Halloween Traditions

With the arrival of October, I thought it would be fun to share some of our Halloween traditions, along with some reminders for all my busy mama readers who are trying to remember to order costumes and hang some ghosts in the trees in between folding loads of laundry and running kids to sports practices.

The holiday season can be so bittersweet.

On one hand, I love the excitement of decorating the house with the kids, whipping up seasonal treats for parties and family movie nights, and creating that extra holiday magic for my family.

And on the other hand, it can feel like a LOT at times and without fail, there is always something I put off too long or forgot to do all together. In fact, one year I had to stop at 3 stores to buy Halloween candy after work at 5:30 pm on Halloween night and it was NOWHERE to be found — literally, the shelves were cleared out! While it wasn’t the end of the world, it did contribute to the extra rush of getting everyone home, fed, and dressed for trick-or-treating that I could have otherwise avoided.

So a few years ago I created a “Holiday Traditions & Reminders” note in my phone to remind me of all the things we’re going to want to do or tackle for every holiday, along with notes on how far in advance to prioritize them (ahem, it’s time to buy garland for your staircase now!).

Halloween Traditions

Before you dive into this Halloween list, I just want to remind you that you do NOT have to DO ALL THE THINGS this season. My hope for this post is to inspire you to create a new tradition in your family and/or serve as a reminder to tackle those tasks that can become stressful if you wait until the last minute (ahem, Halloween costume accessories)!

1. Purchase Halloween Costumes & Accessories Early

Kicking off the list with probably the highest priority item — Halloween costumes. If your kid is dying to be a specific character or wear a particular costume this year, buy it NOW — as well as ALL the accessories too. Then tuck them away so none of the pieces get lost. And don’t forget to grab your trick-or-treating candy bucket too, unless you prefer a pillowcase!

Costumes tend to fly off the racks early in the season and there is nothing less fun than trying to track down King Triton’s trident the day before Halloween (trust me!). This is a particularly important reminder for my fellow Amazon shoppers — LOTS of costumes and accessories are NOT available on prime, or will not arrive before Halloween even if you buy them now (or pay $40 expedited shipping).

Oh, and don’t forget to order your pet’s costume too!

2. Pajama Fairy Visit

If your kids still get excited about festive pajamas, now is the time to scoop them up if they no longer fit into last year’s set!

I wasn’t sure if my kids were starting to outgrow our matching pajama tradition, so I was on the fence about buying them this year. Then, a few days ago Caroline asked me when I thought the “Pajama Fairy” was coming with Halloween pajamas this year…and Thomas quickly chimed in with “yeahhhhh! When IS she coming?!” My first thought was “oh my goodness! They still love the Pajama Fairy!” followed by “shoot, I need to order pajamas immediately.”

I usually purchase Halloween pajamas in September because sizes sell out quickly and I want to get as much use out of them as possible (although our kids wear holiday pajamas year-round). But the earlier in the season you buy them, the more wear you get out of them before they outgrow them.

Our Pajama Fairy likes to arrive a few weeks before the holiday. I lay out their jams on their beds just in time for Friday Family Movie Night. Not only do they get super excited to discover the magical delivery, it motivates them to quickly take showers so they can put them on for movie night — win, win. We purchased the Halloween Boo (#2 below) this year and they are SO CUTE.

3. Decorate the House

One of my favorite traditions! Last year the kids requested “scary” decorations for our house so I bought a lot of new stuff including the coolest witches (my favorite!), lots of skeletons, tombstones, a flying bat, spiders + webs, ghosts and even a fog machine. Shout out to Matt for always being willing to hang out of all the windows to hang up our skeletons.

4. Make Lots of Halloween Recipes

My favorite part of any holiday — festive recipes! I recently shared our 6 favorite Halloween Recipes to make this season. This round-up of snacks and treats is a super fun way to get your little ghosts and goblins excited for Halloween. All of these recipes are easy, fun to make, and are sure to be a hit for class parties, Halloween-themed play dates or parties, Family Movie Night, etc.!

5. Watch Halloween Movies

During the month of October, we have two movie traditions — 1. we watch a Halloween movie for every Family Movie Night and 2. Matt has to watch a SCARY movie with me after the kids go to bed. This is the ONLY time of year I can get him to watch scary/horror/thriller movies. I love scary movies and Matt hates them.

