There are basically four ways to handle Halloween as a family if you’re not a fan of ghosts, vampires or witches: (1) turn off the doorbell, (2) take a weekend trip, (3) go to an alternative celebration at your local church, (4) start your own program. And last year I discovered a fifth alternative, which I’ll introduce at the end.

1. Turn off the doorbell

The easiest way to tune out Halloween probably only works as long as your kids are little. Just don’t put a jack-o’-lantern out front, turn off the doorbell and put the kids to bed as usual.

2. Take a trip

“Yes, we’ve planned our trip for October 31. It’s true, sweetheart, you’ll have to miss Halloween this time, but we’ve got something even better planned for you.” This option takes some planning: depending on your kids and your neighborhood, I recommend blocking off the date two months ahead! Indoor pools and hotel stays only work up to a point, because Halloween will be a thing there, too. We’ve often spent the weekend visiting dear friends and relatives who live farther away.

3. Go to an alternative celebration at your local church

Many churches now offer fun themed parties or festive Reformation Day evenings as an alternative to Halloween. (In Germany, October 31 is also Reformation Day, which marks Martin Luther’s 95 Theses of 1517 and is a public holiday in parts of the country.) Find out what’s happening in your area, and talk friends with kids into coming along, so your kids find it easier to get into the alternative program.

From a festival of lights to a Luther party to a youth group session on the Reformation, churches in Germany and Switzerland have come up with a whole range of alternative celebrations.

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I wanted to wipe out Halloween, and here’s what happened: A few years ago, when my kids were little and I was tired of the yearly Halloween debate and the ringing at the front door, a church in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany inspired me to organize a campfire festival. At the time I was the children’s and youth ministry coordinator at a Christian mission organization with a large campground on its property. With a few interns, we simply got started, with the goal of declaring war on Halloween in the villages around here and offering such a good alternative that no kid would want Halloween anymore. We wanted the kids to come to the campground and have a great evening there. The first year we started with 50 guests, and every year more and more kids and parents came. By now (I handed over the leadership a few years ago) the festival has grown to over 1,000 guests, and lots of kids come with their parents from farther away too, because word has spread far beyond the area we had set out to reach. The Campfire Festival (in German) has become a real event and now has to be planned professionally, but the original charm has stayed, along with the goal: we’ve created the best alternative to Halloween, with lots of activities and opportunities for kids and parents. And so something big can grow from a small beginning and bring a lot of blessing to the whole region. (Carola Holfeld)

4. Start your own alternative program

There are lots of options. The more people I ask, the more alternatives I hear about. The great thing about these initiatives: they’re local, and they include others who don’t feel like doing Halloween either.

Some church members organized a torchlight hike through the woods at night. It’s a bit spooky too, but also wonderfully atmospheric and not as dark a theme.
A family in the neighborhood found like-minded people in the neighbors across the street, and together they threw a private kids’ party.
Another family figured out that for their kids, Halloween was mostly about the candy. So the parents spontaneously set up a candy dinner followed by a family movie night in the basement, far away from the doorbell and the telltale lights on the main floor.
A friend came up with an action-packed evangelistic detective game for all the younger kids in the neighborhood. The game picked up Halloween elements like lanterns and darkness and showed the kids how they can bring their own dark deeds into the light, to Jesus. There was candy, pumpkin soup and exciting puzzles that took the kids all through the neighborhood and into the woods.

5. Jump right in

When I saw an American family on Instagram who simply jumped right into the fray and, along with candy, handed out words of encouragement and invitations to church at a stand on the street, the scales fell from my eyes: you don’t necessarily have to avoid Halloween. You can also simply see Halloween as an opportunity to practice hospitality, get to know your neighbors and build community. A pastor in Nuremberg, Germany, even used Halloween to draw all the kids in her part of town into church with a “spooky service” (in German) and tell them an exciting story from the Bible (Belshazzar and the writing on the wall).
Now imagine a group of parents offering hot drinks and pumpkin soup to everyone passing by, right in the middle of the street. Parents walking with their kids can stop for a moment and experience kindness while their kids quickly hit the houses on the other side of the block. Kids get help if they’ve hurt themselves or gotten lost along the way. Everyone gets to take a little bag of candy with a word of encouragement. And everyone moves on strengthened, maybe even touched.

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The afternoon before Halloween: Instead of just joining in this “tradition” or ignoring it, we had decided to go out and tell people what it’s about. Equipped with glow sticks, candy and Bible verses, we walked through town and looked for conversations. Who did we meet? Surprised teenagers and parents.
We were able to bring “light into the darkness,” so that some people even decided not to celebrate it anymore once they learned about the origins of Halloween. Having the courage to talk, being light and telling the truth always make a difference. Go for it! (M.)
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Community thanks to Halloween: When we lived in Italy, Halloween was actually the only event where all the neighborhood kids and their parents got together and spent time with each other. The rest of the year, nothing was going on. Did I find the occasion for the party inappropriate? Yes. Did I go anyway, to get to know other parents and have community? Also yes. (Priscilla)

English version: October 2026