These Family Halloween Traditions are going to be an easy way for your family to create lasting and possibly spooky Halloween memories.
While digging through old pictures of Halloween’s past, a few from my childhood came to the top of the pile.
What’s funny is that the memories and Halloween traditions I remember from my childhood were all incredibly simple.
I don’t mean that my Halloweens were lacking; far from it! But the memories I hold dearest don’t involve a lot of bells and whistles.
So when thinking of starting your own Family Halloween Traditions, you might be surprised to find that for your kids, you already have a few.
Simple moments together can be just as important traditions as big ones like family vacations & big birthday parties.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s jump right in with my Halloween favorites.
Hopefully, you find a few fun family Halloween Traditions for the coming holiday.
Or perhaps, you’ll realize you already have a couple and then decide to add a few more.
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Halloween Traditions for Families
Life is busy. That is simply a fact in our home and I’m sure yours.
That’s why these spooky traditions and Halloween activities for kids are easy to implement, as well as fun.
Bonus points because a few of them are even frugal ideas.
Let’s jump right into the list of traditions you can start this October.
Make a Frightening Halloween Dessert or Sweet Treat
We all know that Halloween is known for its trick-or-treating and therefore a surplus of candy.
But, it’s also a great time to be creative with your baking.
This means you can let the kids put gummy worms on cupcakes or make a cake that looks like a brain. If it’s gross, it works well for Halloween.
The best part about Halloween food is that if you mess up, it’s OK. You can just say a witch cursed your oven or that a zombie messed with the snacks.
Also, make sure you check out our Halloween Food, Snacks & Treats Pinterest board for some great ideas. Find easy ideas for those classroom Halloween snacks or even your Halloween dinner.
We have two simple and fun Halloween snacks that you need to click and see as well.
The first is our Cinnamon Crisps Jack-O-Lantern Treats.
It’s a crispy tortilla covered in cinnamon and sugary goodness. It only requires 4 ingredients and of course, it also looks like a jack-o-lantern.
Next are these Halloween Pretzel Treats. If you are a fan of those chocolate bark-covered pretzels during the holidays, this treat is for you.
Create Creepy Appetizers and Monstrous Main Dishes
If the idea of making your dinner look like a brain isn’t exactly your preference, there are tons of other ideas that are edible, but still have a less creepy factor.
Appetizers are a great way to go if you don’t want to make an entire Halloween-themed meal or if you’re afraid your kids won’t eat something super gross-looking.
My favorite is to make a jack-o-lantern pizza. You can do this in two ways.
The first and easiest involves a slightly defrosted frozen pepperoni pizza. Simply cut and rearrange the pepperonis as needed to create your pumpkin. It helps to have a few extras to add too.
The next way would be to make homemade pizza. Then you have more freedom to use various toppings and create your jack-o-lantern pizza.
Make sure you check out tons of other fun ideas on our Halloween Pinterest Board!
Watch Spooky Movies & Fearful Shows
Is it Halloween if you don’t sit down and watch Bette Midler as a Sanderson Sister in Hocus Pocus?
There are so many classic Halloween movies that range from family-friendly to I’m never turning the lights off at bedtime again.
I highly recommend you screen any movie (a Google search will usually be all you need) to see what level of scare factor a Halloween movie involves.
While it’s a good idea to introduce kids to what they might observe during trick-or-treating such as costumes or spooky music, you do need to be aware of your child’s fear level.
Here are a few Halloween movies that my family enjoys:
There are of course tons and tons of Halloween movies! You can check them out on Amazon here
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So get the cozy blankets ready, grab the popcorn, and settle in for a family movie night.
Carve those Pumpkins
This just might be the most nostalgic of all Halloween Traditions.
I can still remember standing on a vinyl chair in my mom’s kitchen scooping out a pumpkin.
There was newspaper down to catch the mess, but the seeds and guts still flew everywhere.
We were triangle eyes and jagged teeth mouth kind of jack-o-lantern makers.
This is what we did with our boys in the early years. Then, we became aware of all the free printable templates to take your pumpkin to the next level.
You can simply google “free jack-o-lantern templates” or check out one of my favorite sites: PumpkinPile.
Make sure you have a good set of pumpkin carving tools and you’ll be ready to take this Halloween tradition to the next level.
If you want to get serious about your pumpkin carving, try these Pumpkin Carving Tools.
Books are the perfect Family Halloween Tradition
As the fall weather arrives and the daylight disappears earlier and earlier, our family reading time increases.
Halloween books are a great way to not only celebrate the holiday but to prepare your child for a night of trick-or-treating too.
Reading Halloween books, much like movies, can prepare young children for the idea of walking around at night with costumes and people everywhere.
If you need a few book suggestions, try our Halloween Book Ideas that aren’t Super Spooky. There are tons of classics and new books with current favorite cartoon characters.
Make a Generational Connection
This tradition is very dependent on your family’s situation, but it is something that can brighten the day of a loved one.
If you have elderly loved ones, especially if they live in a nursing home or assisted living facility, think about making a special trip to see them during Halloween week.