14 Family Halloween Movies

In no particular order, here are some of our favorite spooky movies to watch as a family. I cannot wait to get a smidge scarier this year (and then y’all can all yell at me when I complain about my kids sleeping in our bed). I recommend watching the trailer to determine if these are appropriate for your kids.

1. Casper
2. The Addams Family (1991)
3. Addams Family Values (1993)
4. Addams Family Reunion (1998)
5. Hocus Pocus
6. Hocus Pocus 2
7. Ghostbusters
8. Hotel Transylvania
9. Halloweentown
10. Beetlejuice
11. Labyrinth
12. Scooby-Doo
13. E.T.
14. Edward Scissorhands

And now for the list probably only 2% of you want…

Scary Halloween Movies

If you’re looking for a scary movie to watch sometime during the Halloween season, I shared these reader recommendations on Instagram! This list is not for the faint of heart — some are absolutely terrifying (ahem, Descent, Hereditary, and The Strangers), mind-blowing and you are guaranteed to jump at least once or twice. Oh, and definitely make sure the kids are deep asleep first!

1. *The Conjuring
2. *What Lies Beneath
3. The Empty Man
4. *The Shining
5. Silence of the Lamb
6. *Midnight Mass (Netflix series)
7. *The Strangers
8. IT
9. *Halloween
10. Clue
11. *Scream
12. Insidious
13. The Omen
14. Ready or Not
15. Hereditary
16. The Exorcist
17. Kiss the Girls
18. Amity Horror
19. The Signs
20. *Wait Until Dark
21. Saw
22. *A Quiet Place
23. Friday the 13th
24. Candy Man
25. Descent
26. I Know What You Did Last Summer
27. Skeleton Key
28. The Others
29. Perfect Murder
30. The Ring
31. Sleepy Hollow
32. Sinister
*popular recommendation

6. Halloween Hosting

If you’re planning to host a Halloween party, I wanted to share some pictures from my Spooky Supper Club I hosted a few years ago. This theme was SO fun to plan for.

A few easy tips for spooky-fying your house:

• Spooky Vibe: Light lots of black taper candle sticks and play spooky music!
• Easy & Budget-Friendly Centerpiece: Use black creepy cloth in the centerpiece, add in dried florals from your yard, and spread lots of spider web with mini spiders.
• Easy Appetizer: Make a skeleton board with lots of snacks. It’s so easy to throw together ahead of time and guests can grab snacks as they mingle.
• Kid Food: If kids are invited to your spooky shindig, I highly recommend serving mummy hot dogs!
• Dry Ice: This is the easiest way to kick your party up a notch and wow your guests! I added some dry ice from the grocery store to create a spooky fog in my skeleton pitcher!

7. Visit the Pumpkin Patch and Carve Pumpkins

There are a handful of great pumpkin patches but our favorite is Aw Shucks Farm! It’s fun for kids of all ages. There are farm animals you can pet and feed, lots of festive treats for sale, fishing, a corn maze, games and activities, pumpkins and so much more!

Pumpkin patch visits: 2021 / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014

Don’t forget to wash your uncarved pumpkins to extend their life if you’re going to set them on your porch for a few weeks: How to Preserve Your Pumpkins.

8. Halloween Night

I love to serve an easy and festive dinner on Halloween night to get something other than candy in the kids’ bellies. The past few years I’ve made mummy dogs and they’ve been a huge hit!

And a reminder: If you’re going to order pizza delivery, pre-order it EARLY in the day. By dinnertime, the delivery time can be super long and you don’t want to be waiting on pizza while your kiddos are ready to start trick-or-treating.

One last tip, try on your Halloween costumes before Halloween and snap your photo then. We usually do it the day or weekend before just to make sure we have all the pieces and everything fits. Getting this picture out of the way BEFORE Halloween truly makes the world of difference as you aren’t rushing to get smiles from everyone while trick-or-treaters are starting to walk by.

Alright friends, I hope this post has inspired you to create a new tradition, or motivated you to knock out those Halloween costumes today!

Happy Halloween season, friends!