Like many other events this year, Halloween will look different, but that doesn’t mean it won’t still be a terrifyingly fantastic time! Check out our ideas for how to celebrate in quarantine. Our guide also includes the best spooky, silly, candy-filled Halloween events in Atlanta for every boo and ghoul! Plus, have more fall fun with our list of corn mazes and pumpkin patches close to Atlanta and fall festivals.

Activities at Home
Events Around Town

Activities at Home

Parade-in-Place

Don’t let old costumes go to waste! Dress up as your favorite characters, decorate your bikes or car with spooky decorations, and schedule a parade with your neighbors for a festive walk down the street. Designate someone as a DJ to play classics like “Monster Mash” and “Thriller” as you make your way through the neighborhood. Throw candy from your “float” to the kids who gather and watch.

Virtual Haunted Houses

Get your fright on with virtual haunted house experiences. Check out Frightbytes, an interactive horror experience where your decisions determine your fate. Enjoy a tour of the Winchester Mystery House, designed by the late owner to confuse the ghosts haunting her. Explore Second Life’s haunted attractions with ghosts, goblins and scary surprises. Travel through The Chancery House and take on the scavenger hunt for a hauntingly good time.

If your child’s too young for haunted houses, try a virtual ride on Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

Movie Night

Enjoy a night of family-friendly frights with a movie. Some of our favorites include: “Scoob!,” “The Addams Family,”  “Hocus Pocus,” “Goosebumps” or “Hotel Transylvania.” If your kids have aged out of loving the cute creepers, try a blast from the past with the horror films of the 70s and 80s, like “Friday the 13th” or “Halloween.”

Inspired by the Movie

Continue the movie night fun with these activities.

Loved “Hocus Pocus?” Check out this cooperative board game where you take on Winifred, Mary and Sarah. For a delicious dessert, make these Hocus Pocus Potion Sugar Cookies from The Awesome Muse.

If you’re more of an Addams Family family, check out this site for DIY videos. Make your own Cousin It to hang out with; find instructions from Morena’s Corner.

Want to be part of the Scooby Gang? This At Home Party Pack has paper cutouts, quizzes, a crossword puzzle, a drawing challenge and more. See why Scooby loves them with CookFiction’s Scooby Snacks.

If you’re a fan of the “Goosebumps” movies and book series, check out these STEM activities and cards from Scholastic. Don’t lose your place in your favorite scary story with these Corner Bookmarks with instructions from Easy Peasy and Fun.

Having too much fun with the crew of “Hotel Transylvania” and their sequels? Try these books from Scholastic. For preschoolers, help them work on their numbers with this themed dice game from The Activity Mom.

Distressingly Good Decorations

Don’t skimp on spooky and celebratory décor this year; spread the festive spirit to those in your house and in your neighborhood with decorations. Turn your house into its own haunted house with tombstones and a cemetery in the yard, ghosts on the porch, bloody hand prints in the window, spider webs in the entry way and halls and skulls on tabletops.

If your style is more cute than creepy, try these ideas. Decorate your porch with these emoji pumpkins with instructions from HGTV. Make this Black Cat Halloween Decoration from Brooklyn Farm Girl to string along doorways and on your mantle. These Mason Jar Ghost Luminaries from This Fairy Tale Life will help light the way.

In the Kitchen

Create sweet treats and ghoulish gobbles for a distressingly delightful time in the kitchen:

• Boo Bark from Sally’s Baking Addiction
• No Bake Halloween Cheesecake Parfaits from Inside Bru Crew Life
• Bloody Truffles from Sugar Hero
• Frightful Halloween Fruit Kebabs from SheKnows
• Crescent Mummy Dogs from Pillsbury
• Cheesy Spiders from Woman’s Day

Trick-or-Treat

You might not feel comfortable sending your kids door to door for Halloween candy, so why not take a page out of your Easter playbook? Reuse your Easter eggs and hide them around the house for a new way to trick-or-treat. For a more complicated hunt, have each child search for their own colored eggs, which contain their favorite candy.

