Things to do This Halloween Besides Pass Out Candy

Halloween is a favorite holiday to a lot of people, me included. There are so many different festivities this time of year besides trick or treating. For those of you who need a little inspiration to try something new, or get back into the spirit of the occasion, here are a few ideas to make this Halloween more exciting:

I'm a total haunted house junkie. I used to go to every haunted house I could find when I was in high school and college. In Texas, I've noticed the really good small- town haunted houses have dwindled, leaving only some of the “mega” ones that have boomed in popularity over the last 15 years.

The good thing about small, less known haunted houses is that they don't follow the “norm” of the bigger ones. They're unique and they cost drastically less. The big, well-known haunted houses cost over $20 a person where the smaller ones sometimes charge under $10.

The best part of all was the slide at the end where the chainsaw man chased you out as soon as you landed. We went to this haunted house at least 3x a year and it never got old. Of course they changed it up a little each year to keep it interesting. I was sad to find out that they no longer had it.

So for something different to do this Halloween, get a group of friends together and go hit all the haunted houses you can find. Or go on a mission to find some of the small ones and give them a try, you'll be surprised at what you find.

While corn mazes are typically fun for the whole family, the Haunted Corn Mazes in Texas are the ticket. Especially the one in Tyler, TX. It is a pretty large maze and hidden sporadically throughout it are creeps with chainsaws waiting to scare the living crap out of people like me who hate them.

Not only do you have the possibility of getting completely lost inside of one of these things but they conveniently place the chainsaw dudes in just the right places where you have to run back through them after hitting a dead end. (gee thanks). At this particular haunted corn maze they also have a haunted hayride that is included. However, it has been a couple of years\since I've been so I'm not sure what they've added or taken away.

Regardless corn mazes and haunted corn mazes are a fun activity for a group of friends who are too old for trick or treating and still want something fun to do on Halloween besides hand out candy

Even though this sounds like something for kids, it is also fun for a group of adults too. Last year we hosted one at my sister's house and had a great turn out. Everyone brought their own pumpkin and my sister made “goody bags” with a couple of carving tools for everyone and candy. There was about 12 of us there and we all sat around a big table on the porch and carved our pumpkins and had a great time. Then at the end we lined them up and took at picture of our art work.

If you're thinking about hosting this type of party, it is always good to have snacks and drinks handy. We made Halloween themed snacks and had witches brew punch. You can even turn it into a contest and throw in a small prize of some sort, though we didn't do the contest. I thought it was an amazing turn out for a bunch of grown adults, and we had a blast doing it. It doesn't have to be limited to adults by any means though.

Some of my friends host the best costume parties for adults. When I say for adults, it is usually because there is alcohol involved and they are of a mature nature. Every year it was so fun to try to come up with a costume that was going to be better than the best one from the previous year. We'd spend a good number of weeks or months trying to come up with ideas to out do “so and so”.

Usually, we planned fun Halloween type games—one year it was bobbing for jello shots instead of apples. we even had party games, or drinking games and always took tons of pictures to compare over the years. Sometimes certain people would collaborate their costumes to form a duo, such as a surgeon and nurse combo.

Whoever is hosting the party usually decks out the house with lots of Halloween themed décor and either furnishes the refreshments (except for the alcohol and beer), or everyone brings some sort of snack for the party. You can also have a costume contest and give away a small prize of some sort.

At our parties some form of costume was mandatory, but I've been to some costume parties that were much less lenient on the costume part. This was one of a favorite get-together of ours each season for many years, and we spent a lot of time planning our costumes throughout the year. Even if that meant designing your own.

Another tradition we had in my family for a few years was the scary movie marathon. Everyone picked one of their favorite scary movies and brought it with them, along with a pillow or blanket to lounge around the TV. We served refreshments and watched back to back scary movies of choice all night long and had a slumber party of sorts. It was a great group activity and everyone was always eager to participate.

One of the best parts of bringing your own favorite movie is the diverse movie selection. Some people like gory slasher films, some like the classics like Halloween, and Friday the 13^th. Then others like newer movies that just came out, like the latest SAW. The broad range of tastes makes for a good time.

In reality, Halloween festivities last the entire month of October so if you want to do it all an dthen pass out candy you have that option as well. You just start as early as possible.

However, If you're tired of sitting at home with the porch light off hoping nobody comes knocking for candy, or tired of passing it out to the neighborhood kids and want to do something different, try one or more of these activities. They really are a fun excuse to get together with friends and do something different. The more the merrier.