It’s almost Halloween, the spookiest night of the year : the night when the ghosts of the dead return to earth, and the line between this world and the next becomes blurred.
Are you in the Halloween spirit yet? If not, I have just the cure to get you there! Halloween only comes round once a year and just for one night, but it can pretty much be celebrated for the entire month of October with pumpkin spice lattes, scary netflix movies, fun costumes, decorations, ghoulish food and spooky books!
Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2020 occurs on Saturday, October 31. Despite popular belief that Halloween originated in the US, it actually has its origins in Ireland in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off wandering ghosts.
The Celts believed that on ‘All Hallows’ Eve’, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
On Halloween, witches come true; wild ghosts escape from dreams. Each monster dances in the park.
Nicholas Gordon
Celebrating Halloween this year is a bit different, as many of us can’t travel, some of us have curfews (we have a curfew here from 9pm to 6am), so travelling to spooky destinations and Halloween parties are off the agenda. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a little fun – why not use the opportunity to enjoy some family time, decorate the house, watch a scary movie, cook a spooky meal and try some devilish cocktails.
What to do at Halloween
We may not be able to have Halloween parties, but there are still a number of socially distanced activities we can try, and here are a few ideas (mostly around the Los Angeles area, but look for similar around your area).
Visit a Pumpkin Patch
Mr. Jack O’Lanterns Pumpkin patch opened on October 3rd for this 2020 season, and there are three locations this season, including Los Angeles, San Diego and West Palm Beach.
- Hollywood: 1841 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028
- La Jolla: 6710 La Jolla Blvd., San Diego, CA 92037
- West Palm Beach: 419 Lakeview Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401
New this season, Mr. Jack O’Lanterns Pumpkin Patch is now offering online ordering, delivery and contactless curbside pick-up to bring the Halloween spirit to your home or office whilst ensuring a safe and pleasant experience.
Mr. Jack O’Lanterns Pumpkin Decorating Kit is $10 and comes with a softball sized pumpkin, a variety of colors of washable paint, a paint brush, shiny glitter, glue, Halloween themed stickers, pom poms, rhinestones and googly eyes.
Visit Mr. Jack O’ Lanterns’ website for more detailed information, including Covid 19 safety and sanitization information.
Take a socially distance stroll through Decanso Gardens
Throughout October, you can take a socially distanced stroll through Descanso Gardens (daily from 9am to 5pm, with extended 5 to 8pm hours the final week of October ).
Guests are invited to safely wind their way through socially-distanced, pumpkin-themed displays in the most popular sections of Descanso Gardens, including mandalas of orange, white and green pumpkins over at the Oak Grove.
Look out for all the seasonal Halloween displays, including a hay maze, a pumpkin arch, wooden jack-o’-lantern boxes, a scarecrow trail through a forest and a house made entirely out of pumpkins.
The Halloween displays are included in the regular admission ($15, kids $5), and reservations (and masks, of course) are required.
Drive through a Haunted Hayride
Take a drive through a defunct Midnight “Drive-In” Theater and watch a haunted spectacle, all from the safety of your own car in the Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas. You’ll find it there on select nights from September 25 to November 1.
You enter at All Hallows Lane, a spooky stretch of road that would be at home in any horror movie! This sets the stage as you brace yourself for the ultimate theatrical drive-in horror experience, featuring a multimedia story displayed on a 40 foot screen, as well as horrifying sets and characters from Midnight Falls that surround the theater and bring the story to life!.
Rising from the dead is Horror Movie Host, Monte Revolta, to assume management of the theater. With the help of his Minions of the Living Dead, he will bring the latest and gravest in terrifying sights and sounds to life as they host Monte Revolta’s Monster Movie Spooktacular.
Tickets to the hour-long experience start at $50 per car and up to two passengers (you can add on extra people for $10 each).
Go on a Halloween themed drive-through “Food Crawl”
The Bite LA is a Halloween-themed food crawl that snakes its way around the eerie Legg lake, complete with virtual campfire and “creature safari that guests can enjoy from the safety of their own vehicle.
