Looking to do something different for Halloween this year? Why not celebrate everyone’s favorite spooky holiday while camping? If you are planning a fall camping trip, turn it into a Halloween camping celebration by incorporating some of these Halloween-themed activities.
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Carve Jack-O’-Lanterns
Pumpkin carving is the quintessential Halloween activity for the whole family. You can bring jack-o-lantern pumpkins, stencil kits and a pumpkin carver for some good, old-fashioned pumpkin carving fun. As an alternative, mini pumpkins or foam craft pumpkins are perfect for younger kids and also save space. There are plenty of ways to decorate pumpkins that don’t involve carving too, such as painting, drawing, or gluing on decorations.
Make Halloween Decorations
Doing arts and crafts while camping is easy if you plan ahead and choose projects that don’t require too many tools or supplies. One such project is making “Monster Rocks.” You’ll need paint, brushes, markers and “googly eyes.” Now send the kids out to find smooth rocks that will be the canvas for the monsters. When they’ve found enough rocks, they can paint, draw and decorate them as creepily as they please.
Another easy Halloween craft project is making “Glowing Monster Eyes.” Simply take old toilet paper or paper towel rolls and cut out scary-looking eyes. When night falls, place a colored LED light or glow stick inside. Place the scary eyes on the ground, prop them in a branch, or hang them around your campsite so it appears that creatures are staring at you in the dark. Just be sure to “leave no trace” when you’re done!
Finally, a fun, but slightly more involved project is making tombstones. You’ll need foam board, a box cutter, grey spray paint and a marker. Cut the foam board into the shape of a tombstone and then spray paint it. After it is dry, write a ghoulish message about the “deceased.” Try cutting and ripping the edges of the tombstone to give it an aged effect.
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Decorate Your Campsite
Add some premade decorations to round-out the Halloween effect. Consider bringing decorations that packs easily, like cobwebs, fake insects, small hanging ghouls or inflatable displays. If you are camping with a group, turn it into a contest and give a prize to the Best Decorated Campsite.
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Get Dressed Up
Fewer activities get people into the Halloween spirit than playing the part and dressing up as their favorite character or ghoul. Encourage everyone to participate in your group with a costume contest and prizes.
A couple of things to keep in mind: be sure to have weather-appropriate costumes and consider leaving the Halloween makeup at home. It might be considerably chillier at your camping locale than at home, so bundle up accordingly. Also, Halloween makeup can be messy and difficult to take off, so you may want to forgo this part of your costume while camping.
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Swap Scary Tales
Sitting around a campfire at night is the perfect setting for spooky story telling. You can bring a story along to read, or better yet, tell one from memory and say that it is based on real events in the area for creepy authenticity. For the little kids, a flashlight under the face while you’re telling your scary tale will be spooky but not scary. For older kids and adults, maybe get another camper to make some sounds in the bushes during the climax of your story to add to the startling fun.
Trick or Treat at your Campground
If camping with a group or at an organized campground, then you can recreate the all-time kid-favorite Halloween activity of trick or treating. You don’t have to stay inside your RV or tent and wait for the kiddos to “knock.” They’ll be happy if you give them candy while you’re relaxing at your campsite. Just don’t forget to bring the candy! You can also look for other events in the local community to get the kids out and about in costume.
Break Out a Halloween Pinata
If trick or treating at your campsite isn’t feasible, but you want the kiddos to get their Halloween candy fix, a piñata is a great stand-in for trick or treating. With the exploding popularity of Halloween, there are plenty of spooky piñatas shaped like jack-o-lanterns, bats, ghosts and more to choose from. Just be sure the campground you’re in allows you to hang items like these from trees, and don’t forget to leave no trace and pick everything up when you’re done!
Visit a Campground with Halloween Activities
Planning all your own Halloween activities may be challenging to fit into your busy schedule. An alternative is to visit a campsite that has planned Halloween events. In fact, many campsites offer Halloween-themed activities throughout the month of October. This way you can squeeze in a Halloween camping trip earlier in the month and be back home in time for Halloween in your neighborhood.