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

Take what you love about decorating gingerbread houses for Christmas, but make them Halloween-themed. Get inspired by these images and instructions from Food Network. Or try your hand at a Towering Haunted House Cake from Country Living.

Perfect Pumpkins

Looking for new ways to decorate traditional pumpkins? Leave the carving tools in storage with these ideas. If you’re looking to fill your space with cute critters, you can make Black Cat Pumpkins from HGTV, a Witch Pumpkin from The Craft Patch or Happy Ghost Pumpkins from The Crafted Life. Make bright pumpkins that light up the dark with these Glow in the Dark Pumpkins from iLoveToCreate. For a celestial-inspired vibe, create these Moon and Stars Pumpkins from Oh So Beautiful Paper. Show off your dazzling wit with the Pun-kins from Studio DIY.

Want to try carving something new? Make a spooky hanging lantern with instructions from The Polohouse. Easily etch leaves onto pumpkins for a seasonal feel with instructions from This Old House.

Superstitious Scavenger Hunts

Have a hauntingly good time with these scavenger hunts. Scavenger Hunt Fun lists 10 clues you can use to create your own hunt with a prize at the end. Walk through your neighborhood to see who can spot the most decorative items with this printable from Moritz Fine Designs. For $1, download this scavenger hunt from Etsy, created by PamsPartyPrintables, for a spooky scavenger hunt to see who can score the most points. Try the indoor Spider Web Scavenger Hunt from Hands On As We Grow to help your kids learn their numbers as they try to find all the bugs. Head to a local pumpkin patch to hunt for pumpkins and leaves with this idea from Life Over C’s.

Ghastly Games

Enjoy a themed game night. Turn up the music to play freeze dance or musical chairs to “Monster Mash” or “Superstitious.” Play a game of bingo with the Monster Match Halloween Bingo Cards from Play Party Plan. Paint miniature pumpkins different colors for a twist on tic tac toe; instructions from Iron & Twine. Reuse and decorate tin cans for a game of bowling with instructions from Party Delights. Compete in a themed game of Scattergories with this printable from DIY Adulation. Divide into teams to see who can wrap their teammate the fastest in toilet paper to become a mummy. Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey, pin the stem on the pumpkin or the hat on a witch. Face your fears by guessing what creepy or gross item is in the box by touch alone.

Carving Contest

Create a neighborhood contest with pumpkin carving. Have each household pick a Halloween character: vampire, bat, zombie, witch or monster. Each family carves and displays their pumpkins prior to Halloween so that the street can vote on the best one. You could also hold a contest for best decorated house.

Ding Dong Ditch the Ghost

Make goodie bags with Halloween-themed fun and treats for neighbors, but don’t label them. Drop the bags at the door with instructions to hang a ghost in their window once they discover their gift, so others know they have already been ghosted. Then, instruct them to pass it on by sharing the fun with another family to continue the chain of Halloween excitement.

Virtual Viewing

Set up a costume contest on a Facebook page with your friends and family for a fun way to make sure your kids can show off their cute looks. The picture with the most likes gets a fun prize.

Mad Scientist in the Lab

Use screw top jars and fill with water dyed with green or red food coloring. Deposit plastic spiders, snakes, rats and eyeballs for a creepy feel. Make slime with glue, saline solution, water and baking soda. Add Halloween glitter, plastic spiders or bats, eyeballs, confetti and other small, decorative items for a festive feel.

Build the Best Scarecrow on the Block

A silly or scary scarecrow would be a great addition to your yard. Use old materials to create the scarecrow’s body, and decorate with permanent markers, acrylic paint or cut out felt shapes and glue on using a hot glue gun. Visit your local thrift store or look in the back of your closet for plaid shirts, jeans, overalls, gloves, boots, hats and bandanas. Or use an old Halloween costume for a festive spin.

