5 Alternatives to Trick or Treating This Halloween
Here are 5 alternatives to trick or treating to get you going.
Although trick or treating is a fun activity for many children, as a parent you just might not be comfortable sending your child knocking on people’s doors asking for candy.
Or you child may be too young to feel comfortable trick-or-treating. That’s perfectly fine! The good news is there are lots of other activities that’ll still make for a fun Halloween.
Be sure to check out our spooky collection of Halloween ideas, activities and recipes for the entire family.
5 Alternatives to Trick or Treating This Halloween
Photo Credit | Photo Modified
Trunk or Treating
Trunk or treating is a new Halloween trend invented to solve a number of problems with traditional trick or treating.
Some people live in communities where the homes are just too far apart for trick or treating to work, where others don’t like the idea of their kids knocking on strangers’ doors.
Trunk or treating involves a group of people getting together – which could be organized by friends or a group like a school or church – and offering out candy to kids from their trunks.
Trick-or-treat bucket
Personalized Halloween Tote BagHalloween BasketsPersonalized Halloween Bucket for kids
Much easier for the kids to walk between, much more approachable for little ones and much safer for any worried parents!
Host a Halloween Party
A Halloween party is always great fun, and you can invite a number of other children to hold your own trick or treat right inside the home.
Younger children can definitely have fun visiting the adults in every separate room of the house, knocking on the door to receive their candy.
If your kids are likely to get bored with this, simply plan a fun party with plenty of their friends, and hand out treat bags to everyone.
Plan some other Halloween games to make up for the fact that they aren’t going out trick or treating.
Family Night
Some families forgo the parties and candy altogether and make other plans for Halloween.
Depending on the age of your kids, you could plan a scary movie night.
Halloween Kids Water BottleWooden Halloween Tic Tac Toe BoardHalloween Pumpkin Decorating CraftKids personalized custom Shirt
Another idea is to plan a Halloween feast – put together a fun menu full of spooky-sounding foods.
Local Halloween Events
You’ll often find that parks and other family-friendly businesses plan events around Halloween.
These could be haunted theme parks, malls or safe, planned Halloween events.
They may or may not include trick or treating, but there will usually be enough other activities to keep kids more than happy on Halloween night!
Candy Alternatives
If it’s the candy specifically that concerns you on Halloween, have a think about alternatives that’ll still make your kids happy.
These include giving money instead of food or providing fun novelty items.
Adorable Halloween Books
When you’re done playing, snuggle up and enjoy these Halloween Books with your child.
Don’t Push the Button! A Halloween Treat: A Spooky Fun Interactive Book For KidsPete the Cat: Trick or PeteCreepy Carrots! (Creepy Tales!)How to Catch a Monster
Bone SoupThe Spooky Wheels on the BusThe Berenstain Bears Trick or TreatSpooky Pookie (Little Pookie)
Or enjoy these Halloween Board Books with your toddler. It’s the perfect way to tie in the holiday to your Halloween activities!
DIY Halloween name bracelet Halloween giftHalloween Play dough kitSlappy Halloween Tags with Slap BraceletsHalloween Play dough Jars
Easy Printable Halloween Fun!
As the spookiest season of the year approaches, dive into a treasure trove of bewitching printables that will add a dash of magic to your Halloween celebrations and learning.
- Halloween Mystery Puzzles
- Halloween Color by Coding
- Halloween Jokes Cootie Catcher
- Halloween Fine Motor Activities – Flip and Fill Game
- Spider Preschool Lesson Plan
- Room on the Broom Coloring Pages
- Skeleton Preschool Lesson Plan
- My Halloween Handwriting Packet
- Brain Breaks for Halloween
- Halloween Handwriting Activities
- Halloween Multisensory Handwriting Activities
Gather your printers and creative spirits, and let the Halloween fun begin with our selection of printables!
Trunk or treating what a great idea. We like to go out in a group when possible.
Trunk or treating is a lot of fun — and such an easy and safe way for the kids to participate.
