A quick guide to Halloween costumes and activities, plus crafty pumpkin carving ideas and more, to help you celebrate Halloween. Grab a mask and get your spooky on!
Last year we were under lockdown, this year we are ready to rattle our bones and have a great time! With our quick guide to the go-to places you’ll celebrate Halloween plus some traditional activities including designs for pumpkin carving, you’ll be loaded with ideas to get the party started whether at home, at work, or on vacation.
Spooktacular Pumpkin Carving Ideas for Halloween At Home
Want to party at your own place? Whether your dastardly plans are big or small, here are a few ways to make your home Halloween party super scary and super fun this year. Is that pumpkin spice wafting through the air?
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Pumpkin Carving Tips
Pumpkin carving is a classic for a reason—get ready to sculpt something gruesome from the season’s favorite fruit (yep, it’s a fruit). Here’s a quick pumpkin carving how-to. At the grocery store, choose a plump pumpkin with a slight shine and a large area to work with. The carving process is messy, so you’ll want to lay down some newspaper first and keep paper towels handy. Then, remove the top of the pumpkin (the stem side) using a sharp knife and scoop out the guts. Be sure to rinse and save the seeds, they’re edible!
Traditionally, you would print a Halloween design, tape it to the surface of your pumpkin and start with quick guiding cuts along the outline. Many of us grew up carving pumpkins into witches, vampires, cats and spiders, but any ghoulish face with big fangs will do! These are caricatures, so you can go wild. Keep in mind that whole pumpkins last for up to 90 days, but carved pumpkins will start to decay immediately and only look their best for 3-5 days (slightly longer in cool weather).
For safety reasons, kids should be supervised at all times when using knives. If that sounds frightening (in a bad way) you can swap the “sword” for a “pen” this year and just use a marker! Marking or painting Halloween decorations is a great workaround for the younger crowd—pumpkins, cardboard boxes, smooth stones—transform any object through the magic of crafting. Younger children may enjoy spooky stickers, but watch where they stick them!
Halloween Game Ideas for Kids
While you are passing down the joy of haunted arts and crafts, why not pull out a bucket of chalk and teach them to play Halloween tic-tac-toe on the sidewalk, using skulls and crossbones? Other games you could “spookify” with a seasonal flourish include hopscotch, Twister, or a chalk maze leading to a scary dungeon. There are endless Halloween games for kids and a million and one Halloween toys for kids’ parties. Have fun!
Now, How to Haunt Your Halloween Office Party?
Does a WFH party mean you only need a costume for your upper body? We can’t answer that, but if you are celebrating at the office, you have been automatically enrolled in a Halloween costume competition involving all personnel. Choose something that will glow ominously under the neon lights, and for added fun, coordinate your doomed decor with a group of adults! Finding a killer theme is your job now.
Department versus department. Meme versus meme. Team building exercises like a Halloween costume contest help people get to know each other, which produces better work over time. Everyone wins! So, where to start in terms of Halloween costumes… Can you reference an inside joke, or poke fun at something unique about the company? Think about distinctive haircuts and habits you can echo in the costumes. What if everyone in your group dressed as the same person, maybe your manager? Maybe you could each dress up as your number one quarantine hobby (Do we have a baker in the house? A newly minted green thumb?). What if you (dis)embodied your job description and did a zombie-Halloween-costume version of yourself? Have fun with it!
Now that everyone is dressed in their bloody best, it’s time for Halloween games. Try scary charades, or a spinoff where your blindfolded colleagues must identify horrible objects by touch (peeled grapes feel like eyeballs, cold noodles feel like worms and so on). How about a round of Halloween trivia? A murder mystery board game would be perfect here too. Of course, everything is more fun when the “magic potion” is flowing!
Experience the Magic of Halloween Activities at Disney World
For a magical twist, you could always take a Halloween vacation! Dust off those Mickey Mouse ears and make your spooky dreams a reality in 2022.
You know how Disney creates a glittering, cheerful wonderland of immersive sights, sounds, smells and tastes? It’s the happiest place on earth, for most of the year… Then suddenly, the kingdom is invaded by ghosts, graveyards, skeletons and spiderwebs! The place to be this Halloween is Disney World’s infamous Oogie Boogie Bash. This annual event has so many wonderful elements, not least the 360-degree parade of your favorite characters in their Halloween costumes. Attendees also get exclusive early and late access to the park, for the chance to walk where they want through a deserted Disneyland. Don’t miss out! This is your chance to mingle with magical creatures in a fantastic alternate universe.
So there you have it. We hope you made use of these ideas to get the party started whether you are celebrating at a haunted house, an undead office party, or a terrifying vacation!
What is the best costume you’ve ever worn, and where did you wear it? Let us know in the comments!
Are you still on the hunt for trunk or treat car ideas? Look no further! We've curated some fantastic inspiration to make your trunk or treat car stand out. Consider options such as the impressive dinosaur trunk or treat, the playful pokemon trunk or treat, garage door halloween decorations, and innovative trunk or treat decorations for SUVs. Get ready to showcase the most extraordinary Halloween car decorations in town!