Let Your Grandkids Roam a Haunted Backyard Trail
Halloween is a special time for grandparents. They get to relive the excitement that their own children once felt when they wore a costume and went trick-or-treating. Now, it's all about the grandkids and making sure they have the best time while you get to enjoy it vicariously. Here are 20 ways to give your grandkids the best Halloween.
1. Host a Pumpkin-Carving Party
Gather your grandkids around the dining room table for a hands-on pumpkin-carving activity. Give them the tools they need, like paint and stencils, and let the little ones use stickers or markers. Serve some warm cider and Halloween-themed snacks.
2. Create a Haunted Backyard Trail
Transform your backyard into a mini haunted trail with glowing pumpkins, a fog machine, and friendly ghosts. You can also include motion-activated lights and sound effects to make it a more immersive experience. You can set up a candy station at the end.
3. Bake Spooky Treats Together
Spend an afternoon baking ghost-shaped cookies, monster cupcakes, or breadsticks that resemble a witch's fingers. Let your grandkids decorate what you bake with icing, candies, and sprinkles, and don't worry about the mess.
4. Hold a Costume-Making Workshop
Forget store-bought costumes and instead spend a day crafting homemade ones. Go through closets, buy some craft supplies, and get your sewing kit out to create something imaginative. Some ideas include a cardboard robot or a fairy princess.
5. Tell Family-Friendly Ghost Stories
Gather under a blanket with your grandkids and dim the lights for a night of telling ghost stories. Share gentle spooky tales, or make one up with your grandkids, who will love adding details as you go.
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6. Build a Candy Scavenger Hunt
Before you go trick-or-treating, hide candy around the house and give your grandkids clues to help them find it. Use glow sticks or riddles or guide them, and mix in a few trinkets and a bit of humor.
7. Host a Scary Movie Marathon
Set up a cozy and wholesome movie night with popcorn, blankets, and family-friendly movies like Casper or Hotel Transylvania. Dim the lights and let your grandkids choose what to watch. For older grandkids, you can mix in a slightly scarier movie or something more mature like Ghostbusters.
8. Make DIY Halloween Decorations
Spend an afternoon before Halloween crafting ghosts from paper tissue, bats from construction paper, or garlands of smiling pumpkins. The best part is hanging the decorations together inside and outside your home.
9. Take a Fall Nature Walk
Get everyone to put on a cozy sweater and head to a nearby park with a nature trail. Collect colorful leaves, pinecones, and acorns as you get some fresh fall air. After, encourage your grandkids to use their findings to craft a Halloween centerpiece for your table.
10. Throw a Dance Party
Make some space in your living room and play Halloween songs, like "Monster Mash" and the theme from "Ghostbusters". Add some flashing lights, glow sticks, and even a small disco ball, if you can find one.
11. Visit a Pumpkin Patch or Corn Maze
Take your grandkids on a fall adventure to a pumpkin patch with a family-friendly corn maze. Let them pick a pumpkin, pet some farm animals, or enjoy a hayride. Get them some cider or caramel apples as a treat.
12. Read Appropriate Halloween Books
If you have younger grandkids, snuggle up with them and read some classic Halloween stories or picture books. Use funny voices and let them turn the pages. Reading can help nurture their imagination and love of Halloween.
13. Decorate Trick-or-Treat Bags
Create an art station where your grandkids can decorate and personalize candy bags with fabric markers, stickers, or glow paint. Your grandkids will love writing their names or drawing monsters.
14. Have a Costume Parade
Kids love showing off their Halloween costumes. Host a mini parade in your living room or basement. Play music and cheer for each costume as your grandkids strut their stuff.
15. Make Halloween Crafts for Charity
Encourage generosity by creating Halloween cards or small crafts to donate to local hospitals or nursing homes. This is an opportunity to teach your grandkids that Halloween is about giving and community, and not just receiving free candy.
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16. Set Up Glow-in-the-Dark Candy Toss
Add some excitement and a little competition to the evening with a glow-in-the-dark bean bag or candy toss game. Try using glow rings, light-up buckets, and prizes. It's fun for everyone and easy to set up indoors or in your backyard.
17. Create a Halloween Photo Booth
Set up a backdrop with orange lights, cool cobwebs, and props like witch hats, tombstones, vampire teeth, and fun glasses. Get lots of photos of your grandkids in costume and print and frame them as keepsakes.
18. Host a "Pumpkin Science Lab"
This one is really fun for kids. Get some pumpkins and try experiments like measuring a pumpkin's circumference, counting seeds, or making a "volcano" with baking soda and vinegar. With this activity, science meets seasonal fun.
19. Make a Halloween Storytime Video Call
If your grandkids live far away, celebrate Halloween virtually with a fun, spooky-themed video call. Dress up in costumes, read stories, and show off your decorations.
20. End the Night with a Candy Swap
After a night of trick-or-treating, gather together to trade candies, share stories about the evening, and reflect on how much fun was had. Make sure to teach them the art and rules of the candy trade and keep everything fair, so there are no hurt feelings.
