Although trick-or-treating is super popular, when I had kids, I decided not to take them.

There were a few reasons for this. At first, taking my daughter as a baby seemed weird. It wasn’t like she could eat candy or remember it. Another reason was that where I live, trick-or-treating is actually at night on Halloween regardless of the day of the week, so wandering around in the dark didn’t sound appealing to me. Plus, it was bedtime for her by then. When I went as a kid, ours was always on a Sunday afternoon in plain daylight.

By the time she got older, I had another baby, so it still didn’t make sense to go because of the timing. Now that the kids are older, people are more concerned about germs. Besides that, the timing is still at bedtime. Moms know you don’t mess with bedtime if you can help it. So, we do some other Halloween traditions because, despite not taking my kids trick-or-treating, I actually love Halloween. Here are some alternatives you can do instead or add to your tradition of trick-or-treating.

Make cookies!

Cut-out cookies are not just for Christmas! I have cookie cutters for pretty much every holiday, including Halloween. We make sure to make some fun pumpkins, moons, ghosts, and black cats to celebrate.

Check out these cute cookie crafts you can do with kids of any age!

Carve or paint pumpkins!

Depending on the age of your kids and how messy you want to get, you can either paint or carve pumpkins. My kids also love the tradition of going to a local farm to pick out their own.

Grab your carving and painting supplies now to get them on time!

Watch Halloween movies!

The age of your kids will factor into which Halloween films you can show them, but there are some fun ones out there that you can enjoy as a family.

–> Head over to Kristen’s list of the best Halloween Movies for families!! <–

Dress up and have a dance party!

Just because we don’t go trick-or-treating doesn’t mean we can’t still play pretend, and dress up. My kids pretend to be different things all of the time and Halloween is no exception. Put on some Monster Mash and have your own dance party.

Put up Halloween window clingings/decorate!

Something that I carried into my adulthood was my love for window clingings. Growing up, I had ones for each holiday, so my kids and I put them up too. We have some fun Halloween ones to get our front window feeling spooky.

You can also decorate around your house to give it a fun Halloween feel. Paint your own signs or decorations, and you just added another activity for you to enjoy together.

Check out these fun and easy Halloween decorations!

While we may not go door-to-door for candy, it doesn’t mean we enjoy Halloween any less. For my kids and the area we live in, it makes more sense to stay in and enjoy some other activities. Plus, we get all the sugar we need from those cut-out pumpkin cookies.