Alternatives to Halloween: Inclusive Celebrations for Foster Children of All Faiths

With every season, nature reveals new colours, textures, and smells. So instead of dressing your home in plastic spiders and creepy skeletons, why not bring the beautiful colours of autumn into your home instead? 

Put on your coats and wellies, grab a bucket and go on a walk with your foster child to collect leaves, acorns, and pinecones. You can then: 

• Dot them around the home, on bookshelves, by plants, or on photos.  
• Paint them and use them to create funky art prints. 
• Craft an autumn wreath. 
• Make a centrepiece. 
• Pop them in a large jar and weave fairy lights around them for an atmospheric display.  
• Check out the Woodland Trust’s website, full of natural autumnal craft ideas you can do with the bits you find on your walk.  

It’s no secret that Halloween usually means trick or treating, and, let’s be honest, for children, it’s typically less about knocking on doors and more about the sweets and chocolate they receive.

So, if your foster child has a sweet tooth or just loves a treasure hunt, you could hide some treats around your back garden and watch them delight in finding them.

If you really want to move away from any connection to Halloween, Scavenger hunts could also be a great alternative. They generally involve splitting into teams and seeing who can find all the items on a list first.

This could be a great excuse to meet up with other foster families in the area, and a fantastic way to teach children team-building skills.

Pumpkins may be associated with Halloween, but they’re also a tasty seasonal vegetable and a great source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. From cheesecake and muffins to stews, soups, and curries, pumpkins are extremely versatile and can be used in dishes both sweet and savoury.

Throughout October, your local supermarket will be brimming with pumpkins, but if you want to get your foster children outdoors, head to a pumpkin patch. When you return, you could spend the afternoon experimenting in the kitchen and teaching children in your care how to cook with seasonal ingredients.

One thing children love about Halloween is having the chance to dress up and using their imagination to become that character for the day. Just because you don’t celebrate Halloween doesn’t mean they have to miss out on this aspect of the fun and games.  

Instead, why not host a costume party? You could give it an autumnal theme, invite local foster families, and award prizes for the best costume. And a party isn’t a party without games! Here are some of our favourites:  

• Apple bobbing: Grabbing apples with your teeth out of a bucket of water, what’s not to love about that? 

• Board games: Whether it’s good old Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit or a favourite game personal to your family, board games are easy entertainment at social gatherings.  

• Pumpkin bowling: Grab some old bottles, set them up in the back garden, and take turns knocking them down with pumpkins.  

• Autumn bingo: Download and print these free bingo cards and have fun seeing who gets a full house first.  

• The classics: Games like musical chairs, sack races, and Simon Says never get old, especially if you foster younger children.  

Halloween often revolves around receiving treats or getting up to mischief. So why not turn it into giving something back to the community through charitable activities and small acts of kindness? Here are some meaningful ways you can do this with the child in your care: 

• Post Pals: Post Pals is a charity that helps you send homemade cards, letters, and small gifts to seriously ill children, bringing them joy when they may feel scared, lonely, and confused.  

• Donate clothes: If your foster child has outgrown some of their clothes, you could help them sort them out and drop them off at a local charity shop.  

• Litter picking: You could spend an afternoon litter picking, teaching children in your care about responsibility. To make it fun, you could turn it into a challenge to see who can collect the most rubbish.  

• Sponsored walk:  Lots of charities organise challenges, such as Walk 100 miles in October, to raise money. You could pick one close to your family’s heart, and ask friends and relatives to sponsor you.  

• Donate food: Sadly, more and more people are relying on food banks, so you could ask your foster child to help you choose and donate a few items.  

Not only will these activities teach your foster children about giving and empathy, but they’ll also encourage conversation and help them see how even the smallest acts of kindness can make a huge difference to others.