You could avoid the rush of doing this on actual Halloween and make the trip a simple family tradition.
Have your child wear their costume and surprise your family members with their own small Halloween celebration.
Decorate Decorate Decorate
You might be thinking, well I do decorate for Halloween. But that is not what I am talking about… I’m talking about going all out and decorating one area of your home to the max.
Choose your front porch, kitchen or dining area, living room mantle, or even a bathroom, and decorate it like crazy for Halloween.
A great place to do this on a budget is the Dollar Tree. They have tons of Halloween decorations every year.
If they don’t match your decor or you don’t like the options, contemplate spray painting them. A simple can of black spray paint can transform Dollar Store treasures into spooky home decor you love.
The part of this that makes it a real tradition, is that you go all out. I can still remember what our front porch looked like, along with our entryway every Halloween.
There were pumpkins down the sidewalk that we would carve into jack-o-lanterns before Halloween.
So many cobwebs with tiny spiders along the entire length of our long front porch. Plus a big black witch pot sitting on colorful fabric by the front door.
My mom would place little touches of skeletons and a witch’s broom leaned up against the doorframe as well.
Did I mention the bats that hung from the porch ceiling? I still remember it in detail and hope to step up my game and continue this tradition with my boys.
Research Your Town’s Ghostly Haunts
Take a little time and look into your town’s haunted past. You could do this by visiting the local library and researching town history. If you are lucky, the library itself might be old & spooky.
If the library isn’t a great option, do a general Google search of supposedly haunted places near you. Then simply go visit them. Whatever you do, make sure your kids are ready to go exploring these types of places.
Exploring your town’s haunted history can make Halloween feel more real for kids. So be prepared for the emotions and questions that go along with that.
Costumes are the Definition of Family Halloween Traditions
Halloween Costumes are about as classic Halloween as you can get. But there are ways to make your costumes part of your family’s traditions.
There are two easy ways we will look at to make costumes part of your fun family Halloween Traditions. Let’s take a look at the first one.
FAMILY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
If you want to really go out, make your Halloween Costumes a family event. How to do this? Well, first you need to pick a theme.
For example, popular ones revolve around movies or television shows. Your entire family could go as:
The Incredibles
The Adams Family
Toy Story
SuperHeroes
Of course, there are so many other ideas, ranging from eccentric to borderline genius. Some of the favorites I have seen are:
The Bee Family – Hive Included
Safari Hunt with Animals
Farmer with Animals too
Hotdogs & Hamburgers with Ketchup & Mustard
Whatever you choose, make sure your entire family is in on the fun and you have a great tradition started. At least until your kids are old enough to not want to match you anymore… Hello tween years!
DIY COSTUMES
Another fun tradition is to make your own costumes. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about learning to sew and creating a commercial-grade costume.
But there is something to be said about creating a mix-matched costume from your dress-up piles or by being super creative with a cardboard box.
I remember with vivid detail the bat costume my mom made out of a black sheet. As well as when I went as a ghost and tripped all night; but had so much fun!
Let go of the idea of perfection and let your child help you with the process. Also, you can go as simple as being a witch, to creating a tractor out of a cardboard box. It’s the process of creating and planning the costume that makes it a great family tradition.
Have a Halloween Photo Shoot
Even when Halloween falls on a weekend, for some reason it’s always a crazy busy rush to check off all the Halloween to-dos.
That’s why in our 10 Tips for Better Halloween Photos of Your Kids I mention having a pre-Halloween photo shoot. If you want to read more about better Halloween photos, click the link above.
We started our pre-Halloween photo sessions as a way for me to capture pictures of the kids in their costumes when we weren’t in a hurry.
It quickly turned into a dress rehearsal of sorts and became my favorite part of Halloween.
Without the quickly setting sun and your kids’ desire to collect as much candy as possible, you can take your time and capture great memories.
We’ve even gone as far as finding spooky places to take pics.
It’s become a family tradition for us to have our trial run with their costumes.
It’s also great for giving you insight into what might need to be tweaked for Halloween night. For example, a mask that needs foam added, or a costume that you need to safety pin the bottom.
The Halloween Bucket List
Our last idea in this list of Family Halloween Traditions is to create your own Halloween Bucket List. This can be as simple as a to-do list with ideas like carving pumpkins, watching a Halloween movie, or making a tasty Halloween treat.
Or you can go crazy and include things like decorating the entire front yard as a graveyard, visiting a Haunted House, or even making that brain meatloaf!
We have an entire post dedicated to Halloween Activities to Put on your October Bucket List. There are over 50 plus fun ideas!
Also, we have a free printable Halloween Bucket List!
Making the Most of Your Family Halloween Traditions
Whatever Family Halloween Traditions you decide to do, always remember that the process is sometimes the part that your kids will remember most.
I can’t tell you exactly what my jack-o-lanterns looked like from my childhood, but I do remember the process of picking out a pumpkin, cutting it open, and watching my Mom cut out those triangle eyes.
So enjoy the Halloween Holiday and enjoy the little parts too. Those might be exactly what your child remembers about their Halloween fun.
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