Halloween. That may mean making a boo basket of goodies to drop off at friends’ houses. Or, maybe you do yet another twist on Easter. You could make a “Boo Basket” for your kids, with fun Halloween activities – candy, costume stuff, little Halloween toys, or maybe even a new Halloween game or some of the Halloween crafts!
So – there’s the top 10 ideas we’ve heard from others and are planning ourselves! Hope it helped spark some ideas for you to have a fun and “safer-at-home” Halloween!
If you have any more fun ideas, tell us in the comments what trick-or-treating alternatives you’re planning!
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