5 Halloween Activities for the Halloween Cynic

The spooky season is upon us and like every festive season, there are the keenos who are YouTubing gruesome makeup tutorials to go with their costumes that they’ve had planned for weeks, or people like me who are just waiting for the 31st to pass so it’s socially acceptable to get truly festive for the best season…Christmas. Whatever your opinion, if you’re not fully into it this year, here are some ways of getting involved when you’re just not that into Halloween:

1. Pumpkin Carving

There’s a reason this is one of the more iconic and traditional forms of celebrating Halloween. Pumpkins are pretty inexpensive and how you decorate is completely up to you. Grab a friend or two and make it into a competition. Even the less-creative of us all can generate some weird, wonderful and funny jack-o’-lanterns. Plus most places now sell cheap electronic tea lights so you don’t need to worry about accidentally burning your place down either.

(If you’re looking for some impressive design inspo, have a search on Pinterest).

2. Chocolate, sweets, cakes etc.

Chocolate and sweets sold in variety packs and often on sale, plus there’s Halloween decorated cakes. I think you get my point.

3. Costume Parties

You’ll get some good Instagram opportunities with this one. Guaranteed someone you know will be hosting a party that will end up in Hustle or Sugar (I’ve done both, and I’d arguably say a Hustle Halloween is more memorable), so join them! Dressing up in costumes is always fun, especially group costumes! Don’t worry about dressing up too much or spending loads of cash, no one’s going to judge you if you opt for the classic eyeliner cat nose and whiskers. One of the best Halloween ‘costumes’ I ever had was dressed as a bee featuring some Poundland antennae and socks.

4. Films

Every Halloween there’s a new horror released at the cinema that you can go to for some jumps and thrills if you’re looking for something new to watch or failing that, trusty Netflix will have more than enough to choose from. If that’s not quite your thing and you’re trying to avoid the scares, films like the Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, the Addams Family, Ghostbusters, Casper and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (remember the spiders and blood-written wall messages) may be more the PG watch you were looking for. Also don’t forget the TV specials from the likes of The Simpsons.

5. Go to an event

If you hadn’t of guessed by now, I’m not overly one for Halloween. That being said, the year I was invited to my local castle for their Halloween night was one of the best Halloweens I’ve ever had. Most places will be hosting some form of event, whether its a themed maze/ghost walk or your society is hosting a Halloween bar crawl or murder mystery night. Right here in Lancaster, the Castle, will be hosting numerous events including, some Ghost Tales nights, film screenings, Halloween tours and a fancy dress 10k fun run that you can get involved in!