9 Fun Teen Halloween Activities
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My kids loved cute Halloween activities when they were little, but the past few years I found that I needed to update our Halloween plans. The activities they loved when they were in elementary school are not as much fun now that they are older. Thankfully, we came up with some really fun teen Halloween activities.
We don’t necessarily do these activities every single year. I involve my teens in planning our October, and we stick with the activities they enjoy at that moment. Teen years are full of rapid growth, so I try to reevaluate our activities every year.
Fun Teen Halloween Activities
Halloween Movie Marathon
A Halloween movie marathon is one of my family’s favorite teen Halloween activities. We began this new tradition last year, and the kids have literally talked about it all year long.
The idea is very simple. We pick one night to stay up all night long, or as long as we can, watching Halloween movies while we camp out in the living room. I stock the kitchen with their favorite candies and junk food treats.
Last year, Halloween fell on a Saturday, so we did this on Halloween night, but if Halloween night doesn’t work for us, we choose another night. This teen Halloween favorite can be done any time in October, so just move it around to wherever works.
We alternate between watching movies and watching Halloween episodes of our favorite shows. I’m not a fan of super scary or gory movies, so the movies are a little tamer than my horror movie fan would prefer, but it is a family activity and terrifying mom isn’t fun. Some of the things we watch are:
- Hocus Pocus
- Halloween episodes of The Office
- Beetle Juice
Doll on the Wall
When I was a child, I loved porcelain dolls. I don’t know why. My only excuse is that it was the 80’s.
My mom saved one of these dolls and gave it back to me last year. As a child, I thought porcelain dolls were lovely and elegant. Now, they just seem a little creepy. My kids were equally disturbed by this doll that stared blankly into space, so I did what any loving mother of teens would do.
I hid it. They thought it was absolutely hilarious!
Now we hide the porcelain doll every night in October. It is sort of like a Halloween version of Elf on the Shelf, so we call it Doll on the Wall.
Ghost Tour
Ghost tours can be a unique way to blend Halloween with history. I have always enjoyed going on walking ghost tours in historical areas, but last year was the first year my teens came too.
We were visiting Colonial Williamsburg in October, so I purchased official ghost tour tickets. It was already dark when we began the tour. A knowledgeable guide led us around the historic area, telling a different story in front of each building. The stories were mostly legends, but there was a lot of interesting information about the people who once lived in these homes.
My kids said that the ghost tour was their favorite part of the whole trip, so I think it will be one of our favorite teen Halloween activities for a while. I’m currently looking for a ghost tour near our home. We have only lived here a few years, so this will be a fun way to learn a little history about this town.
Candy Scavenger Hunt
This teen Halloween activity requires only 2 supplies:
- Glow-in-the-dark tape
- Individually wrapped candy
All you need to do is put a piece of the glow-in-the-dark tape on each piece of candy and let it sit under the light for a few hours. I let it sit on the dining room table with the light turned on all afternoon. Then hide the candy in a dark location.
My yard is teeny tiny, so I hid the candy in a room of my house once it was dark outside. We left all of the lights off to make it as dark as possible.
Then we let the teens come in and find the candy. It was pretty easy to find the treats due to the glow-in-the-dark tape, but it was still a lot of fun. This teen Halloween activity would be even more fun in a large backyard.
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Halloween Tea with Poetry
Halloween tea with poetry is fun no matter the age. This year I am using the poetry teatime holiday plans from Literary Adventures for Kids to plan our teatimes. It makes planning easy because each holiday includes suggested poems, decor ideas, and themed snacks. The crafts seem geared a little towards elementary school, but we either skip them or my daughter plans a different craft activity.
I am also planning to include more poetry by Edgar Allen Poe. His poems usually have a spooky feel to them, so that is perfect for Halloween.
Check Out Local Halloween Decorations
One advantage of older kids is that they don’t have early bedtimes. There is a little more time to relax after dinner is cleaned up compared to when they were in bed by 7:30. On fall nights, we like to take advantage of cool weather and go for long walks around our neighborhood.
We love checking out all of the Halloween decorations. Some of our neighbors put quite a bit of effort into their Halloween decor!
If we didn’t live in a neighborhood that goes all out for Halloween, we would add ‘drive to look at Halloween decorations’ to our list of teen Halloween activities. If you find a neighborhood that is decorated really well, share that with your friends so they can take their families too!
Decorate Our Yard
While I enjoy looking at my neighbor’s Halloween decorations, I don’t actually enjoy decorating my own yard. This is one area where having teens comes in really handy. My weakness is sometimes their strength. They love decorating outside!
Every year I let each teen choose one Halloween decoration to add to our yard.
They talk with each other about what they want to do to make sure they are in agreement about the final look. Then they do some comparison shopping online. It might feel like fun preparing for Halloween, but this teen Halloween activity actually includes a few life skills.
Dress Up and Pass Out Candy
Once my kids hit high school, I stop letting them go trick-or-treating. That was the rule my husband grew up with, and it just felt right to us.
Even though they are not going around the neighborhood, I still buy my kids a costume (or help them put one together). They love dressing up and pretending to be someone else for a night. It gives them a chance to flex their creativity muscles.
Once they have their costumes, they hang out on the front porch with my husband and me to pass out candy. We get hundreds of trick-or-treaters in a normal year, so we definitely appreciate their help. They like to chat with the kids in their cute costumes.
Read Frankenstein
Frankenstein feels like the perfect book for a teen Halloween reading assignment. Literary Adventures for Kids hosts an online Frankenstein book club for teens. Book club feels like a bit of a misnomer because it isn’t social, but it does offer everything else teens would get from a book club.
The online course is thorough enough to count as high school language arts for the month. Students read the story and cover all of the typical language arts skills – vocabulary, grammar, and discussion questions – but they also get to explore areas related to Frankenstein. They will go on educational rabbit trails to learn more about science, history, and culture.
I hope these Halloween activities for teens are enjoyed by your family as much as they are by my family.
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