Now that the boys are getting older, I suspect that we won't have too many more Halloweens where the whole family walks the neighborhood (in costume) so that they can trick-or-treat. Many kids decide at some point that trick-or-treating is "too young" an activity for them. (Hey, I think kids should get to trick-or-treat as long as they want to - but it might just not be fun for your teen or tween anymore.)
So, what are some fun activities that you can do with your teenagers on Halloween? If your older kids are looking for fun things to do around Halloween, here's a list of ideas.
Have a Pumpkin Carving Party
This activity is perfect for older kids. Why? Well, any pumpkin carving parties that they may have attended while they were younger may have either had them painting pumpkins or Mom and Dad doing all the carving. Now that the kids are older, let them choose a pumpkin for the party and carve it themselves. Make sure to cover your work area with either newspapers or plastic trash bags to make clean-up easier. If you'd like to go all out for the party, provide your teens and tweens with pumpkin carving patterns (which are readily available at stores this time of year).
Go to a Pumpkin Patch
Instead of loading up on pumpkins from the grocery store, let your teens pick out their own pumpkins at a pumpkin patch or farm. During October, many of these places also offer additional fun activities like hay rides, hot chocolate, face painting, games, etc. Make sure to check out all the options for a pumpkin patch near you at pumpkinpatches.com.
Host a Costume Party
Let your teens and tweens invite some friends over for a costume party. Let them plan a fun evening with Halloween-themed party food and make an awesome Halloween-themed playlist! Since they're missing out on trick-or-treating, make sure to have lots of candy and treat bags on hand so that the guests can load up before they head home. Here's a list of Halloween party food ideas to get you started:
Halloween Party Food Recipes
- Holiday M&M Cookie Bars
- Halloween Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Cake
- Oreo Dirt Cake (make it into a graveyard with decorated cookies and pumpkin candy)
- Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Crunch Cake
- Pumpkin Bread
- Party Popcorn
- Crockpot Witch's Brew (Spiced Apple Cider)
- Non-Alcoholic Party Punch (make it orange, purple, or green for Halloween)
Enter Your Pet into a Halloween Costume Contest
This time of year, many local shelters, animal rescues, and radio stations host pet costume contests. People are encouraged to dress up too! If your teen is an animal lover, let them pick out a costume for your dog (and maybe a matching one for them) and enter the contest.
Have a Halloween Movie Marathon
We have a local drive-in that switches one screen to Halloween and scary movies for the month of October. Another historic theater near us shows classic horror movies the month of October. And the downtown park of a nearby town hosts Friday movie nights that include favorite Halloween movies. But, whether you make a special trip to watch these movies or just pull up some old favorite Halloween movies on Netflix, your older kids might enjoy a scary movie marathon.
Visit a Corn Maze
You can find a corn maze (or maize maze) near you and let the teens navigate. They'll love that they are "in charge" of finding all of the checkpoints and ultimately getting the group out of the maze. Depending on which farm you visit, you might also find other Halloween activities there. Make sure to read about a few in your area to see what each offers before deciding which one to go to.
Have a Halloween Food Taste Test
Here's a fun game for a teen or tween party! Blindfold guests, let them eat Halloween food, and have them guess what they ate. Keep track of who's the best guesser in the group! Here's a list of unique Halloween snack items, but if these items aren't available in your area, you can always do a quick Internet search to determine what Halloween candy and snacks are new this year:
- Count Chocula, Frankenberry, or Boo Berry Cereal
- Monster Cereals Fruit Snacks
- Halloween Oreos
- Reese's Cups: Halloween Lovers
- Halloween M&Ms
- Halloween Peeps
- Halloween Dunkin or Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
- Ghost Dots
- Hostess Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes or Twinkies
- Halloween Hershey's Kisses
Have a Photo Scavenger Hunt
In the days before Halloween (when your neighborhood is sure to have the most decorations out), let your teens and tweens invite friends to walk the neighborhood in search of Halloween-themed items for a scavenger hunt! Have them take photos along the way! If you have a large enough group, split them into two smaller groups and have them compete for which group can complete the Halloween scavenger hunt first. Here's a list of items to put on your scavenger hunt list:
Halloween Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas
- Jack-o-lanterns
- Scarecrow
- Skeleton
- House with more than one Halloween inflatable
- Something purple
- Halloween wreath
- Mums
- Hay bales
- Something white
- Spider
- Corn stalk
- Something with wings
- Ghost
- Tombstone
- Teal pumpkin
- Halloween sign
- Halloween blow molds
- Witch's hat
- Halloween flag
- Red leaf
- Uncarved pumpkin
- Acorn
- Black bird
- Spider web
- Selfie of group posing like Frankenstein
Visit a Haunted House
If your teen or tween would enjoy doing something scary for Halloween, let them get together a small group of friends and go to visit a haunted house. Visit hauntedhouse.com for descriptions of haunted houses near you.
