It is probably best to assume that Halloween in 2020 is going to be a bit different from other years. The late night, fancy dressed themed parties are going to be out this year, but that does mean you’ll be able to spend some quality spooky time with close family and socially distanced friends. Soaphub’s director of entertainment Justin Stevens loves a good scare, (though even he’s found 2020 a ‘bit much’). Luckily, Halloween this year is going to be more about ‘fun and games’ than horror, so will hopefully provide a welcome break from real life.
However, with current restrictions, you may be wondering how it’s possible to conduct ghostly games with your family. Fortunately, Stevens have put together a list of some of the best (and safest) ways to have spooky fun on Halloween night. ‘I love Halloween, and usually spend part of it with my family, and the other half with my friends out on the town. Understandably this year it looks like there won’t be any wild nights out dressed up as skeletons or sexy cats, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit in alone at home sulking. There’s some inventive ways to keep the children entertained and keep you in the Halloween mood too’.
Mummy bandage race
Imagine a classic sack race, but with a mummified twist! Wrap up everyone’s legs together in toilet paper (or crepe paper) and the first one to cross the finish line first without ripping the paper wins. This is great for the kids in the family and can either be done indoors or outside.
Cyclops Pong
Imagine a game of beer pong, but less frat house, and more ghost house. Children can take turns bouncing the ping pong eyeballs on the table and into the cups, and if the ball lands in the middle cup you win! Obviously, the winner won’t be downing alcohol (unless you plan on playing this after the kids have gone to bed).
Window Decorating Competition
Throughout lockdown, parents have been keeping their children busy with lots of arts and crafts, and as we’ve seen with posting messages of support in windows, children love displaying their work. In the US at Halloween it’s pretty common to decorate the front of your property with ghouls and ghosts, so for a fun game why not join them? See who can come up with the spookiest idea and display them in your window for everyone to see.
Halloween bingo walk
I love this idea, as it gets you out and about, it’s super cheap and keeps everyone interested. Compile bingo cards for everyone and then take a tour of your area, checking off the things on your card when you see them. Scary Lantern – tick! Person dressed as a ghost – tick! Parents telling off their kids for eating too much candy – tick!
Fancy dress Zoom competition
This is a great game if you can’t all meet up. Create an online group chat and put a list of characters into a hat. Pull out one name at a time, and then give everyone 2 minutes to come up with the best outfit made out of household items! It’s creative, and you’ll be laughing out loud with some of the insane ideas people try to pull off.
Halloween Window Scrabble
This one admittedly takes a bit of work, and you need the neighbours on your street to get involve too but your kids will love it. Pick a word related to Halloween and create a word scramble, giving one letter to each of the households involved e.g. D-r-a-c-u-l-a would be split across 7 homes, with 1 letter each. Have them decorate their letters and place them in the window for passers-by to see. The kids will need to find all the letters and unscramble the word to win.
Pumpkin carving
Why mess with the classics? I’m sure at some time in your life you’ve craved a spooky face into a pumpkin, and it’s still one of the best activities for kids and adults. To make a game out of it, you could buy slightly smaller pumpkins, and pull suggestions of what to carve out of a hat, and then give everyone 10 minutes to make it. Just try not to make the idea too complicated – not many kids are going to be able to carve the Sistine Chapel in under 10 minutes.
