Halloween Bucket List for Kids: 25 Spooky Season Activities for 2025
Luci McQuitty HindmarshOctober sneaks up fast. One minute you're putting away summer stuff, the next your kids are asking what you're doing for Halloween and you've got three weeks to figure it out.
This list gives you 25 activities that actually feel like Halloween—not just generic autumn crafts with a pumpkin sticker slapped on. Don't forget to grab the free printable version at the end.
You'll find quick weeknight ideas, weekend projects, and the main events. Some take 10 minutes. Others need a bit more time. All of them work.
Pick the ones that suit your family's schedule and energy levels. You won't do all 25 (and you shouldn't try to). But you'll have enough options to make October feel special without exhausting yourself before the 31st arrives.
Quick Halloween Wins
Make Mummy Pizzas for Dinner
Stretch mozzarella into strips across English muffin pizzas before baking. Add olive eyes.
Your kids help with dinner and you don't need to plan a separate craft.
Create a Halloween Countdown Chain
Cut orange and black paper strips. Write one activity per strip. Link them together and tear off one each day.
Kids love seeing it shrink.
Draw Jack-O-Lantern Faces on Clementines
Grab a Sharpie and your fruit bowl. You've just made healthy snacks more interesting.
These last about three days before the fruit starts looking sad.
Host a Costume Fashion Show
Clear the living room. Queue up spooky music on your phone.
Let kids model their costume ideas (even if they're just testing combinations from the dress-up box). Film it and send it to grandparents.
Make Ghostly Handprint Art
White paint on black paper. Press hands down. Add googly eyes once dry.
This works brilliantly for kids who struggle with detailed crafts.
Outdoor Halloween Adventures
Go on a Neighbourhood Decoration Hunt
Create a simple scorecard: friendly pumpkin, spooky skeleton, inflatable monster, spider webs.
Walk around your area and tick off what you spot. Brings purpose to your regular evening walk.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch
Go midweek if possible. Weekends get crowded and expensive.
Let each kid choose their own pumpkin to carve or paint later.
Create Sidewalk Chalk Halloween Scenes
Draw a graveyard path up your driveway. Add ghosts, bats, and warning signs.
Your house becomes the fun one on the street (and rain eventually cleans it up for you).
Plan a Torchlight Nature Walk
Early evening in your local park or even around the block. Bring torches and look for "spooky" shadows in trees.
Works best right after dinner when it's just getting dark.
Build a Backyard Obstacle Course
Use what you have: crawl under a sheet ghost, jump over pool noodle "snakes," zigzag through cone "gravestones."
Time each kid and let them try to beat their record.
Kitchen Halloween Projects
Bake and Decorate Monster Biscuits
Sugar biscuit dough (shop-bought works fine). Use candy eyes, icing, and whatever's in your cupboard.
The wonkier they look, the better.
Make Caramel Apples
You need apples, caramel, and sticks. Set up a topping station with crushed biscuits, mini chocolate chips, and sprinkles.
This gets messy—do it outside if weather permits.
Create a Witch's Brew Drink Station
Green juice or limeade in a large drinks dispenser. Add gummy worms. Serve in clear cups so kids can see their "specimens."
Takes 5 minutes to set up.
Prepare Halloween Snack Bags
Small clear bags filled with popcorn, a few sweets, and Halloween stickers.
Make a batch on a Sunday. Hand them out throughout the week as after-school snacks.
Host a Mini Baking Competition
Give each kid the same basic ingredients (cupcakes, icing, toppings). Set a 20-minute timer.
Judge on creativity, not perfection. The prize can be choosing tomorrow's dinner.
Creative Indoor Activities
Design Your Own Trick-Or-Treat Bags
Plain canvas totes from the craft shop (around $3 each). Fabric markers or paint. Done.
These hold way more sweets than plastic pumpkin buckets anyway.
Create a Halloween Story Chain
First person writes one spooky sentence. Fold the paper to hide it. Next person adds a sentence. Keep going.
Read the ridiculous results at the end.
Make Paper Bag Puppets
Brown lunch bags, markers, glue, and scraps. Create monsters, vampires, or cats.
Put on a show after dinner instead of screen time.
Build a Blanket Fort Haunted House
Drape sheets over furniture. Add battery-operated fairy lights (orange if you have them).
This becomes their reading spot or hiding place for the next week.
Host a Halloween Colouring Contest
Print free colouring pages online. Set up the dining table with markers and coloured pencils. Put on a Halloween playlist.
Join in yourself—it's surprisingly relaxing.
Special Experience Ideas
Watch a Classic Halloween Film
Pick age-appropriate: "Hocus Pocus" for older kids, "Room on the Broom" for younger ones.
Make it special with popcorn and dimmed lights. Not a regular Tuesday TV situation.
Visit Your Local Library's Halloween Event
Most libraries run free story times or craft sessions in October.
Check their schedule early—popular sessions book up fast.
Arrange a Halloween Playdate
Invite 2-3 friends over. Set up three stations: decorating biscuits, Halloween colouring, and a simple craft.
Two hours maximum. Other parents will thank you for the specific end time.
Do a Halloween Photo Shoot
Pick one spot in your house or garden. Add a few decorations as backdrop.
Take proper photos of kids in their costumes before Halloween night (when you're rushing and it's dark).
Create a Time Capsule
Each kid writes what they dressed up as, their favourite sweet, and a drawing. Seal it in a box. Mark it to open next Halloween.
Takes 15 minutes but becomes a brilliant tradition.
The Main Events
Carve (or Paint) Your Pumpkins
Carving works for older kids who can handle tools safely. Painting suits everyone else and lasts longer.
Do this no more than 3-4 days before Halloween or they'll rot on your doorstep.
Go Trick-Or-Treating
The obvious one, but plan your route beforehand. Decide on a time limit (90 minutes is plenty).
Bring a torch and wear something reflective.
Hand Out Sweets to Trick-Or-Treaters
Let your kids help answer the door and distribute treats. They love being on the giving end.
Just establish the rule that they can't eat the supply beforehand.
Host a Halloween Breakfast
Orange pancakes (add food colouring to the batter). Arrange blueberries as spider bodies with pretzel stick legs. Serve "poison" milk in a labelled jug.
Special breakfast beats special dinner when you're juggling costumes and excitement later.
End October with a Debrief
Sit together on November 1st. Ask what their favourite part was. Look through photos together.
This 10-minute chat helps them process the month and gives you notes for next year.
Making Your Bucket List Work
Print this list or save it to your phone. You won't do all 25 activities—that's not the point.
Pick 10 that suit your family's schedule and energy. Spread them across October instead of cramming everything into the final week.
Some activities work as quick weeknight additions (ghostly handprints, clementine jack-o-lanterns). Others need weekend time (pumpkin patch, baking projects).
The goal isn't to do everything. It's to make October feel different from September without exhausting yourself before Halloween arrives.
Your kids won't remember whether you did 10 activities or 25. They'll remember that October felt fun.
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