This unusual twist on the drive-thru/drive-into haunted attraction offers a delectable Halloween food crawl, where various ghouls and dark creatures serve you 8 Bites (vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are available) as you wind your way from station to station.
Bring your own flashlight and scan the surrounding darkness from the safety of your car, in a hunt for the shadowy and monstrous creatures that roam the abyss.
At the end, park up around the virtual campfire and listen to scary ghost stories, while rounding out the evening’s food experience with a special campfire dessert and your choice of hot cocoa, hot apple cider or coffee.
And if you love playing “dress-up”, every car that arrives “in a Halloween costume” will be entered in the costume contest to win fun prizes throughout the season.
Tickets average between $40 and $50 per person, depending how many people are in your vehicle.
Decorate the house
Have some fun decorating the house, and here are a few decoration ideas. Just click on the image for more details.
Watch a scary film
Settle down with some Halloween themed food and drink and enjoy a spooky film! Here are a few of my favourites :
- Hocus Pocus
- Ghostbusters
- Beetlejuice
- The nightmare before Christmas
- The witches of Eastwick
- The Addams Family
- HalloweenTown
Food and Drink at Halloween
Continue the Halloween thematic and opt for some spooky food and “boo“-zy cocktails!
If you’re stuck for cocktail ideas, then you can pick up a Halloween Cocktail Kit from 101 North Eatery & Bar .
L.A’s 101 North Eatery & Bar has created a new cocktail kit to get you in the Halloween spirit. The “Cold Blooded” Cocktail Kit is only available ‘to go’ for the month of October. It serves 8 people and is $50. Order online, get it delivered or pick it up curbside this cocktail kit is perfect for spooky nights in!
The “Cold Blooded” Cocktail Kit consists of vodka, freshly muddled blackberry, orange blossom, citrus and bubbles.
The cocktail kit includes:
- 32 oz. Mason Jar
- 1 bottle Vodka
- 6 blackberries
- 1 lemon
- 1 champagne split
- Red Sugar for rimming (This is naturally dyed with beet juice. No artificial ingredients.)
I hope you enjoyed this feature about What to do, eat and drink at Halloween and have a look here for more of our lifestyle features.
Have a “spook-tastic” Halloween,
These pumpkin decoration are so cool and original. Thank you for sharing.
New Post – https://www.exclusivebeautydiary.com/2020/11/ysl-rouge-volupte-shine-oil-in-stick.html
Glad you liked it! x
Ah yes this year was very different. We put out separate bags of candy but did not get one trick or treater. Very sad.
I apologize for the delay I lost my mom.
Allie of
http://www.allienyc.com
Thanks for your comment Allie and so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family xoxo
Such great ideas! Halloween is my favorite holiday!
District of Chic
The decor at Halloween is such fun! x
Thanks for sharing.
Bernie,
The Style Fanatic
Glad you liked it! 🙂
It’s good to know more about Halloween that I didn’t know before!
For me, I just spent normal day on Halloween, but I did recreate superhero makeup!
Thank you for sharing by the way, my favorite part would be the food & drinks, because they look so yummy!
xoxo,
|CHELSHEAFLO|
http://www.chelsheaflo.com
My favorite part is the food and drink too! xo
All theses ideas are amazing.
I never went to a pumpkin patch but I really hope to visit one, one day.
This year we only get festive at home but it was still pretty fun to celebrate halloween no matter what.
xx
Margot
We only celebrated at home too, but it was still nice to decorate the house and chill x
I hope you had a nice Halloween. Have a nice day!
Thanks Ivana x
ah I love all these activities! We actually decorated the house and made lots of Halloween food and drinks and watched lots of Halloween films. What a great day that was xx
Elegant Duchess xx
https://www.elegantduchess.com/
Yes, we did pretty much the same! It was fun though despite social distancing restrictions!
