Social Distancing Halloween Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt

This year is unlike any other. Rather than getting swept up in the negatives, make it your mission to create some of the best memories for your kids! My favorite suggestion: throw together a really fun social distancing Halloween glow-in-the-dark egg hunt or candy scavenger hunt! You can host this for your own kids in the safety and solitude of your home, or open it up to your neighbors or close friends in your bubble if you feel comfortable doing so. A glow egg hunt is sure to go down in history as one of the coolest social distancing Halloween ideas ever!

First, decide if you’d prefer to keep your glow hunt to your own family or expand it to include other children. I’ll outline tips for a personal glow-in-the-dark egg hunt as well as a social distancing Halloween hunt.

Glow-in-the-Dark Egg Hunt for Halloween Candy

This year, trick-or-treating seems just as controversial as a plethora of other 2020 hot button topics. A social distancing Halloween can still be a blast when you plan ahead. If you want to play it safe at home, this glow-in-the-dark egg hunt is sure to become a favorite outside-the-box memory for your family. Here’s how you can quickly and easily pull it off!

Materials:

Glow-in-the-dark plastic eggs

Glow-in-the-dark stickers

Variety of favorite candy

Fun Halloween baskets

Blacklight Flashlights

What If Glow Eggs Are SOLD OUT?! 

It seems like lots of people are thinking of doing a glow-in-the-dark candy hunt this Halloween! If you find glow-in-the-dark eggs are sold out everywhere you check, you can still have an awesome glow hunt. Just get a little creative!

• Put mini glow sticks inside the eggs with the candy! 
• Decorate the plastic eggs with glow-in-the-dark stickers!
• Let your kids go wild painting the eggs with 3D glow-in-the-dark paint!
• Use glow-in-the-dark tape or UV-effective masking tape to create fun blacklight-effective designs.

How to Have a Glow Egg Hunt at Home:

1. Gather or purchase the supplies above. (Lots of possibilities to reuse them year after year and even for other holidays!)
2. Fill the eggs with candy several days in advance.
3. On the day of the hunt, remember to “charge” your eggs in bright sunlight or with another light source.
4. For full-size candy bars or those that don’t fit inside a glow-in-the-dark plastic egg, simply put a glow-in-the-dark sticker on the wrapper. (TIP: Even if all the glow eggs sell out, you can still have an awesome candy scavenger hunt in the dark with glow stickers!)
5. Hide the eggs around your home or in your yard.
6. Wait for dark and give your kids each a basket and a blacklight flashlight!
7. Set any ground rules and send them off to collect their Halloween eggs!
8. Take pictures – this is sure to be fun!

Tip: Spice it up by requiring them to wear glow-in-the-dark witch fingers during the egg hunt!

Social Distancing Halloween Glow Egg Hunt with Friends

If you are comfortable gathering in small groups or even with just one other family, a social distancing egg hunt may work for you. You can try different setups and rules to make it work – here’s one suggestion.

Materials:

Glow-in-the-dark plastic eggs

(Tip: If glow eggs are sold out, get regular plastic eggs and decorate them with glow-in-the-dark puffy paint!)

Glow-in-the-dark stickers

Variety of favorite candy

Fun Halloween baskets

Blacklight Flashlights

Outdoor Blacklight Spotlight – optional

How to Host a Social Distancing Halloween Glow-in-the-Dark Egg Hunt:

1. Gather the supplies above.
2. Predetermine how many eggs each child should get so you can make sure you have enough supplies.
3. Invite the friends who will join the fun!
4. Fill the glow-in-the-dark eggs with candy several days in advance.
5. Charge the eggs so they glow brightly! Keep them in direct sunlight or other bright light for as long as possible to activate their awesome glow.
   
6. Hide the eggs outside in your yard.
7. When it’s time, give each child a fun Halloween basket or bag and a blacklight flashlight.
8. Go over any rules or instructions. Specify how many eggs each child can grab or let them know if it’s a free-for-all.
9. Send them off to find the eggs and enjoy this fun new way to celebrate Halloween.

Tip: You can also do this for your neighborhood trick-or-treaters! Buy enough glow-in-the-dark eggs to fill and give those out on Halloween night. You can scatter them in your front yard with a sign that says “Take One!”

If you have any other fun ideas for a glow egg hunt, please share in our comments! Also, if you’d like to try more fun Halloween alternatives to trick-or-treating, check out our post on Halloween ideas during Covid.