How To Celebrate Halloween Without Trick-or-Treating

In this day and age a lot of parents are foregoing the normal Halloween trick-or-treating that we all grew up with.  Fortunately there are lots of alternate activities you can do that are fun for both the kids and the adults.

Costumes are the best part of Halloween.  All kids enjoy dressing up.  So why not dress up and have a costume parade in the neighborhood? Get together with your neighbors and plan a time for all the kids to get together and parade their costumes for all to see.

Stay at home and have a have a Halloween party.  Transform your home with cobwebs, plastic spiders, skulls, ghosts and a witch's cauldron. Play some spooky music.  Serve a Halloween  dinner with items such as vampire's blood soup (tomato soup), barbecued bat wings (chicken wings), goblin dip (any chili cheese dip), spaghetti and eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs with olives stuck in the meatballs for eyes), and green slime punch (ginger ale or sprite with lime sherbet).  Serve the punch in the witch's cauldron and put dry ice around the bottom of it for a spooky effect.  If you have a little extra money to spend, buy a fog machine and a black light - they make great additions to any Halloween party!

Play some games.  Paint a large picture of a witch or buy one from the store, and hang it on the back of a door.  Give the kids some gum, let them chew it and then blindfold them and let them put the "wart" on the witch's nose.  It's a spin on Pin the Tail On the Donkey.  The child who gets the gum closest to the witch's nose wins.

Plan a pumpkin painting party.  It's much easier and cleaner than pumpkin carving, and the little kids can join in too.

Bob for apples.  This game is just as fun now as it was when you were a kid.  Fill a large tub with water and add a bag of apples.  When it's a child's turn, tie her hands behind her back and let the bobbing begin!  Adult supervision is important.

Have a horror movie night at home.  Just make sure the films are age-appropriate!  You could also make a bonfire and have some s'mores while sharing ghost stories.

Visit a haunted house.  Most communities have a haunted house that donates to a worthy cause and has a "scare level" for all age groups.

Have a Halloween field trip.  If there is a zoo or museum in your area, many have something special planned for Halloween.  Take the kids in their costumes and enjoy the day or early evening field trip!