5 Ways To Celebrate Halloween At Home

It’s that time of year again!

Whether the weather makes it difficult for you and the kids to make candy runs through the neighbourhood, or you just want to do things differently this year, there are plenty of ways to get in the spooky spirit at home. 

From hosting a scary movie marathon to making your own jack-o’-lanterns and preparing a Halloween dinner, we’ve shared below five fun and spooky ways to celebrate Halloween at home this year.

Decorate Your Home 

If you really want to get into the Halloween spirit, you need to give your home haunted house vibes. 

Here are some very effective ways to give your home a creepy atmosphere:

• Print a few pictures of your family and place black construction paper on the eyes of each one of you. Spooky effect guaranteed!
• Add red paint to a few of your jars and vases for a blood-splattered effect.
• Add fake spider webs in a few of your rooms.
• Put bloody hand prints on your windows (the kids will love this).
• Place  candles on shelves in the living room.  Remote-operated candles are the best Halloween option as you can secretly turn them on and off and scare everybody!
• Buy a fog machine and play a sinister playlist.

Also, add a hand, skeleton or zombie eyes to your porch or front lawn to scare trick-or-treaters. If you have a garden, why not plan together a cemetery scene and set up a few  DIY tombstones? You could then camp with the kids in the garden for the night, weather allowing. 

These tricks will be sure to turn your house into the scariest place on the street!

Tell Ghost Stories

Whether you set up camp in your garden and decide to share some scary tales by the campfire or install a tent in the living room, armed with your creepiest stories, this activity will be sure to freak everyone out. Make some s’mores and start sharing!

And if you dare, you can even take the kids on an actual camping trip for the night. The moonlight combined with random animal sounds will be sure to add a Blair Witch Project vibe to your evening! 

Now, unless you’re just with adults, you need kid-friendly ghost stories. Here’s a list of  17 spooky campfire stories your kids will enjoy.

Host A Scary-Movie Marathon 

Nothing screams Halloween more than a good old bone-chilling horror movie. If you’re watching with kids, make sure to find PG-rated Halloween movies. ‘’Hocus Pocus’’ or "The Nightmare Before Christmas’’ can be a great choice, but you’ll find plenty of other options on Disney.

The most important rule should be to watch them in the dark and keep your eyes open the whole time. 

And, of course, no movie marathon would be complete without munching on delish snacks. One fun idea is to make frightening snacks with the kids. There are plenty of recipes on the internet, but we really like the  spider cupcakes, the  monster wraps and the creepy  candy apples with gummy worms! 

Carve Out Or Paint A Pumpkin

It isn’t quite Halloween until you’ve gathered the kids for a fun pumpkin painting session! Although, as an adult, you might want to carve out your pumpkins, young children shouldn’t handle carving tools, so painting is a great alternative.

For this, you can use watercolours, glitter or acrylic paints. You’ll find some great directions  here.

And if you decide to carve out a few pumpkins with the rest of the adults or teenagers to add to the creepy atmosphere, place some candles inside for a glow-in-the-dark ambience. And, of course, make sure to keep the pumpkin flesh to bake a delicious treat to enjoy later during your scary movie night marathon.

Organise A Halloween Scavenger Hunt Around The House

An indoor Halloween scavenger hunt is a fantastic way to have fun with the kids while awakening their detective skills! 

And the great news is that there are plenty of  free printable Halloween treasure hunt instructions out there. So, all you need to do is print the clues, hide them around the house, and choose a spooktacular prize for the winner and tada! Hours of fun guaranteed.  Some prize ideas include Halloween glow-in-the-dark temporary tattoos, Halloween books, festive school supplies or even a monster trophy award!

And to keep the kids excited the whole time, tape candy (or their favourite treats) to some of the clues. 

We hope this post will give you plenty of fun and scary ideas to plan your own unique Halloween experience and create unforgettable memories with the whole family. At The decor House, we wish you a laugh-filled, memorable, and of course, scary Halloween!