Halloween before dark: Daytime crafts, snacks, and fun for families

Conventional Halloween celebrations may mean after-dark spooks, but for families of little children, fright-free daytime festivities are a much better fit. Plus, this year has the added bonus of Halloween falling on a Saturday, so no school or work schedules to juggle! Here are our best suggestions for ways to connect and celebrate during the daytime this Halloween.

Spooktacular snacks

Tangerine pumpkins

Easy-to-peel mini-oranges can be peeled and topped with a pretzel stick to mimic a pumpkin stem. Or, kids can have fun drawing jack-o’-lantern faces on the outside of the peel with a magic marker. The bright orange screams Halloween with very low effort from mom.

Fizzy purple potion

Add frozen blueberries to sparkling water of any flavor for an exciting purple hue. Kids will enjoy watching the drink fizz as you add the frozen berries, and parents will appreciate that there is no added sugar to this festive beverage. For added fun, thrift some eccentric glassware or goblets.

Halloween Chex Mix

This snack is perfect to make ahead of time and bring along to an afternoon park playdate. The sweet additions of candy corn make it feel especially on-season, with a sweet and salty flavor that will have everyone coming back for more! The recipe is forgiving enough that even the littlest kitchen helper can be responsible for measuring out the dry cereal ingredients. Check out Pioneer woman’s halloween chex mix.

Peanut butter date spiders

The full recipe for these spooky date spiders can be found here. The chocolate, peanut butter, date combo is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth, but in a much more blood sugar-friendly way than that mini candy bar!

Pumpkin-spice projects

Spiced smelling bottles

A popular Montessori work involves a child using only their sense of smell to match unlabeled jars of different scents. To make your own smelling bottles, fill small vessels such as mini mason jars, tiny jam jars, or even a sandwich bag. If you have scented liquids (like essential oils or cooking extracts) simply place a few drops onto the cotton ball before closing it in the jar. If you have something solid like whole cloves or a cinnamon stick, break off a piece to place in the jar. For Halloween-themed smelling bottles, try to choose fall scents like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, maple extract, vanilla extract, orange peel, pine needles, or dried sage. Depending on the desired challenge level, blindfold children while they open and smell the jars.

Dried bean mosaics

Dried beans come in an assortment of fall colors, and gluing different sizes and shapes onto a cardboard cutout makes for an exciting multimedia project. Draw or cut out a classic Halloween shape from cardboard (pumpkin, bat, ghost, maple leaf) and fill a muffin tin with several kinds of dried legumes. Dried black beans, split peas, red lentils, and pinto beans are all great options! You can even purchase one bag of 15 bean soup mix to have a built-in variety.

Raffia banner

Raffia is easy to find in any craft store during the fall season, and its uses are truly limitless. For ease of use, soak raffia in hot water for a few minutes to soften and remove any folds or kinks. Once the raffia is dry, lay out one long piece as the base of your banner. Cut smaller strips of raffia (approximately 7-8”) and fold each piece in half. Place the loop above the base piece and pull the tails through. Repeat until your banner is full and fluffy! Raffia banners make a great addition to your fall decor.

Pumpkin sun catchers

With some contact paper and tissue paper, you can bring fall colors to life! Children can tear or cut tissue paper or even use collected fall leaves for this craft. More detailed instructions on how to make a pumpkin sun catcher can be found here: Fox Farm Home-Pumpkin Suncatcher.

Egg carton bats

This is a classic upcycled Halloween craft that never gets old. Cut cardboard egg cartons into three dome segments, then cut a jagged edge on the two outer domes to form the edges of the wings. Children can paint their bats black, dark purple, or a color of their choosing and then add googly eyes. Hole punch the middle and attach a string to hang your bats on curtain rods, doorknobs, or light fixtures.

Boo-tastic activities

Read a Halloween book aloud 

Choose from “The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams, “Georgie’s Halloween” by Robert Bright, or “Pumpkin Moonshine” by Tasha Tudor for a cozy classic read aloud. To tie in elements of the faith, try “All Hallow’s Eve” by Anthony DeStefano or “The Night the Saints Saved Halloween” by Gracie Jagle. These delightful picture books bring the fun and beautiful spiritual realities of this holiday to life in a special way for children.

Apple bobbing

Chances are your kids will be enthralled with this stereotypical fall game. Bobbing for apples takes very little prep from mom and is an exciting competition with a built-in snack! To make the game easier for younger children, use “snacking apples” or another mini variety.

Pumpkin count walk

Go for a walk around your neighborhood and keep a running tally of the number of pumpkins that you see. For more advanced mathematicians, have them track the type of pumpkins seen (carved, uncarved, white pumpkins, gourd, etc.) and have them draw a bar chart illustrating your neighborhood’s most popular pumpkin variety. 

Googly eyes gone wild

Add stick-on googly eyes to every item in your refrigerator. The silly googly eyes on your carton of milk is sure to bring a smile, and since all the packaging is disposable, the harmless prank will soon filter its own way out, so no cleanup is required!

Whether your evening is filled with trick-or-treating or early toddler bedtimes, these Halloween activities will help you create lasting holiday memories with your family!