10 Halloween Traditions to Start as a Family!

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the year! Costumes, candy and cooler weather! What’s not to love!? Over the past few years, we have started many traditions as a family that has the kids so excited about this time of year! Here are 10 ideas for traditions to start with your kids!

1.  Decorate your Yard/House for Halloween

My kids can’t wait for that first weekend in October when we start pulling out all the Halloween decor and start haunting our house. It is so fun to set up our yard and arrange all the decorations. Inside we always decorate a Halloween tree which the kids love putting all the ornaments on. We try to buy a few new things each year at after-Halloween sales to add to our display the next year! It’s such a blast and really kicks off our fun filled month of Halloween celebration! Here is a picture of our yard this year.

2.  Pick out Costumes as a Family

We have started doing this at the end of September each year and take a night looking online together and talking about our costumes. When they were smaller (and didn’t get a say in what they would be), I would coordinate us as a family in our costumes. Now, since they both have strong opinions about what they want to be, they want me to dress up to coordinate with them.

This year the baby gets to coordinate with the theme.  Lucas is a policeman, I’m a bank robber, and Lola is a baby inmate. Lucy is going as a rogue Karmin Miranda (including fruit on the head). Although she doesn’t “go” with our costume theme, she did agree to ride around in our golf cart that we are turning into a mobile jail. The kids love talking about how we will dress up, and it gets them excited about all the fun!

3. Plan a Fall Vacation

Most kids have fall breaks or at least a 3-day weekend in October. Our family takes that weekend to go to Disney every year. This year will be our 6th annual fall trip to Disney and to “Mickey’s not so Scary Halloween Party.”  It’s a BLAST!  We all dress up and head to the Magic Kingdom where we trick-or-treat, have dance parties with the characters, watch the headless horseman race down Main Street before the amazing Halloween parade and end the night with the special fireworks show, “Hallo-Wishes.”  We love it just as much as the kids.

Other great places to explore would be St. Augustine or Charleston. Great historical towns with lots of ghost tours. Even just heading north to see the leaves changing color would make a fun, memorable trip! (Check out this JMB post for a Fall trip to North Carolina!)

4.  Plan a Halloween Parade/ Block Party

When I lived in San Marco, this was the highlight of the Halloween season. Every year, all the neighborhood kids would dress up and walk from one end of the street to the other, led by our Parade Leader in his yellow jeep. It started as a way for the little kids to enjoy the festivities of Halloween when they were too young to really enjoy trick-or-treating.

It turns out kids of all ages loved it, and it grew and grew each year. The neighbors would come out of their houses and cheer the kids along the parade route and then we concluded with a block party. We would have pizza, bounce houses, little games and even set up a small kid-friendly haunted house. The sky is the limit, and it can be as elaborate or as simple as you want, but it’s a great way to mingle with your neighbors and for everyone to have fun!

5.  Have a Halloween Movie Night or Nights

We LOVE watching kid-friendly Halloween movies in October. Again, this could be as simple or elaborate as you want! Invite some families over for an outdoor movie and have a popcorn bar and decorate caramel apples or keep is simple like we do, and just decorate some cupcakes and snuggle down with family for some great not-too-spooky movies. Some of my faves are Hocus Pocus, Nightmare before Christmas; It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Ghostbusters, and Hotel Transylvania to name a few!

6.  “Boo” your Neighbors

This is such a fun thing to do and a great way to introduce your kids to the “pay it forward” concept. Make a little treat bag or basket for a neighbor and leave it on their doorstep with a note that says “You’ve been Booed!” There are many printables on Pinterest that you can print out to include with your goody bag! Leave it on your neighbor’s doorstep with instructions to copy the instructions and “Boo” another neighbor. Check out this post for more details!

7. Visit a Pumpkin Patch

This is a given, but nothing gets you in the mood for fall and Halloween more than a visit to the Pumpkin Patch. Jax Moms Blog wrote a great blog about places to go in Jax in October. Check out JMB’s list of awesome Pumpkin Patches and other things to do in and around Jax.

8. Carve Pumpkins

This is something I remember loving to do growing up. There is nothing better than getting all gooey with pumpkin guts! There are so many great ideas and patterns for pumpkin carving these days. This year the kids picked out carving tools that came with pattern books. If carving seems too messy, then opt to paint or just decorate your pumpkins. Sticky foam stickers, glitter pens, and sharpies all work great!

9.  Roast Pumpkin Seeds

Toss them in a little oil, cinnamon, sugar and pinch of pumpkin spice. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Absolutely DELISH!  Also great to add to salads!

10.  A Visit from the “Switch Witch”

Let’s face it, us parents end up eating more of the kids’ Halloween candy than the kids do. At least I do, and all I want to do is throw it all away so I can’t be tempted! Last year we came up with the concept of trading our candy for a toy.

The “Switch Witch” is a great concept for the little kids. Have the kids pick out some of their very favorite candy (I had my kids fill a little Ziploc) then leave the rest of the candy outside the door for the “Switch Witch” to come and take and leave a toy in its place. For older kids, many dentists and charitable organizations have candy buy backs where they give money for candy brought in.

Do you and your family have any fall or Halloween traditions you do every year!?