With October 31st approaching, finding Halloween alternatives for Christians is hitting the top of the ‘to-do’ list. Doing so allows us to experience the festivity of the season without compromising on our beliefs.
Growing up, my family enjoyed a number of festive activities. We always had fun, came home with way too much candy, and still got to dress up. All while still remaining true to our beliefs and protecting our hearts and minds from the fear that is typically associated with the season.
All in all, I don’t personally think Halloween is a bad holiday. I know a lot of conservative Christians would strongly disagree, though. In my opinion, Halloween doesn’t have to be celebrated in the traditional sense.
We don’t have to partake in the scary, fear mongering aspects. We also don’t have to allow Halloween’s pagan origins to prevent us from enjoying the festivities of the season.
Below, I’ve shared a list of 7 alternatives to Halloween for Christians. These are all things I enjoyed doing growing up. They are also things that my husband and I would happily enjoy doing with our future children.
1. Visit a larger church’s trunk or treat.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of big churches, I have to admit that they usually have the best festivals and activities. Because of their size, they typically have sufficient funding to host super fun and engaging holiday festivals.
Many larger churches will host a trunk or treat as part of their harvest festival. Whether you choose to attend the entire festival or simply go for the trunk or treating, you’re bound to find a lot of fun for the whole family.
Regardless of where the candy came from, my parents would always inspect it. But thankfully, we never had any issues with suspicious candy at the trunk or treats hosted by churches.
Plus, participating in a trunk or treat allows children to experience some of the “normal” trick or treating as their secular counterparts without feeling completely left out. All in all, this could be a fun alternative to Halloween.
Here’s an example of how to find a church harvest festival in your area:
2. Attend local harvest festivals.
Another fun alternative to Halloween for Christians is to find local harvest festivals. Whether it’s a large local church or a community hosted event, you’re bound to find some wholesome fun for the whole family.
Of course, with non-church hosted harvest festivals, you do run the risk of children being exposed to scary looking costumes. But depending on their ages, such exposure could allow for some great Biblical conversations.
While we typically stuck to church hosted festivals, we did enjoy participating in the harvest festivals hosted by whichever military base we were stationed at. Sometimes there were people dressed up in slightly unsavory costumes, but it allowed my parents to teach us about normal things that we should be aware of. Of course, these conversations were age appropriate.
Ultimately, the type of harvest festival you choose to attend will be one that you and your spouse have researched and agree to together. My parents always had conversations with us before we would go to such events to help us understand that not everyone believes like we do. Not every child is blessed to grow up with parents who care about their emotionally well-fare.
I’ve always appreciated their age appropriate openness with us growing up, since it helped us all to become well-rounded adults with a firm faith.
Here’s an example a local community harvest event:
3. Co-host a neighborhood block party.
Another great way for Christians to enjoy the festive season would be to co-host a harvest festival block party with your neighbors. This can be especially fun if you live on a military base or in a gated community.
Regardless of the type of neighborhood you live in, co-hosting a festive block party can serve as safer ways to enable the neighborhood children to enjoy harvest-y activities without so much of the traditional Halloween scary stuff.
Co-hosting a neighborhood block party can also increase comradery amongst neighbors who may not know each other well or at all. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors and have a well supervised harvest festival that the children will enjoy.
Check out this helpful article on how to properly host a neighborhood block party.
4. Host a cookie swap with friends and family.
If going out on Halloween isn’t attractive to you, another fun alternative would be to host a cookie swap at your house. You can invite friends and family. Have them each bring 3-5 of their favorite cookie recipes. Everyone gets to try cookies they may have never had before while the children get to play together in a safe and cozy environment.
To make this even more festive, the cookies could either come decorated or you could incorporate a cookie decorating contest into the swap. The children could decorate the cookie their family brought and a few of the friends or families without children or children who aren’t old enough to decorate could be the judges for the contest.
Lastly, everyone could come dressed up as their favorite Bible character to add in the fun costume experience typically associated with Halloween.
Check out this article from The Spruce Eats on how to host a cookie swap party.
5. Have an outdoor movie night.
Halloween doesn’t have to be celebrated in the traditional way. Instead of going trick or treating, you and your family and friends could get together for an outdoor movie night. You could set up an affordable projector with a large white sheet hung up on the wall of your house. Everyone could come dressed up in fun costumes with the caveat that they should be cute and not scary.
You could roast smores, make various fun sweet treats, and enjoy a festive movie marathon of harvest themed movies.
Throw out some blankets, pull out the beach chairs, and even light a fire pit for a super cozy and fun alternative to Halloween.
The Supplies You May Need:
6. Go Camping.
Another fun way to celebrate cooler weather (depending on where you live) is to go camping. Now, the fun thing about camping is that it can be done in so many ways. You don’t have to sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground in a tent.
There are several ways you can camp that are actually comfortable and fun.
- You can rent a camper for the weekend.
- You can rent a small cabin.
- If you’re tight on funds, you could camp out in the backyard.
Camping can be a great Halloween alternative for Christians because you can spend quality time together as family. You can build a campfire, roast smores, even barbeque a festive meal.
Since you wouldn’t be dressing up in fun costumes, you could incorporate an evening of storytelling into this family adventure. Tell your children stories from your childhood they may have never heard. Allow them to tell you about their dreams and aspirations.
This is a wonderful way to bond further as family and encourage open conversation with children of all ages. To incorporate a faith aspect into this festive trip, you could play Bible trivia games like guessing which Bible character you have taped to your forehead. Another great game to play outside would be charades because you only need your imagination to have fun.
Check out this article on how to camp in your backyard.
7. Host a game night with harvest themed games.
Last, but not least, you could host a harvest themed game night as an alternative to Halloween. Whether you have tangible board games or you scour the internet for fun games for the family, a harvest themed game night would be a great way to allow children to celebrate the season without feeling completely left out.
Incorporate things like a costume game where participants have to guess what you’re dressed up as. Play yard games and cook out. Have a pumpkin carving contest to see who can carve the silliest face.
There are so many ways to make a harvest themed game night fun for the whole family. You can invite friends and family to join in on the fun. This can be a great way to encourage loved ones who prefer traditional Halloween festivities to try out wholesome alternatives.
A Few Games For Your Game Night:
Closing Thoughts
As Christians, finding alternatives to Halloween doesn’t have to be a complicated process. This short list of ideas barely scratches the surface of things you and your family can do to celebrate the season without compromising Christian beliefs and exposing young children to the unsavory bits of Halloween.
I hope you found something useful and inspiring from this article. If you’ve tried any of these Halloween alternatives or have any other ideas that you and your family enjoy doing this time of year, please share them in the comments. I’d love to learn more about what other Christians do to enjoy the season without participating in Halloween.
