Senior-Friendly Halloween Activities (and What to Avoid)
Halloween is not a holiday for everyone, but it can be an exciting time of year to enjoy with the family, especially if you want the thrills and adrenaline rush that come with the holiday. If you’re a family that likes to celebrate Halloween, consider these senior-friendly activities that are fun for the whole family.
Halloween crafts
Crafting is an excellent activity choice any time of year, but you can spice up your crafting hour with spooky-themed crafts.
- Cobweb wreaths- Start with a black or dark color wreath. Then, using cobwebs from your local craft store, cover the wreath with as few or as many fake spider webs as you want. You can also use a hot glue gun to place plastic spiders in the wreath for more spookiness.
- Jack-O-Lantern candy jars- Gather used or new jars and black, orange, and white paint. Paint the entirety of the jar one color and let it dry. Once the paint is dry, you can use a different color to paint a face to make it look like a jack-o-lantern.
- Embroidery- Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the craft, embroidery is fun to add a Halloween flair piece of fabric. You can embroider pumpkins, black cats, or spiders on sweaters, hats, tablecloths, or whatever other cloth you have on hand.
Halloween baked goods
Get creative in the kitchen and turn some of your favorite baked goods into spooky treats. You can add red food dye to just about anything, put candy corn in your peanut brittle, make a pumpkin-flavored cupcake, or use frosting to create scary faces on brownies or rice Krispie treats. You can also purchase a case of candy eyeballs to make any sweet treat feel like it’s staring at you. Encourage the whole family to get involved, or turn it into a baking competition to see who can create the scariest treat.
Trick-or-treating
If you live in a well-lit area with sidewalks, encourage your aging loved ones to join you as you go trick-or-treating. It’s a fun way to spend time with the family, but it’s also a good form of physical activity to help your loved one stay active. Plus, even if you’re not the one trick-or-treating, there’s always a pretty good chance you’ll find a way to get a few pieces of candy!
Not-So-Friendly Activities
It’s understandable to want to include your loved ones in your holiday activities. Still, there are a few Halloween favorites you may want to enjoy without your aging relatives.
- Horror movies- Enjoying a scary movie night with your family might be fine for some seniors, but be careful about showing these films to older adults with dementia.
- Haunted houses- It’s not that seniors can’t handle the horror of a haunted house, but the dark halls, moving bridges, flashing lights, and loud noises are often disorienting and fall hazards.
- Corn mazes- A non-haunted corn maze may sound okay, but walking on uneven dirt can lead to unwanted falls and injuries.
Working with Visiting Angels
If you’re a senior who is alone this Halloween, or you have an aging loved one in your life and cannot be with them during the holidays, the team at Visiting Angels can help. Our professional caregivers provide nonmedical care and companionship to seniors to ensure their safety and comfort at home. Caregivers may assist with daily activities like light housekeeping, medication reminders, personal grooming, meal preparation, and more.
Our Gulf Shores office works with seniors and families in the Alabama Gulf Coast, including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. If you’d like to learn more about our services or schedule a complimentary consultation, send us a message or call 251.943.7525.