We love Halloween in this house, and this year is no exception. If I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure that we’ve been celebrating this spooky holiday since mid-September — with decorations galore (both inside AND outside our house, of course), fun treats and fall festivities throughout Columbus!

Since holidays are looking a bit different this year, we knew that we had to get pretty creative with our activities, and with a little work and “Pinteresting”, we pulled together an epic experience for our kiddos right at home to kick off the final week before Trick-or-Treating!

First, we started with more decorations of course! We have a fairly large backyard and after a shopping spree at The Dollar Store (seriously!), we created a spooky adventure complete with a haunted trail of solar powered skeletons and witches!

We also placed hidden treats throughout the yard to create a fun (kid-friendly) scavenger hunt! They loved searching for candy to fill their pumpkin buckets up with!

Also, what’s Halloween without a craft?! We bought mini pumpkins along with some glow-in-the-dark paint, and they loved creating their own masterpieces. We can’t wait to set them on the porch once the sun sets!

In an effort to clean up our yard, we discovered the perfect opportunity for another fun activity for kiddos – giant leaf piles! They loved it (maybe more than anything else, ironically).

And of course, treats, treats and more treats! Some fun ghost cookies (Nutter Butter cookies dipped in white chocolate – so EASY)…

Mummy hotdogs (hotdogs wrapped in sliced strips of crescent roles)…

An epic cheeseboard which included not one, but TWO cheeseballs (recipes courtesy of Inspired by Charm) – one rolled in the famous “Everything But the Bagel Seasoning” from Trader Joe’s along with one rolled in the popular favorite, cheddar cheese Doritos. Even the kiddos loved these!

The rest of the cheeseboard was filled with basic cheddar and gruyere cubes, crackers, pretzels and candy corn for a Halloween twist.

And my little cheeseboard lover just had to hang out close by 🙂

Finally, we closed out the night with an outdoor showing of the kid classic, “Room on the Broom” on our inflatable movie screen!

Another Halloween celebration in the books – and one that I’m sure will be remembered as one of our all-time favorites. A great reminder that even in the midst of a global pandemic that threatens to change up everything, a bit of creativity and improvisation can provide new, memorable traditions 🙂