NO trick-or-treating this year because of COVID? Worried about losing the spirit and fun of Halloween? Well nothing, not even COVID, can spoil your holiday if you set your mind to it. (Remember – Game On! athletes are always STRONG IN MIND.) Do one, a few, or all to create a Halloween experience this year that your family will never forget!!!!
IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY AND MONSTERS OH MY……
And REMEMBER – TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS AND VIDEOS TO CAPTURE THE FUN!!!!
Monster Mash Dance Party – Organize that Halloween playlist with the best of the hair-raising tunes and
play some freeze dance and musical chairs or just wiggle and dance the minutes away. Try this fun Monster mash warm-up to get everyone in the mood!
Haunted House – Give each family member a room to make “haunted” or decorate all designated spaces together as a team. Step 1) Create the experience by giving each space or room a theme. For example, the basement can be dedicated to monsters, the kitchen to witches, a bedroom to skeletons, etc.; Step 2) Decorate each space and strategically place homemade blood, guts and
all that is slimy and spooky throughout the rooms. (Cook up some spaghetti with sauce for the ultimate in blood and guts; peel grapes for slippery eyeballs; use ketchup for blood); Step 3) Make all the rooms as safely dark as can be and then enjoy the haunted house tour. Don’t forget the spooky tunes to make for the perfect ambiance.
Room to Room Scavenger or Treasure Hunt – Hide candy room to room and either create clues that must be solved and/or challenges (run in place for 30 seconds, sit-ups, planks, etc.) that must be achieved and/or obstacles that must be overcome in order to proceed to the next room. Once you have earned the right to explore each room, find that candy!!!!
Make up a Scary (or Silly) Story – Each member in the family contributes one sentence until you have a masterful story:
Mom – Once upon a time there was a skeleton named Bones.
Dad – Bones lived in a graveyard called Transylvania filled with nice neighbors.
Sister – But there was also a bad witch that caused trouble for the community.
Brother – This bad witch always cast spells which brought monsters to the land.
And on and on and on… You get how this goes!!!
Make a Pasta Skeleton – Use hard pasta to create spooky 3D skeletons!! Glue the pieces together for your lasting pleasure. Once the glue dries, you can make them come to life with paint or other decorations.
Zoom Costume Party – Gather friends and family and parade those costumes.
Candy Motivated Obstacle Course – Jump over strategically placed pillows, zig zag with quick feet around plastic cups, crawl under chairs, learn how to do a burpee, run from one side of the room to the other, etc. Complete the course to earn a sweet treat!
Bake cookies in fun Halloween shapes – decorate then EAT!!! Now isn’t this a yummy idea. 
Toothpick/Marshmallow Spooky Sculptures – Connect those toothpicks with marshmallows to make monsters, ghosts, witches, and all that is scary. The challenge is to resist the temptation to eat a marshmallow every so often!!!!!
Mega Drawing Wall –
Dedicate a wall in the house (and have that painters tape ready) and
Chocolate Chip Cookies with red frosting and marshmellows for teeth!
get drawing!!!!! Cut-outs in the shape of ghosts, witches, monsters, and more are fun to color. By the end of this creative session you will have a decorated wall mural for all to enjoy. Talk about creating a Halloween environment!!! And consider decorating your front door as well for neighbors to see.
Craft Outdoor Lawn Decorations – Help the neighborhood strike up the Halloween spirit by decorating poster board and using construction paper to “spook-up” your front yard. You will have to strategize on how to mount and display but that is all part of the fun!
Pumpkin Carving – a family fave!!!!
OR
Paint a pumpkin – A little bit easier for younger kids – paint faces, characters or patterns on your pumpkins. The possibilities are endless!
Toilet Paper/Streamer Mummy Race – Take turns wrapping different members of your family from head to toe in toilet paper to create a mummy! Once all wrapped up, try and walk like a mummy without breaking the toilet paper. You can even form teams to see who can mummy wrap the quickest.
Make Halloween Themed Food – Create your own pizza with jack o’lantern faces or fun drinks that are pumpkin orange or bloody red and add gumm
y worms or candy eyeballs. Get those creative juices flowing (pun intended). Maybe everyone in the family can come up with their own drink or snack to share!
Make eyeball ice cubes – take an ice tray and include a piece of eyeball candy before freezing. What a riot feeling like someone is staring at you while you sip your drink You can even use skeletons, spiders or any other fun-shaped candy for this ice cube fun.
Ghost crafts – Take the empty tube from used paper towels and toilet paper rolls and paint or color them to look like ghosts or crazy faces. Hang streamers or strips of paper from their bottoms so they move like ghosts or goblins with a breeze. Then hang them around your house or from a tree out front. (see sample to right)
Halloween sensory bin – Grab a big bucket or cardboard box, dye some dry rice black and orange, dump the painted rice into your bin, and finally add spiders or eyeballs or other fun objects. Then let the kids go digging to find those 
spiders and other Halloween guests.
