Fun Alternatives to Trick-or-Treating.

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The tradition of trick-or-treat is not for everyone. Some people just prefer to celebrate Halloween a different way, or they like to celebrate the season in general rather than Halloween itself. Others might live in areas where trick-or-treat isn’t a safe option. But that doesn’t mean you and your family can’t have fun on Halloween! Here are some ideas for fun alternatives to trick-or-treat.

Costume Party Costume parties do not necessarily have to be scary or Halloween-themed. In fact, people throw costume parties at other times of the year as well. There’s no reason you can’t have a costume party with a harvest or autumn theme, or any theme: animals, cartoon characters, jungle theme, an historical era, and so forth. Or maybe you’ll choose to have no particular theme at all!

Candy: Unless you’re skipping trick-or-treat to avoid the candy, you can have a candy-themed party or gathering. Hide candy around your house and have a candy hunt (like Easter eggs!). Or create a candy tree by hanging candy from a potted tree or branch.

Another fun idea is to make crafts and artwork out of candy. Glue candy onto poster board in fun designs, or make bridges out of mini marshmallows and toothpicks. If you want to keep it edible, you could use icing (the kind that hardens) to glue candy onto sheets of gingerbread or graham crackers.

You could do a form of serve-yourself-trick-or-treat-system. Set out a candy “buffet” with bags and let everyone fill his bag as he chooses. The only downside would be that all it would take would be for a few little goblins to go butt-nutty on the bowl and there’s goes your candy. .

Scary Stuff: I personally do NOT like the bloody yucky Halloween and prefer to keep my life filled with Princesses and Jedi Knights. But if you like to celebrate Halloween without the candy or trick-or-treat thing, then you can still do some fun and scary stuff on trick-or-treat night. Host an all-night scary movie marathon for your teen, for instance, or set your house up like a haunted house and have guests over for tours. You can serve spooky food and decorate with ghosts and ghoulish images.

Local Events: Look around for trick-or-treat alternatives in your local community.
There are harvest parties offered by various organizations including churches. Some indoor malls will have a form of trick-or-treat with participating stores and businesses. These tend to be more controlled, organized, and safer in the eyes of many parents.

Along these lines, why not put on a local event yourself? A community or neighborhood could do a “trunk-or-treat” out of the backs of their cars – the cars and trucks line up with candy in containers in their trunks or truck beds, and kids go along the line of cars and help themselves (or the adults give out candy, which might work better!).

Please share!