The hallowed holiday of Halloween is celebrated each year on October 31st. While most people already know that, did you also know that the tradition first began during the Celtic festival of Samhain?
In this period, people would light bonfires and wear spooky costumes to ward off malintent ghosts and spirits. Over time this tradition has been known as All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve, and, more recently, Halloween. It's universally known as a day to celebrate the scary and spooky...and eat a bunch of sweets!
Although conjuring up toil and trouble on your neighbour's streets is typically customary on this annual night, things are slightly different this year. As we continue to abide by social distancing rules, we've got to get creative with our trick-and-treating plans. To make sure you have a fangtastic Halloween this year, we've got a list of ways to safely celebrate the spooky season!
Go 'ghosting'
Now, as we know, trick-or-treating is off the cards this October, so one may wonder how to celebrate Halloween this year.
Welcome 'ghosting'! Reminiscent of knock down ginger, 'ghosting' is where you create little bags of goodies or a Halloween hamper full of treats (or tricks, up to you) with a note inside to pass the gesture on. You then leave the treat on the recipient's doorstep and hop off home! The perfect activity for a socially distanced Halloween 2020 celebration.
Carve pumpkins at home
Put some newspaper down, get the pumpkins in, and start carving! There's no reason that traditional pumpkin carving needs to be left out of this year's festivities. Bring the whole family together and see who can create the best features for theirs. Don't worry if you're a little inexperienced, there are plenty of 'how to's' on Youtube to give you that sneaky headstart on the competition.
Watch the scariest films
Although the kids may love to crack out Monster House or Hocus Pocus when October rolls around, us grown-ups might want to get a bit spookier! Why not have a scary film marathon with the adults and start a Shudder subscription.
Shudder is a lot like Netflix but only stores the scariest of the scary films, series, and documentaries to tide you over this Halloween. And if you don't think you'll be able to stomach the spookiness all year round. They offer a 7-day free trial, so you can have a short stint of scary and go back to normality once the 31st is over!
Don't forget to crack out the Halloween sweets and nibbles or turn your living room into a haunted house to really get into the spirit(s) of things!
Make a terrifying tipple
Terrifyingly good, we mean. Why not conjure up a lovely potion and see what horrifyingly good concoctions you can come up with! If you need some ideas, here's a quick recipe for a Cherry Eyeball Punch you can easily make at home:
- Step 1: Drain 2 (15-oz.) cans lychees, reserving 1 ½ cups of syrup
- Step 2: Carefully stuff blackberries (from a 6-oz. container) in each lychee
- Step 3: Stir together reserved syrup, 4 cups tart cherry juice, and 1 cup fresh orange juice in a large pitcher
- Step 4: Chill
- Step 5: Add stuffed lychees and 3 (12-oz.) cans of chilled sparkling water to punch
- Step 6: Serve over ice
Easy peasy!
Make a hauntingly good dinner
Although your friends might be terrified at the thought of you in the kitchen, that won't stop you shocking them this year...in a good way. Why not try this Pumpkin Deviled Eggs recipe or Stuffed Pepper Lanterns? And for dessert, you could try your hand at Mashmello Ghost Brownies for more substantial Halloween sweets.
You'll give your friends a good scare this year, and they'll never look at you the same again...all because of your excellent cooking skills!
Decorate regardless
There's nothing better to get you into the festive mood than decorating the entire house in spoOoky decorations! Deck your home in all things black, green, and orange, and add some extra cobwebs to the ones that are already there (because you forgot to dust).
Etsy is a great place to find some unique and creepily creative Halloween decorations. Plus, why not spark the spooky cheer in your family and friends by curating a care package full of fun decorations they can use in their homes. At Interparcel, we can help you send a Halloween hamper for less than you might think. And we offer full tracking services so you can watch your package creep to its destination!
Simply collect up your decorations, pop in a parcel, enter its dimensions, and receive price comparisons from the most suitable couriers.
Make a spooky Spotify playlist
Since we can't go out dancing, home will have to do. To get your creaky bones moving, create a Spotify playlist full of the best Halloween themed songs! There's plenty of new and old, so start with the classics like Thriller, Highway to Hell, Hungry Like the Wolf, and She-Wolf, and you'll be well on your way to having a terribly good time!
Don't worry if you're coming up blank after adding those suggestions. There is a wealth of Halloween playlists on Spotify, from Disney Halloween to Monster Jams. So have a scroll through and nab a few song ideas along the way.
Get dressed up
Just because you can't go out doesn't mean you can't dress up! Don those cat ears or that witches hat and pull out all the stops to scare your family/friends. You could even arrange a socially distanced costume competition with the neighbours.
Send invitations to everyone on your street and see whose outfit scares the rest out of the running. Why not create a bundle of fun treats or a Halloween hamper to award the winner at the end of the event? Learning how to celebrate Halloween 2020 has never been so fun!
Play terribly fun games
No party? No problem! Halloween games don't need a huge audience to be enjoyed. Bobbing for apples is an absolute classic and is always a fun Halloween game to get the whole family involved. Or how about a mummy sack race? It's pretty much the same as a sack race, but the contestant's legs are wrapped up like a mummy!
The fun doesn't stop there - you could even combine pumpkin carving and a bean bag toss competition by making them with wide-eyed, shocked faces. For the over 18s, why not turn beer pong into eyeball pong by transforming the balls into creepy eyes.
Let the spooky games begin!
Enter Interparcel's Halloween competition!
We're running a fearfully fun competition, giving away a huge bundle of Halloween sweets to share with loved ones this year, plus £10 to spend on our services at Interparcel!
Although this year may be unlike others, and we may not be able to celebrate as fully as before. We hope our hamper of dangerously delicious sweets will make someone's Halloween spectacularly spooky this year.
To enter, all you need to do is follow Interparcel on Twitter and retweet our competition post or like and share on Facebook - GoOoOod luck, witches!
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