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Halloween 2020 will look different this year. There is no way around it. But different doesn’t mean boring. Different means not the same as last year. So what’s wrong with that? Maybe you will find a new tradition that you would not have discovered if we did everything the same as the year before.

But, you say, “I still want candy. And I want to dress up. And I want to see my friends. And most of all, I want to have enough fun that I forget that this year is going to be different.” Ok, no problem. Let’s dive right in.

I want candy!

Trunk or Treat

If you are looking for some alternatives to trick or treating, why not host a trunk or treat? Park your cars in a large parking lot all socially distanced, of course. Open up your trunks and decorate the back of your cars (there are so many ideas like this one on Oriental Trading). Let the kids trick or treat at each trunk.

Trick or Treat Game

This game works great for small groups – just your own kids or a few close friends. Use small pieces of paper marked “treat” and “trick” and put in a witches hat, caldron or plastic pumpkin. Players take turns pulling out a paper. If they get trick, they have to perform a task like balance a book on their head for 1 minute. If they get a treat, the player gets a candy or small prize. A printable list of tricks and treats can be found here.

Left, Center, Right

My Girl Scout trooped loved to play this game. You can use the actual Left, Center, Right dice or use regular dice, determining which numbers represent left, center and right. Each player starts out with three candies in front of them. The candy is moved around based on the dice, with all of it eventually heading to the middle of the table. The last person left gets the whole pile.

Halloween Candy Exchange

Part of every Halloween at our house included my kids trading candy when they got home from trick or treating. So I made a game of it that you can find here. All players start with a small pile of candy in front of them. There is a larger pile in the middle. Players roll dice and pick a card to determine how the rest of the candy is distributed. For example, “Pick one candy from the oldest player” or “Give one candy to the player with the least candy”. At the end of the game, the players get to keep what is in front of them.

I want to dress up!

Make Ugly Halloween Sweaters

Grab your craft supplies! This one is too good for just Christmas! Be on the lookout for sweatshirts or tshirts on sale. Gather you favorite Halloween crafting supplies – plastic spiders, google eyes, garland, battery operated lights, etc. and get to work!  Don’t forget prizes for the ugliest design!

Foiled – A fun dress up game!

This game is a lot of fun for a socially distanced party or with a small group. Each player needs a roll of aluminum foil (hooray for the dollar stores!) Players take turns picking a card and reading the Halloween costume out loud. (For example, a pirate). Everyone has 2 minutes to make a costume of out their foil to represent that costume. Some might make a sword or a parrot or an eye patch. Everyone votes on best design. 

Build a costume

Like the Cootie Game, players roll a dice to put on pieces of their costume. Each player would need five pieces to their costume. For example, a princess costume might have dress, crown, jewelry, shoes, gloves. Each time a player rolls a five, they get to put on a piece of their costume. First player completely dressed is the winner.

I want to see my friends!

The best part about 2020 is the technology available to us. Even if you are not in the same room, you CAN see you friends via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Why not use them to play some games?

Pictionary

This game is super fun when you are using the white board option on Zoom. Players take turns picking a card and drawing it out on the white board, letting players guess what it is as quickly as possible. Here is a printable Halloween version. (Works well for Charades, too)

Scattergories

We play this with our friends on game night and have a blast coming up with words for each category.  If you haven’t played the game before, players use a special die or Scat Tools app to randomly give a letter. Players then have 30 seconds to come up with an answer that starts with that letter. For example, the player rolls a “G”. The first question is, “Name a type of candy”. One answer could be “Gobstopper”. Your answers can also be more than one word. For example, your answer could be “gummi bear”.  A Halloween version of Pictionary can be found here.

Halloween Challenge 

This game is a lot like Family Feud. A question is read and players try to guess the best answer. I have two versions of this Halloween game (here and here) with 10 questions and answers each. It is a simple game to play on Zoom with a group of 10-12. This PowerPoint game also comes with editable questions and answers for you to add your own and make it unique to your group.

Jibber Jabber

Speaking of Zoom, Jibber Jabber is another fun PowerPoint game to play. Players read the Halloween phrases as quickly as possible to try to guess what it really says. For example, “Trip core tree” means “Trick or Treat”. The game gives you 20 seconds (which goes really fast!) to figure it out before going to the next phrase. 

Snap!

This is a fun and sometimes stressful game where players are shown a picture for five seconds and then asked a question about the picture on the next slide. Is five seconds long enough to see the whole picture? Try it out here.

Did I miss anything? I think I covered it all!

Candy

Dress up

Friends

Lots of Fun!

What are your plans this Halloween?