Take a Ghost Tour
Similar to visiting a haunted house, this spooky activity for teens will teach them some history of your area (albeit spooky history with a dash of superstition mixed in). Many of these tours are at nighttime and they will require a walk, so make sure your teen wears suitable clothes and shoes for the length of the tour and the time it starts. Visit haunted.tours for a description of ghost tours near you.
Visit a Theme Park
Theme parks in our area host special ticketed Halloween events. This type of activity is perfect for teens and tweens because they not only get to ride amusement park rides, but they get the added bonus of spooky decorations and lighting, special Halloween shows, and haunted activities. (And another bonus for you! Lots of photo ops because theme parks decorate for any season pretty well.) Check out theme parks near you to see whether yours offer these types of Halloween activities.
Visit the Zoo
Here's another activity that animal lovers may like as an alternative to trick-or-treating in your neighborhood. Many zoos host Halloween activities in the weekends leading up to Halloween. From costume contests to a trick-or-treat trail and Halloween decorations to live music, this type of event might be the perfect one for your teenager.
Visit a Scary Themed Escape Room
If your teen likes solving puzzles, then an escape room might an ideal Halloween activity for them! Zombies, mystery mansions, autopsies, and haunted houses are just some of the themes that you might find in our area. Your teenager will have their pick of Halloween themes this time of year. And this is a fun option to do with a group of people, so have your teen invite a group of friends (the more friends, the more people to help solve the puzzle)! Check out options near you online and then make sure to schedule your visit in advance.
Sit Around the Fire and Tell Spooky Stories
As the weather gets cooler, it's the perfect time to have a bonfire or to sit by the firepit. Whether you're roasting marshmallows or hotdogs over the fire, teens and tweens will enjoy this fall activity. You can easily change this to a Halloween activity by telling scary stories around the fire.
Hand Out Candy on Halloween Night
If your teens aren't trick-or-treating anymore, they might enjoy handing out candy to younger trick-or-treaters. If they have always enjoyed wearing costumes (but just don't want to go trick-or-treating anymore), encourage them to wear a costume while handing out candy. This will be fun for them as well as the younger kids they get to interact with on Halloween night!
Be in Charge of Halloween Decorations
I have always decorated BIG for Halloween, but while we are always out on Halloween night taking the boys trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, I have always kept my decorations inside. (This way our house, which is on a corner lot and gets lots of Halloween night traffic, won't become a "destination" for trick-or-treaters while we're not there. We have always left out a giant tub of candy for kiddos to take on the honor system.)
But, if your teens and tweens aren't going to be trick-or-treating, give them a budget and let them be in charge of outside decorations and lighting. Encourage them to make a plan for how they'd like to decorate and look up any DIY outdoor Halloween decoration tutorials that they may need help with. You can even let them look through some of your inside Halloween decorations to see if any can be easily repurposed for an outside display.
Collect Donations for a Local Charity
Older kids are sometimes in service clubs that require a certain amount of volunteer hours. One way to get some extra volunteer hours would be to advertise that you'll be collecting donations for a local charity in the weeks leading up to Halloween. (If you're collecting physical donations, like canned goods, you can also set up a box near your candy station on Halloween night.) Put your teen in charge of notifying the neighborhood via social media so that everyone knows what you're collecting and for how long. Drop off the donations you collected on November 1.
Donate Halloween Baking
If your teen volunteers time by baking for local charities, October is the perfect time to switch to Halloween goodies. Have teens bake Halloween-themed cookies or cakes to donate instead of their regular dessert donations. Here are some ideas for Halloween baking for charity:
- Halloween Decorated Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Earthquake Cake
- Halloween Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
- Holiday M&M Cookie Bars
- Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Crunch Cake
- Pumpkin Bread
- Oreo Dirt Cake (make it into a graveyard with decorated cookies and pumpkin candy)
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| Halloween Butter Cookies with Sprinkles |
Read a Scary Book or Series
- The Last Kids on Earth (series) by Max Brallier
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- The Witches by Roald Dahl
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series) by Alvin Schwartz
- Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
- Tales of Terror (series) by Chris Priestley
- The Legend of Decimus Croome: A Halloween Carol by Kevin Purdy
- Harry Potter (series) by J. K. Rowling
Have a Halloween Game Night
- Clue
- Betrayal at House on the Hill
- The Haunted Mansion: Call of the Spirits
- Halloween Charades
- Boooo-opoly
- Halloween Trivia
- King of Tokyo: Halloween Expansion Pack
- Horrified: Universal Monsters Strategy Board Game
- ESCAPE ROOM IN A BOX: The Werewolf Experiment
- Castle Panic
BONUS: More Resources for Halloween Teen Activities
- FrightFind.com: Haunted houses, real haunts, pumpkin patches and mazes, festivals, Halloween parades
- GhostHuntUSA.com: Haunted location tours, ghost hunts
- Haunts.com: Haunted houses, hay rides, zombie hunts, mazes, spook walks, theaters & plays, haunted river tours
- HauntWorld.com: Haunted houses, hayrides, escape rooms, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, ghost tours
- American-Rails.com: Halloween train rides
What Can My Teen Do for Halloween This Year (Besides Trick-or-Treating)?
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