Thank you so much for sharing this Halloween guide. I like your ideas for food. They look so cool and original.
New Post – https://www.exclusivebeautydiary.com/2020/11/carolina-herrera-good-girl-marc-jacobs.html
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the guide!
Great round up of activities! LA is not skimping on the activities, I’ve never heard of a Halloween drive-thru, that sounds very intriguing! I like how you included a few things you can still do outside, keeping social distance in mind, of course.
The first year in my apartment I decorated and bought a BUTTLOAD of candy (and a cute bowl) but turns out…there were ZERO trick-or-treaters. I’ve given up ever since LOL. Although, I think having some festive cocktails might be a good idea this year!
Thanks for sharing doll! Hope you enjoy your Halloween!
Des
p.s.
I had no idea that Halloween originated in Ireland, very cool info!
So glad you enjoyed the post, Des. We didn’t have any trick or treaters this year because of social distancing, but I still enjoyed decorating the house!
What a great Halloween inspiration. Great cocktail ideas!
Glad you liked it Ivana 🙂
We don’t celebrate halloween in our household, but these are great tips and will defo come in handy for others.
Thanks Missy xo
Amazing Halloween deco ❤
Thanks Kinga x
Sounds great! Thanks for sharing
http://www.recklessdiary.ru
Glad yu liked it x
We don’t really do Halloween here in Australia – we don’t have hayrides or pumpkin patches or trick or treating – but it’s fun seeing all the photos and decorations from the bloggers in America – you all really get into the day! 🙂
Hope that you are having a good week! 🙂
It’s interesting to see the different traditions of different countries! I’m actually based in France and it’s not as big here as in the US, but we do celebrate it a little x
wow i love this ! thanks for sharing!
Glad you like it Jade x
The food crawl sounds so fun! Any excuse to eat a little bad.
Also would love to try the cocktail
XX Angelica
https://eraenvogue.com
Thanks Angelica! The food crawl is one of my favorites!
Really cool tips! I have to admit I’m not really into Halloween as in Germany it is not usual to celebrate this in my generation 🙂
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
Thanks for reading Rena! I don’t usually celebrate so much either but this year it was a welcome distraction xo
These are all really fun ideas. I think I’m going to stick to decorating at home and doing face paint this Halloween.
http://www.fashionradi.com
I loved decorating the house this year! It felt so rewarding x
Food crawl?? What a fabulous idea.
We are going to a dinner like party but very small….it will be fun to see friends!!
XOOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
We just spent a quiet night at home with a movie marathon and Halloween cocktails! x
Love all these ideas for celebrating Halloween Julia! That cocktail set sounds tempting!
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
Yes, my favorites are the cocktail kit and the food crawl! xo
I love all of your ideas for Halloween!! Visiting the pumpkin patch and eating festive treats are probably my faves!
Make Life Marvelous
Thanks Ashley! I loved your idea of a scavenger hunt! xo
These are fun Halloween activities!
Yes, Halloween is a bit different this year, but we can still make it fun! 🙂
Pumpkin Patch look amazing. I would like to visit it one day. Also Halloween muffins look so cool and deocrating house is always my favorite.
New Post – https://www.exclusivebeautydiary.com/2020/10/lumene-herkka-soothing-toner-gentle-eye.html
I really enjoyed decorating the house this year (even if no-one saw it because of confinement!)
So many fun Halloween activities! I can’t believe it’s this weekend- October flew by!
-Ashley
Le Stylo Rouge
I can’t believe we’re in November now! The whole year just flew by! xo
Great suggestions for Halloween! The food crawl sounds interesting.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Thanks Lovely! I agree – a food crawl sounds so fun! xo
So many fun ideas in this post! Our neighborhood always had a haunted hayride in the past that we are going to miss this year. The drive-thru food crawl sounds like a blast! I may need to make the Cold-Blooded martini on Saturday!
Jill – Doused in Pink
Thanks Jill! I think a drive through food crawl sounds like a lot of fun 🙂