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October is my birthday month, and maybe that’s part of why I love it so much. By the time it rolls around, everyone’s ready to celebrate — the weather feels cozy, the decorations come out, and there’s a little magic in the air.
Navigating fall and Halloween as a grandparent has been a bit of a learning curve. There are so many activities available now for kids to do! Pumpkin patches can include a corn maze, giant balloon tents shaped like lizards, and other adventures spread out across a farm. There are more activities at our fingertips than ever — libraries, the zoo, and all sorts of kid-friendly places host fun events. Craft stores are full of cute décor and creative ideas to try with the grandkids.
As I’ve gotten older, walking outside at night isn’t quite as fun for me anymore — luckily, the parents handle that part! I like to have my house open for all my family on Halloween night. We usually make our own pizza (or order it), play some games, and take lots of photos. Sometimes we carve pumpkins. Sometimes the parents take over that part.
Here are ten of my favorite ways to celebrate Halloween as a grandparent:
1. 🍕 Have a Family Pizza and Game Night
Keep things simple and fun by gathering everyone at your house on Halloween night. Order pizza, bring out a few games, and enjoy the laughter as the kids come and go in their costumes.
Here is a link to my Spooky Bingo game. Good for all ages! You can use candy corn for the markers.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ElkyH3wQ5itujbm1Q4gia-GfYWLdy0sS/view?usp=drivesdk
2. Rake Leaves
This always ends up being a blast. We have kid sized rakes and also these amazing hand rakes. I love these!
For some reason photos of raking leaves always come out so good! Next time you go out to rake as a “chore”, consider inviting your grandkids to join. They love doing this!
I love these hand rakes. Life saver for my back! They scoop up the leaves.
https://mavely.app.link/e/pw2FGCwuwXb
3. 🌋 Pumpkin Planting, Picking, Carving and Decorating
Some years I plant a garden. When I do, I have the grandkids plant pumpkins. They are pretty easy to grow and are a crowd favorite! Of course, you have to start doing this in the spring! They can help take care of the plants.
Add Slime and Make Volcanoes
Carving pumpkins at our house usually includes volcanoes and slime .
For volcano, just pour in some baking soda, then add vinegar and food coloring — and your pumpkin will erupt! I keep a LOT of baking soda and vinegar on hand for volcanoes all year round. Apple volcanoes in September, pumpkin in October.anything that will hold baking soda and vinegar with an open top or sides can work as your volcano. Maybe sometime I’ll get creative and do Twelve Months of Volcanoes. Stay tuned
Another thing the kids love is adding slime to their jack-o’-lanterns. It’s messy, silly, and completely irresistible.
One of our favorite Halloween traditions is tossing the pumpkins off the balcony! 🎃 It’s messy, but it sure beats leaving those jack-o’-lanterns to slowly collapse into mush while you’re stringing up Christmas lights. (Not that I’d know anything about that. 😬) The best part? The lawn gets a little pumpkin compost, your HOA stays happy, and your grandkids end up with some core memories — worth every splattered pumpkin chunk!
4. Apple Picking
This starts in September and early October where we live but I am including it because it is a lot of fun. Find a local You Pick apple orchard. We have our own apple tree so we like to pick the apples and make fresh pressed apple juice. Delicious!
The juicer I use is about 40 years old. It is an Acme brand juicer. They do not make these anymore. I did some research and this one is the top rated that I could find.
Breville Juice Fountain Cold Plus Brushed Stainless Steel BJE530BSS: 1000W Electric Juicer, 2 Speeds, Dishwasher-Safe Parts
https://mavely.app.link/e/kwblMa9rwXb
5. 🏠 Decorate Together
There’s something special about letting the grandkids help with Halloween decorations. Whether it’s hanging paper bats, putting up orange lights, or setting out pumpkins, they love being part of making the house festive.
Kids are easy to please. You do not have to have a ton of stuff. They will get excited about just a few fun pieces.
Decorating is a lot of fun. My grandkids enjoy giant spiders on people’s houses, funny skeletons, the outdoor blow-up characters, and scarecrows. I really don’t like the scary and gory themed decorations. I like spooky — not downright horrifying and disgusting. Hardware stores are almost impossible to go in this time of year with little ones. The decorations they sell get bigger and scarier every year, definitely marketed to a more masculine target market.
I like smiling ghosts and monsters. Not the “scary clown” type smiles — the cute, cartoon-like smiles.
I have this little set that my grandson pulls out every year. He plays with it and pretends they’re trick-or-treaters at my door. Then he hides while I answer. They’re getting pretty beat up, but he still loves them.
There’s also a house down the road that always hangs a giant spider in their window. We have to walk down and look at it several times during the season — it’s become part of our tradition.
Halloween has become its own season — much like Christmas. It’s not just about the night itself anymore. People decorate, hang lights, listen to Halloween songs, and soak up that cozy, spooky feeling all month long.
6. 📚 Explore Community Activities
Pumpkin patches, the zoo, libraries, and even craft stores have wonderful Harvest and Halloween events . It’s fun to see what’s going on locally and pick an outing to do together.
7. 🍪 Make or Bake Something Together
Cooking or baking with grandkids always makes a mess — and a memory. Try sugar cookies, pumpkin muffins, or anything they can decorate.
I have included a little snack we made for a preschool party one year. The kids can help with this and it has no baking required.
8. 🧸 Decorate Toys Instead of Treats
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If you want to skip the sugar (and the cleanup), try decorating toys instead! Gather small toys like Fisher-Price Little People, LEGO figures, or animal figurines and turn them into funny little monsters. You can use Halloween-themed sprinkles, icing or washable glue, googly eyes, felt scraps, or stickers to dress them up. It’s silly, creative, and doesn’t leave you with a sugar hangover. Just wash them when you’re done. I like to clean out my pantry with this activity. Old stale stuff and the last of sprinkles.
9. 🎲 Play Halloween Bingo
Click to download Spooky Bingo Free Printable
https://grandmaschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pdf-spooky-bingo.pdf
Bingo is something all ages can enjoy without too much effort.
There are 12 unique boards andcalling cards. To play short version, only use one sheet of calling cards. For long version, use all the calling cards.
10. ✏️ Try My Halloween Activity Book
Grandma School Presents Halloween Activity Book: For Kids
I put together a Halloween Activity Book for Kids, available on Amazon! It’s filled with counting stories, mazes, dot-to-dots, coloring pages, a memory game, and other fun fall activities. You can write directly in the book or make copies for extra fun.
👉 Click here to see it on Amazon — it’s my very first activity book, and I’m already dreaming up the next one!
Happy Halloween — and happy October birthdays to anyone else who celebrates this month! 🎃
Comment below and tell us some of your fun activities to do with grandkids to celebrate fall and Halloween.
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