Although some people might want to forgo celebrating Halloween all together this year with Covid, we feel there are still plenty of safe and fun ways to celebrate this spooky holiday!

Many churches, community organizations and restaurants have came up with creative twists to the traditional ways of celebrating Halloween. For example, instead of the traditional Trunk or Treat set up for families at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Willmar, the church decided to do a Drive-Thru Trunk or Treat. Parents and kids will get to enjoy seeing the creative ways people decorate their trunks, a luminary display, a pumpkin patch and even a bunch of Halloween blow-up decorations all from the comfort of their car. And of course the kiddos will still get some Halloween treats, they’ll just be delivered in a safer way. Carolyn Lange of the West Central Tribune put out a great article this past week that goes over the variety of events taking place in Kandiyohi County this year. Click here to read the article.

But what if you would just rather stay home this year? How will you get the kids excited for Halloween and celebrate from the comfort of your own home? Well, as your expert Halloween fanatic, I’m here to share the many fun activities our family does to celebrate Halloween! One of our favorite games is Bingo so why not put a twist on it and play Halloween Bingo? You can find free printable Halloween Bingo cards online and have a fun night earning some Halloween treats or snacks with each Bingo you get! Other free printable activities to enjoy this Halloween include I Spy Halloween, Halloween Dot Painting, Halloween Word Search, Halloween Scavenger Hunt, Halloween Scatergories, Halloween Mad Libs, and a variety of Halloween coloring sheets.

Maybe you’d prefer to be more active in your game playing. Check out the variety of Halloween Minute to Win-It Games you can find online. A few of our favorites are Pumpkin Toss, Skeleton Shake, Room on the Broom, Spider Race, and Suck It Up, which involves transferring M&M’s from a plate into a bowl by using only a straw. You can find instructions to these and other fun games by searching “Minute to Win It Halloween Activities for Kids” on Pinterest or Google.

Do you and your kids enjoy crafting? Set up a craft table where the whole family can make bats, pumpkins, witches, ghosts and a variety of other Halloween decorations. To make it more of a STEM activity, have everyone make a catapult using popsicle sticks to see who can launch their candy pumpkin the farthest. Or maybe even try to make it into a Halloween bowl or caldron. And what kid (even a grown-up kid) doesn’t like slime? You can find a wide variety of recipes on the internet to create fluffy pumpkin slime, candy corn slime, glow in the dark slime, pumpkin guts slime, witch’s brew glitter slime and much more!

Don’t forget about the traditional Halloween activities that you can still enjoy with the family such as carving a pumpkin, Halloween mystery boxes, dressing up in costumes, having a dance party with Halloween music, and watching the many family friendly Halloween movies out there like Halloween Town, Hocus Pocus, Goosebumps, Spooky Buddies, Mostly Ghostly, Casper, Double Double Toil and Trouble, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The fact that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year makes it even more possible to pack in all the fun Halloween activities your family wants to enjoy without leaving your house. Start your day off with a breakfast like no other with ghost toast, cinnamon roll mummies, Dracula pancakes, screaming ghost donuts or candy corn waffles. Then enjoy creating (and eating) a creepy snack such as orange pumpkins, ghost bananas, apple monster teeth, candy corn fruit parfait, or even witch fingers. And since you might be busy with all your fun Halloween activities, keep supper simple with a pumpkin-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s served with your favorite green colored punch.

Halloween doesn’t have to be a let down this year. With a few supplies from your nearest Dollar Store or a few printouts from the internet, you can create a fun day your whole family will love! And who knows, maybe you’ll be creating a new Halloween tradition for years to come!

And if you just can’t seem to fit all the fun into one day, remember that Halloween could be a full weekend of family fun this year! Start your Halloween weekend on Friday night to make sure you can fit in a variety of Halloween movies! That’s what we’re planning on doing!

For more Halloween events taking place throughout the Willmar Lakes Area, check out our event page.