50 Things to Do Before Halloween: A Family Halloween Bucket List
Fifty tiny reasons to make October feel like Halloween before the actual night arrives.
A bucket list should create memories, not homework. Circle ten favorites and ignore the rest, or put every idea in a jar and pull one when somebody says they are bored.
The list mixes free activities, food, outdoor ideas, crafts, movies and traditions so families can choose what fits their schedule and budget.
50 Halloween things to do
Use this as a menu for the whole month of October.
Decorate the front door
Pick pumpkins at a patch or store
Paint a pumpkin
Carve a jack-o’-lantern
Roast pumpkin seeds
Make a paper ghost
Build a cardboard haunted house
Read a Halloween picture book
Read a spooky chapter book
Watch a gentle Halloween movie
Watch a slightly scarier movie together
Make banana ghosts
Build a spooky snack board
Bake or decorate Halloween cookies
Drink hot cocoa after a chilly evening
Make a Halloween playlist
Have a monster dance party
Learn one Halloween song
Tell a flashlight ghost story
Make up a silly ghost story
Tell Halloween jokes at dinner
Try five Halloween riddles
Play Halloween bingo
Play pumpkin bowling
Do a mummy-wrap relay
Go on a Halloween scavenger hunt
Walk around the neighborhood to see decorations
Take a family costume photo
Create a costume from things already at home
Have a costume parade
Make monster shadow puppets
Try a bubbling cauldron science experiment
Test whether pumpkins float
Make Halloween slime or oobleck
Create a paper-chain countdown
Write a Halloween lunchbox note
Pack one spooky lunch
Learn one fact about bats
Learn one fact about spiders
Make a decoration from recycled materials
Visit a library Halloween display
Donate or swap an old costume
Make a treat for a neighbor or friend
Choose a teal-pumpkin-friendly non-food treat option if useful for your visitors
Have a no-candy family activity
Turn off the lights and use only battery lanterns for ten minutes
Invent a new monster and draw it
Name your jack-o’-lantern
Vote for the family’s favorite Halloween tradition
End October by writing down the one thing everyone wants to repeat next year
