6 Nostalgic Halloween Activities You Probably Did Growing Up

Spooky season is here and it’s time to celebrate with all the classic festivities like apple picking, scary movies and costume parties. Growing up, Halloween was such a big part of my childhood and other people’s as well. Even though we’re always celebrating Halloween each year, there are some traditions in which all we can do is reminisce on. Here’s a list of some nostalgic Halloween activities you probably did growing up.  

School Halloween Parties

One of the best days of the year in elementary school was the class Halloween party. The day started out with your usual classes, but once the bell rang for lunch, it was time to change into your costume that took weeks of perfected planning. The big question of the day was who had the best costume, but deep down, you felt like that title had belonged to you. The rest of the day was spent making spooky arts and crafts, eating a bunch of sweets (because it’s not like we were gonna eat more candy later) and playing Halloween themed games like bingo. This was definitely the only day of the whole school year you were more than willing to go to class.

Seeing every’s lawn Halloween decorations

For some reason, there was always this unwritten rule that all the houses on the block, better yet town, had to put up Halloween decorations. You never wanted to be the house that all your classmates considered “lame.” We always knew that the house with the best decorations probably meant that they had the best candy meaning that they had full-size bars. As I got older, I’ve seen fewer and fewer houses put up decorations. It’s sad to see a tradition like that go because it was so exciting seeing all the creative decorations throughout the town. 

Watching Halloween DCOMs and TV specials

You can’t go a Halloween season without watching Halloweentown, and that’s what my friends and I managed to avoid every year. After school, we’d watch all the classic Halloween Disney Channel movies, not only because they were cinematic masterpieces, but because that was the only thing on the network lineup. That’s not a bad thing though. I appreciate networks, like Disney, going all out with their spooky advertising. However, I did look forward to all the Halloween episodes to my favorite Disney shows. Seriously, who didn’t get frightened by that haunted room episode from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody?! Since you could only watch Halloween episodes once during the year, I definitely wanted to make sure I got to see it all.

Making a tick or treat route

The trick or treat route was the most critical part of the evening. If the route didn’t make sense, then we wouldn’t get the best candy. Everyone knew where the best houses were and my friends and I made sure we’d be there. Before Halloween even started, we mapped out our route block by block. We probably spent more time on this than our homework, but candy was obviously more important in our minds.

Carving Pumpkins and Baking the Pumpkin Seeds 

Every year growing up, my family and I would carve pumpkins. And by that I mean, my parents did all the work and I would get bored after five minutes. We’d buy stencil kits to prep and I would always choose the most complicated artwork. But, my favorite part was roasting the pumpkin seeds after. It was the perfect fall snack to come home to after school. It was probably the main reason why I wanted to carve a pumpkin in the first place. 

Baking Pillsbury Halloween Cookies

I’ve been trying to find these cookies in stores and they either don’t sell them or are sold out. Growing up I probably was more obsessed with these cookies than getting candy. You could get them as ghosts or pumpkins, but we all know pumpkins are the best choice. They had other seasons throughout the year too, but the Halloween ones were the most iconic. There was nothing better than having these as a late-night snack while watching Hocus Pocus. Even though these are still around today, I’ll always consider them a nostalgic treat. 

Halloween will always be one of my favorite holidays and I’m excited to continue the traditions I’ve had growing up. It shaped and played a big role in all of our childhoods. Even though I can’t go trick or treating anymore, I can recreate old childhood memories by watching my favorite movies and baking Halloween treats. It’s true that traditions are meant to be repeated, but there’s always room for new traditions with friends and family. 

• halloween
• nostalgia
• throwback