Just because you’ve decided to forego participation in the Halloween festivities doesn’t mean you can’t make fun on your own. Furthermore, there are ways to use the Halloween season as a way to spread Christ’s love and the redeeming power of the gospel message. Here are just five ways to have some fun without risking the safety of your Christian children.

1. Have a Game Night

So your kids are longingly looking at the kids outside with tear-filled eyes. What is a homeschool parent to do? Why not create your own fun? Have a family game night complete with a variety of board games and fun activities. Go wild with candy prizes and autumn-themed goodies. If your homeschoolers want, you can even dress up. You can still pass out candy to the neighbor children if you stay home. I know parents who pass out candy accompanied with small tracts or Bible verses. This is a great way to expose kids to God’s word. Whatever you do, don’t shut yourself in and ignore knocks on the door. That only sends the message that you are strange and even unfriendly.

2. Go to a Harvest Party

Each year, my church throws a Harvest Party on October 31st. There is a leaf pile surrounded by bales of hay that kids can dive into for a period of time to search for candy. There are competitions of all kinds, including target shooting, jousting, pillow fights, wrestling, and more. Each room of the church is devoted to a specific Bible-themed game. The cafeteria cooks pizza, popcorn, and nachos that come free with admission. My homeschoolers usually come home from the harvest party marveling as to how the harvest party has to be so much more fun than trick-or-treating. If your church doesn’t have one, why not look into starting one of your own? You could even host one with your homeschool co-op.

3. Go Bowling

On Halloween night, bowling alleys are usually pretty empty. You can take your family and to a bowling alley and have an all-night bowling party. Don’t just limit your fun to bowling. Laser tag, goofy golf, and other fun activities can be easily substituted. You could even get together with other homeschooling families for some friendly competition. You can make it especially fun by turning your family into a team. Each Christian homeschooling family can have its own colors or even uniforms. Be creative!

4. Throw a Costume Party

So your kids really want to dress up. Well, what’s wrong with that? As long as they don’t dress up as anything evil, a costume party can be a great activity for a church or homeschool co-op. Award prizes for the best costumes. One Christian homeschool friend of mine threw a Noah’s Ark party. Each homeschooler dressed up as a different animal and they put on a short play about Noah’s Ark.

5. Pumpkin Party

Carving Pumpkins was always my favorite element of Halloween. I can’t think of a good reason to not carve a pumpkin. Why not have a pumpkin party with your homeschoolers and other Christian friends? You can go to a pumpkin patch, pick out your favorite pumpkins, and then carve them into silly faces. I heard of one ambitious family carving Bible verses and inspirational messages like “Jesus is Lord” into a series of pumpkins. Just don’t throw away those seeds. Dry them out and add some salt for a fun snack!

What does Halloween represent? better known as the eve of All Saints’ Day. Halloween in Western countries is about ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and the supernatural.

In Britain, Halloween is associated with children playing ‘Trick or Treat‘ a game where children dress up and visit neighbours’ houses threatening to play practical jokes on the inhabitants if not rewarded with sweets or money. All harmless fun of course.

In recent years, the number of local events organised to “celebrate” Halloween has shot up. Also, merchandise is readily available and many families decorate their homes as they do at Christmas.

Where did this phenomenon come from anyway, the United States? We spoke to Kit Bennett from American website Amazing Moms who pleads guilty on all counts.

Kit says, “It’s huge, I would say it’s right up there with Christmas for kids. We as always have gone over the top,” she said. However, Kit, herself a Grandmother and teacher said she has noticed a change in the United States and people have become more safety conscious.

“How we deal with it has changed. It’s actually getting a little lower key. The kids love to dress up and have the candy but we don’t trick or teat so much now. Our children go to shopping plazas now and go store to store to get candy. Many schools are no longer able to celebrate Halloween but they’ll call it a Harvest Party.”

Kit also told us that some children are banned from attending Halloween events and have accused other children of worshipping evil. Oh dear, this sounds like this yearly activity of fun is all becoming a bit too serious. She also went on to say that the event is becoming a big religious activity in the United States with some people not celebrating it for that reason alone.

However, she did want to point out that she and her family do spend time together on October 31st carving pumpkins and enjoying the whole social occasion.

The most popular Halloween costumes in the United States are a Princess costume for the girls and a Superhero for the boys – again different from the UK where it’s a Witch or Dracula.

In the traditional sense Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses”, carving Jack-o’-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. It’s also believed that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. Plus, in Sweden the All Saints’ official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

The most recognisable symbol is the carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, this is one of Halloween’s most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly called a jack-o-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the “head” of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. The name jack-o’-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.