5 Ways to Celebrate Halloween Differently This Year

Are you ready for spooky season?

Halloween is the spookiest time of the year, and it marks the beginning of the holiday season that brings so many of us joy and togetherness. However, we may be limiting ourselves when it comes to celebrating this fantastic holiday!

Usually, for children, the clear choice for celebration is dressing up and trick or treating, and for adults, the go-to method of enjoying Halloween festivities is often dressing up and drinking cocktails at a bar or a party – complete with wicked witch hats and even more wicked morning hangovers.

But there are more than a few reasons to come up with different ways to celebrate Halloween this year, including social distancing, a desire to save money, and an attempt to lead a healthier lifestyle – among other things.

We’re still facing a global health pandemic, and it’s important to stay safe, even on social holidays. So it may be best to plan a cozier Halloween this year and shift our vision of what kind of spooky things we can do, so why not take this time to create fun, safe ways to enjoy this holiday? You may even create some new fun traditions!

5 Unique Ways to Celebrate Halloween

Let’s take a look at 5 ways to celebrate Halloween with style!

1. Show Off Your Amazing Costumes from the Comfort of Your Home

This is the perfect time to get dressed up and stay in! For many of us, Halloween is the one time of the year that we get to express ourselves in the most outrageous way possible. But just because we are safer at home right now, it doesn’t mean you have to keep your costumes hidden in the closet. Break out the makeup, put on your favorite costume, and have a Zoom or a Skype call with your best friends and family members.

Try hosting a costume contest and asking that one friend who refuses to dress up to judge the costumes you come up with. You could even suggest that everyone pitch in a certain amount of money for a gift card that the contest winner will get to take home (or receive in the mail).

You can all show off your creative skills while staying safe and comfortable at home!

2. Cook a Delicious Meal and Watch Your Favorite Halloween Movie

Slip-on your coziest skeleton pajamas, make your most delicious autumn meal, and sit down with your family, roommates, or partner for an epic Halloween-themed movie night! It doesn’t even have to be a scary movie marathon - ghosts can have fun too! We’re talking Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, Halloweentown, and The Nightmare Before Christmas back-to-back. Or if you’re feeling even spookier, go for movies like Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, Haunting of Hill House, or even Halloween.

You can make any meal that your heart desires, but you might feel more refreshed than you ever have waking up on November 1st if you throw in some spinach or kale. Bonus points for adding pumpkin spice to your hot chocolate!

Read next: How to Embrace Your Inner Child this Halloween

3. Have a Spooky Video Game Night

If you’ve got some energy that you need to get out, try putting your best Halloween makeup on and sitting down with your housemates to play your favorite video games – Halloween themed or otherwise. Video games help us sharpen our cognitive skills, improve coordination, enhance memory, and bring us closer together – whether you’re killing zombies or simply racing around Rainbow Road on Mario Kart.

If you’re looking for a spooky game try Until Dawn, Trivia Murder Party (Jackbox Party Pack 3), P.T., or Amnesia. You can take turns playing with friends or even set up a watch party for everyone to get invested.

If you don’t want the scary element but just want to socialize try Among Us, Fall Guys, GMod Murder

Not a fan of video games? Try doing a board game night! One Night Werewolf, Betrayal At House on The Hill, Gloom, or even a Murder Mystery Party online.

Gaming in person or online can boost your mood and remind you that you can have just as much fun at home as you can out in the world!

4. Get Safely Social

If you can’t get your friend group or family together for a video chat, try getting dressed up and encouraging everyone in your circle to share their creative costumes on Instagram or Facebook. This is a great way to celebrate by getting into the spirit and showing off your skills without putting yourself or your family in harm’s way.

Have a Halloween fashion show or Halloween contest where you can award different people for different categories (ex. least effort, best wig, etc.). You could even turn it into a game by giving everyone on your Zoom call 10 minutes to dress up to a certain category from what they have in their house - the best-dressed wins.

Let’s face it, half of the reason we get dressed up in the first place is to get those great photos for our social media accounts.

You can also try to come up with witty, Halloween themed puns in your captions or comments and see who thinks of the spookiest jokes!

5. Get Creative With Your Celebration

This year it seems that everyone is crafting their spooky decor, from the viral Skull Candle Holder that has been all over Tik Tok to the simple and classic Lollipop Ghosts, spooky DIYing is everywhere this Halloween.

Creativity is a great way to celebrate any holiday, and Halloween provides some of the most material for creative endeavors. Get your family or roomies together to cut out paper skeletons to hang around the living room; try carving pumpkins, lighting a tea candle inside your creation, and setting them on your porch for the neighborhood to enjoy.

For every skill level, there are so many different Halloween crafts or activities you can engage in.

Break out the poster board, construction paper, markers, glue, glitter, and any other art supplies you have lying around the house and see who can come up with the coolest ghoul or monster. Grab a guitar, pour a glass of wine, and write a song about the wonders of witches and other Halloween creatures.

Or, try dressing up as your favorite characters from a Halloween movie and recreating scenes in your living room. The sky is the limit when you’re using your imagination!

Celebrating Halloween Can Mean Whatever You Want it to

You don’t have to celebrate any holiday according to social norms, and it’s especially important to be creative and safe with our festivities this year. Being at home doesn’t mean ignoring one of the most fun and exciting holidays of the year.

So, let your creativity and your imagination run wild, and try coming up with a few unique ideas of your own. Don’t let the challenges of the year bring you down, but rather, allow the childlike wonder and thrill of Halloween infuse your spirit!

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