So it looks like Halloween parties and ‘trick or treating’ won’t be possible this year thanks to “Mr Coronavirus” (as my youngest likes to say!). However, that doesn’t mean that ‘he’ has to ruin ALL of the fun. There are LOADS of spooky, family friendly activities you can do together at home instead.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so this means you will need a full day of spook-tacular entertainment to keep your tiny terrors busy!

Read on for 5 ideas that I hope will make your family’s Halloween the most memorable one ever…

1. Make a spooky den

My kiddies love making dens (is there a child who doesn’t?) Building a spooky den is a great way to kick off your day of Halloween fun.

If you have a tepee or a frame from a play tent at home, simply drape over a black table cloth or a black bed sheet and you’re done! Of course, to make it extra eerie, you can add a few Halloween decorations and atmospheric lights.

We were lucky enough to be sent these fab light-up balloons from illooms. They really helped to transform our den into a creepy cavern.

The kids loved them and the LED lights inside the balloons lasted a couple of days. We saved some to decorate our den again on the big day.

Take a look at their great variety of creepy characters here. Some of them can even be used as pumpkin lights instead of candles.

2. Bake terrifying treats

This year I have spotted some really cool ideas on Instagram for creating a frightening feast for Halloween. I’m not the most confident baker, (chocolate cornflake cakes are my go-to recipe), however give me a baking kit and you can call me Mary Berry!  

This particular chocolate ghost cake kit from Honeywell Biscuit Co. caught my eye. One, because I love chocolate cake, and two because I want to try making these cute little white chocolate ghosts!

The kit looks nice and easy too, with pre-weighed ingredients and a step-by-step recipe card. They even pop in little activity card and chef’s hat for your little horror to enjoy.

I did think about making bat shaped cookies, but we all know where eating bats got us!!! (sorry, it had to be done!).

3. Get out the slime

If you are any normal parent, slime won’t be top of your to-do list because of the inevitable mess. However, if there is one occasion where slime should make an appearance it has to be Halloween!

We have a great slime making kit from Banovslime, which comes with all the materials you need to make your own slime, plus easy to follow instructions. Our favourite is the glow in the dark slime, which seems like the perfect choice for some slimy Halloween fun.

A great alternative to slime is water beads. These little colourful jelly balls grow in water over night, so remember to prepare them the night before.

You can find them cheap on Ebay & Amazon. TIP: Get the kiddies to close their eyes and find gruesome objects hidden amongst the balls. Also fun for dipping your toes in!

4. Bubbling bath potions

When your kiddies have a bath do they like to waste all of your lovely shampoos and shower gels making potions and perfumes? Yes ours too!

Well, as this seems to be an activity they love, I am planning a very special bath time with their very own Halloween themed bath fizzers from Bloomspa.

These are so clever because they aren’t just your regular bath bombs; each one comes in its own little plastic container with a handle, so that your little ones can add water to the top and then watch the colourful foam fizz over.

The Jack-O lantern turns the water to a beautiful emerald green colour, Casper the cute little ghost turns it hot pink, Mr.Skull will turn the water aquamarine blue and the Hocus Pocus cauldron creates a fabulous purple fizz!

They all smell incredible and the lovely lady who makes them has worked really hard to ensure that they are all made with natural ingredients, skin-safe water soluble colours and allergen-free fragrance oils.

5. Ghoulish games

Here a few really simple Halloween games you can play together throughout the day:

Bog roll bowling – The perfect way to use all that toilet roll you’ve been hoarding! You could even use a small pumpkin as your bowling ball!

Pin the nose on the pumpkin – Nice and easy make a triangle nose for your pumpkin out of card and add some double sided tape. Then pop your blindfold on and see who can get it in the right spot.

Bogeyman’s box – Simply cut a hole in the side of a box, big enough for small hands to fit through and then place some mystery objects inside for the kiddies to feel.

Some ideas for those mystery objects are: olives (eyeballs) cooked spaghetti (worms) cooked rice (maggots) peanut butter (zombie’s ear wax) cotton wool (spider’s web) jelly (brains)

If you end up using any of these ideas for your own Halloween at home we’d love to see! Please tag @lewisfamilyblog in your photos and stories.

Wishing you all a very Happy Halloween!