Create a family portrait using scarecrows. Have each person in your family decorate a scarecrow to represent themselves with their old clothes, Halloween costumes or decorative items. Stage them like you would a family photo, or have each scarecrow posing with their favorite hobby.

Halloween Face Masks

Get into the spirit with a new themed face mask. Find characters from DC, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, Peanuts, Hello Kitty and Harry Potter at MaskClub. Redbubble has sharks, whales, dogs, pandas, ghosts and more patterned masks for kids. Disney has character masks including Mulan, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Marvel and more. Zazzle has ghosts, witches, skulls, monsters and more, and they have decorative face shields if your child wants a themed one to match her costume.

Sensory-Friendly Halloween Fun

Create a sensory bin for your toddler with purple, green, black and orange items. Try pom-poms, candy corn, snakes, eyeballs, spiders, bats, dyed rice, candy pumpkins, skeletons and beads.

Events Around Town

Ghost Tours

Covington Ghost Tours in Covington. Experience haunting history and visit filming locations. Fri.-Sat. in Oct. and Oct. 31.

Decatur Ghost Tours. Come meet some of Decatur’s ghosts on this historical, paranormal walking tour of downtown Decatur. Oct. 1-2, 8-9, 15-17, 21-24 and 27-31.

Lawrenceville Ghost Tours at Aurora Theatre. Listen to vivid stories of the strange and supernatural as guides lead groups on a 90-minute adventure around the square. Through Oct. 31.

Ghosts of Marietta in Marietta. Tour guides tell stories based on documented sightings, firsthand experiences and history. Fri.-Sun. in Oct.

Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween Tours at Oakland Cemetery. Be haunted by knowledge, as these Halloween tours enlighten rather than frighten with stories of the cemetery’s notable residents. Oct. 14-31.

HarvestFest at Glover Park. This festival includes arts and crafts, touch-a-truck, inflatables, a DJ, candy, scarecrows, a costume contest and more. Oct. 16.

The Great Pumpkin Fest at Cherokee Veterans Park. Celebrate fall with a DJ, craft vendors, food, hayrides, axe throwing, a costume contest, trick-or-treating and more. Oct. 23.

The Great Pumpkin Festival at Old Fayette County Courthouse Lawn. Enjoy a DJ, retail and craft vendors, food, kid’s crafts, a costume contest and more. Oct. 23.

Spirits & Spice Festival in Newnan. This event features live music, a craft market, kid’s activities and a Chili Cook-Off, and adults can walk to Downtown Spirits Trail for specialty cocktails. Oct. 23.

Pumpkin Festival at Stone Mountain Park. Enjoy park attractions, games, live shows, displays, a Glow by Night experience, pie eating contests and more. Through Oct. 31.

Fright Fest at Six Flags. Enjoy family-friendly fall activities during the day, and at night, the amusement park transforms into a ghoulish place with ghosts and goblins and haunted attractions. Through Oct. 31.

Parades

Little 5 Points Halloween Festival and Parade. Go on a monster scavenger hunt, listen to live music, watch special appearances and more. Oct. 16-17.

Wild Rumpus Parade and Spectacle in Downtown Athens. Enjoy Halloween festivities with the Wild Rumpus Art Show, parade and more. Oct. 29-30.

Costumed Fun

FANTAstic Halloween at World of Coca-Cola. Wear your costume to enjoy Halloween décor, spooky interactive activities, photos, fall aromas, a Flavor Hunt and more. Oct. 1-31.

Scarecrows

Scarecrows in the Garden at Atlanta Botanical Garden. View scarecrows handcrafted by businesses, individuals, schools and organizations on display throughout the garden. Sept. 28-Oct. 31.

Conyers Scarecrow Showcase and Competition at Olde Town Conyers. View scarecrows created by individuals, families, groups, organizations, schools, churches and more. Oct. 1-16.

Scarecrow Harvest at Downtown Alpharetta. Walk downtown Alpharetta to view colorful and creative life-size scarecrows. Oct. 5-Nov. 1.