Your Teen Will Love a Spooky TikTok Challenge
Having kids makes Halloween fun again as you get to experience it through their eyes. To the dismay of many parents, kids grow up to become teens, and suddenly, Halloween is childish and not so cool anymore. If you are desperate to get your brooding kid back into the spooky season, then try one of these 20 ways to get teens excited about Halloween again.
1. Host a Glow-In-The-Dark Party
Transform a backyard or basement with black lights, neon decorations, and glow sticks. Your teen will love the aesthetic, and the setting is perfect to snap pics with their friends. You can even include a glow-paint station, light-up dance floor, or games like glow dodgeball.
2. Create a Haunted Escape Room
Design an escape room at your home or rent a room at a community center. Create creepy clues and puzzles, and let your teen and their friends work together to escape. Make sure you include a time limit and use sound effects.
3. DIY Costume Contest
Most teens don't want to dress up for Halloween, but a costume contest with a twist might excite them. Challenge your teen and their friends to make creative costumes only from thrifted items. Hand out prizes for categories like funniest, scariest, and most creative.
4. Halloween Movie Marathon Night
Even the moodiest teen will be able to get behind this idea. Set up an outdoor projector and play a double bill of classic horror movies. You can go with a family-friendly option like Hocus Pocus, followed by something scarier like Poltergeist.
5. Spooky TikTok Challenge
Encourage your teen and their friends to make scary, fun, and creative Halloween-themed TikToks. Offer prizes for the one who goes the most viral or is the most creative.
6. Haunted Scavenger Hunt
Devise a nighttime scavenger hunt throughout your neighborhood. Use eerie clues that lead to hidden candy, trinkets, or even a "haunted" surprise. Get your friends to provide jump-scares along the route.
7. Horror-Themed Trivia Night
Host a trivia night with questions about scary stories, horror movies, and creepy pop culture. Divide the teens into two or three teams and have a stash of candy and maybe a gift card or two as prizes.
8. Pumpkin Paint-Off
Forget the mess of carving a pumpkin and host a fun painting contest instead. Teens can use neon, metallic, or meme-inspired designs. Make a photo wall for their creations.
9. Mystery Dinner Party
Stage an elaborate mystery dinner party with Halloween-themed snacks and pizza. Every teen gets to play a spooky role and mix in some creepy storytelling. There are many mystery dinner party games available for purchase if you're not comfortable creating your own.
10. Haunted House Volunteer Crew
Get your teens more involved in Halloween by having them volunteer to set up or act in a local haunted house. It's fun, social, and they can even include it on their resume when looking for their next summer job.
11. Spooky Base-Off
Host a Halloween-themed baking competition where teens have to make creative cupcakes or cookies. Have prizes for the winners, and the teens can hand out candy while their scary creations bake.
12. Costume Thrift Crawl
Organize a trip to several thrift stores and hold a costume contest to see who can find the best costume for under $20. For added fun, make the losers of the contest have to wear their costumes on Halloween while they trick-or-treat at a few houses.
13. Fright Night Photo Booth
Make a DIY Halloween photo booth with a fog machine, props, and creative backdrops. Teens can take group pics and share them on social media.
14. Zombie Run
Host a "zombie chase" through a nearby park or school field. Include obstacles, and the rule is that anyone who breaks character or is caught by a zombie is out.
15. Haunted Campout
If your teen is still into camping, then use it to get them excited about Halloween again. Pitch tents, tell scary stories, and play flashlight games. Don't forget to include a midnight snack of s'mores.
16. DIY Horror Film Festival
Get your teen and their friends to shoot short horror movies with their phones. Then, screen them in a film festival and give awards for story, effects, and acting. The biggest award of the night should go to the scariest movie.
17. Blackout Dance Party
Turn off the lights in your basement, hand out glow sticks, and play spooky songs or remixes. Encourage everyone to wear costumes, and end the night with a monster dance-off with prizes.
18. Trick-or-Treat for Charity
Get your teen trick-or-treating for the first time in a few years by having them collect donations or canned goods instead of candy. It adds purpose to the evening, and your teen will feel good about contributing to a cause, and not relying on the childish elements of trick-or-treating or nostalgia.
19. Halloween Fashion Show
Host a catwalk with creative, edgy, or pop culture-inspired costumes. Get some parents to be the judges and make sure to include spooky lighting, and a best DIY category. Offer a gift card to the movies or a local restaurant as the prize.
20. Paranormal Investigation Night
Do some research into your neighborhood's scary lore or use a ghost hunting app or EMF detector to explore supposedly haunted spots. It's a fun and scary way to spend Halloween or learn more about the history of your area. Plus, you might actually encounter a haunted spot that will terrify your usually stoic teen.
