6 Fun Halloween Family Traditions to Start this Year

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. What's not to love about treats, costumes, parties, and spooky chills? We have a few family traditions we do every Halloween to help celebrate the season and create some fun anticipation. However, I've heard of a few more traditions from friends that I would love to adopt. You certainly don’t have to do all of these, but pick one and plan some additional fun for your family this Halloween season.

1. Show Your Spirit. If you haven't decorated the house yet for Halloween - get on it! One of my favorite parts about trick or treating is seeing how everyone spooks out their house. I love the creativity. Whether you prefer fall elegant to grotesque to friendly ghosts and monsters, let's see your Halloween spirit and get the whole family involved in decorating this year. Here are some fun Halloween craft ideas that the family can work on together for decorations.

2. Watch the Classics. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Need I say more? This year, it's on TV Thursday night, 10/27 on ABC at 7 p.m. CST.  If your kids are a little older, rent another classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” I love Jack Skellington and we like to light the fireplace and curl up on the couch together to watch this spooky tale. (We made Jack Skellington Cupcakes last year. It wasn’t hard, see how.)

3.  Read Bedtime Stories. We love to read Halloween stories in anticipation of the big day. DesignMom.com and her family have a tradition of reading Halloween stories by candle light. I love it! We're going to read by the flickering flames tonight. Check out my list of 10 Best Halloween Books for Kids to start reading.

4. Boo Your Neighbors. This fun Halloween tradition is growing in popularity so be the first to start it in your neighborhood as a way to connect. Basically, you make up a Halloween goodie bag for a friend or neighbor. You ring their doorbell then leave the goodie bag at their house with a poem and sign that they have been "Boo'd." Kids love to ring and run. The neighbor is supposed to reciprocate and "Boo" someone else on your block. Read this post for additional Halloween Boo instructions, ideas for the goodie bags, and links to download Boo poems and “We’ve Been Boo’d” signs.

5. Family Halloween Costumes. I always envied families that created a theme for their Halloween costumes each year. We’ve only been able to do it once. My kids have very strong ideas about what they want to be each year for trick or treat. However, one year my husband was a Mad Scientist, I was Igor, my son was Frankenstein, and my daughter was a spooky, black lab cat. It was a blast to have us all trick or treat together in matching costumes. I’ve seen families go as the Simpsons, the Incredibles, condiments, bank robbers and police officers, and even the Scooby Doo characters with the family dog as Scooby Doo. If you can convince everyone in your family to go with a theme, it’s a lot of fun and makes for great family photos.

6. Day of the Dead Dinner. Technically it's the day after Halloween but every year we celebrate Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead in our house honoring and remembering our loved ones who have passed on. We set up an area in the house where we display photos of the people and pets we want to remember. To celebrate at dinner, we usually make one of our loved one's favorite meals and as a family we talk about our favorite memories of Grandpa or our pets who have died. It's a nice way to keep memories alive and share stories about what we remember and what we liked best about those we miss. Read how to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with your kids.

What Halloween traditions do you enjoy with your family? Have you ever had a family costume theme? Which one?

About this column: Sue Kirchner is the founder of ChocolateCakeClub.com, an e-boutique and the ChocolateCakeMoments.com blog, to sell products and share ideas to inspire busy families have more fun together. Sue and her family fun ideas have been featured on ABC Chicago, WGN, and NBC Chicago. When she’s not working, she is CFO (Chief Fun Officer) for her family.