If we wouldn’t go trick or tricking I think our daughter would not be happy. She gets tons and tons of candy but she hardly eats any of it. Often times we end up throwing a lot of it out. There is a dentist that will take that candy and give the kids money for it then he sends it to the troops over seas.
My younger son was really freaked out from trick or treating last year, so I was thinking of other ways for him to get involved. I do think he would skip the trick or treating if he could participate in other ways.
These are great alternatives. We take our children trick or treating, but we have to check the candy first. Also, they are only allowed to eat the candy one night, then we toss the rest 🙂
Allyson — I like the ideas of ditching the candy after one night. I don’t think that would pass with my husband!
These are great ideas! Trick or Treating seems to get more and more complicated every year- i love that “trunk or treating” idea, and also who doesnt love a fun Halloween party!?
I agree that it gets more complicated every year. Trunk or treating is just the right amount of fun for our younger ones.
These are wonderful! This is such a thoughtful article, and s so very respectful of children. Beautiful! I’m sharing this.
I definitely think, as parents, we need to keep in mind how our kids feel. We can all get wrapped up in the fun of the holiday and forget how scary it can be for the younger ones.
We love, love, love trunk or treating. And anything that our church puts on. And Boo at the Zoo (trick or treating, zoo style). And local fall festivals – the neighborhood around our music class puts on a fabulous trick or treat street at like 10 a.m., sponsored by all the local businesses. FAB. I think my 3.5 year old must be related to me, because she has been asking about Halloween since we saw our first pumpkin at Michael’s in July. LOVE this time of year!
I wish people near us did trunk or treating. I think it may be more of a Southern thing. But I would love to know enough parents to pull one together for my little one.
Love the idea of a Hallowe’en party
My son’s birthday is right before Halloween and this year we’re going to have a Halloween theme. Perfect for his age group that don’t necessarily love trick or treating yet.
One could host an All Saints party, too.
We could host an All Saints party! Selfishly, that’s my anniversary so we keep that date for ourselves 🙂
The trunk or treat is a great idea. Local churches have sponsor this in our neighborhood. Also the mall and other large stores have hosted trick or treating at the different departments within a store or stores within a shopping center.
The stores around our house sponsor a trick or treating time as well. We haven’t done it yet but my kids may be ready this year. Halloween can really take over the season!
Jenny, thank you for writing a post about alternatives to Trick or Treating. I’ve never been a big fan of going to strangers houses and knocking on doors. I liked your idea of scary movie night or even just having your own party. Thanks so much for linking up with us Wine’d Down Wednesday.
In elementary school it seems trick or treating is the big thing. But when my kids get older, I’ll be more than happy to “host” Halloween at my house 🙂
We always try to make the most out of every holiday. We host a Witch Hunt for treats, pencils, party games and such. The children still trick or treat as well, I truly think that it is just too Awesome to let them pass up. Children grow up to quick and should enjoy every moment possible! Lol
Ooo. A witch hunt could be fun! 🙂
I think this is great for special needs kids as well. My oldest had a lot of anxiety about strangers and wearing a costume, and he wasn’t comfortable trick or treating at all. (Until he was older.) Our second is deafblind and couldn’t walk until he was 8. But we have two little girls who love to dress up and get candy! So alternative ways to celebrate are right up our alley!
Shannon — My kids have Sensory Processing Disorder so they have a hard time with Halloween, which is actually what inspired this post. Many special needs kids have anxiety tied to Halloween but personally the holiday freaks me out, too. So I do think this is a perfect post for special needs kids.
Jennifer. Love these tips! Featuring this post at Family Fun Friday! Pinned.
Monica
http://www.happyandblessedhome.com/category/family-fun
Thanks for the second feature, too!
Halloween [sadly] isn’t so popular in the UK – I wish it was! But I have always thrown a party at home (instead of trick or treating) since my son was a baby…even my mum used to do parties for us when we were children and that was in the 80s when Halloween was barely thought about in the UK, never mind celebrated!
Thank you so much for sharing these with me on #CraftyOctober at The Purple Pumpkin Blog! ^_^