Our Halloween did not involve trick or treating at other houses, but the kids completed a scavenger hunt with their cousins and got to trick or treat around grandma and grandpa’s house.
Michael and I are not normally the creative scavenger hunt-creating type of people. With help from my sister, Emily, and her husband, Jonathan, we were able to put together a fun scavenger hunt that took the kids a couple of hours to complete.
The scavenger hunt started with four clues trapped inside balloons on a basketball goal. The kids had to pop the balloons to get the clues that led them to the next challenge.
Once the balloons were popped, the clues led the kids to a giant pile of leaves. The next clue was buried in the leaves. Our dog cousin, Cinnamon helped dig for the clue. 
Next was a bean bag toss challenge to get to the next clue that was hiding under the bucket.
The bean bag toss led to a game of water pong. The next clues were on the bottom of the cups and the kids got to read the clues once they got the ping pong balls in all of the cups.
After conquering water pong, the kids went to grandpa’s gazebo to complete a word search challenge. It is easy to create word searches online with the words you want to be found. 
The word search revealed that the next challenge was a balloon volleyball competition. All four cousins vs. Michael. Michael is a tough competitor. The kids and Michael were sweating after that game. 
To give their bodies rest, the next challenge was four individually crafted math problems.
The answers to those problems created a six-digit code that they had to crack to open up my iPhone. Once they opened the iPhone there was a note that directed them to their final challenge. The note said “The final challenge takes place where you eat. Are you brave enough to try some Halloween treats!”
We blindfolded the participants and fed them eyeballs (peeled grapes), giants’ fingers (twinkies), monster tongues (cucumber), and spider webs (cotton candy). Henry was terrified about eating the spider webs until someone tipped him off that it was just cotton candy.
The prize for completing the scavenger hunt was that the kids could pick out beanie babies from grandpa’s beanie baby collection. Fun was had by all and it took up most of the afternoon.
In lieu of trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, we set up trick-or-treat stations around the house (front door, back door, gazebo door). The kids ran around the house knocking on each door for a long while. Michael and their uncle kept trying to scare them each time they ran around the house so they also got a haunted house experience. 
This was a memorable Halloween and great fun was had by all.
