30 Fun Halloween Writing Prompts & Ideas

Once every year, the weather cools down, the leaves change color, and, for those who celebrate, Halloween is just around the corner. Your students may be getting excited for the end of October, so use that electrifying energy to your benefit with some fun Halloween writing prompts and journal ideas.

Not only are these free ideas exciting, but also putting pen to paper with these themed topics is a great way to exercise your students’ critical thinking, vocabulary range, and general writing skills. Check out our list of writing and journal prompts below!

Traditions: Halloween Journal Prompts about the Holiday

1. What’s your favorite Halloween tradition? What do you do with your family and friends to celebrate?
2. Have you ever carved a pumpkin before? If yes, describe what you carved. If no, describe what you would carve as the face of a Jack-o’-lantern.
3. Your friends and family want to go trick-or-treating, but you don’t have a costume! What’s your last-minute outfit idea?
4. Come up with a Halloween-themed menu for a restaurant to serve to their customers. Plan at least five dishes.
5. Write about your Halloween costume! What would it look like and how can you make it?
6. You’re at a pumpkin patch looking for the perfect pumpkin to carve. What type of pumpkin are you looking for? What types would you avoid? Describe that moment of finding the perfect pumpkin.
7. How would you decorate a front lawn or apartment door to thrill trick-or-treaters? The sky’s the limit—you have all the money and resources in the world.
8. Imagine if Halloween took place during the summer and not in the fall. How do you think the holiday would be different?
9. Do you trick-or-treat? If yes, describe the time you got your favorite treat. How did it compare to the moment you found your least favorite one in your trick-or-treat bag?

Ghosts and More: Spooky Halloween Writing Ideas

1. Imagine you walk into your school and see a ghost! Describe the ghost, and tell what the ghost does next.
2. What scares a lot of people that you think shouldn’t? Great examples are bats or snakes. Explain why people shouldn’t be so afraid.
3. What’s something scary that you saw or read? What made you so frightened?
4. Someone you love is terrified of spiders and found one in their room. How do you help them work through their fears?
5. Would you ever visit a haunted house? Why or why not? If you have visited one before, write about that experience.
6. You’ve been hired to work at a haunted house as an actor to scare people. Tell us about your technique and what costume you’d wear to frighten the most costumers.

For Advanced Writers: Halloween-Themed Writing Topics

1. Write a story with at least two characters that takes place in a cemetery on Halloween night.
2. After carving a beautiful Jack-o’-lantern, you carefully place a candle inside. To your surprise, your pumpkin begins to speak! What does it say to you, and what happens next?
3. You’re an alien that landed on Earth the night of Halloween. Describe what you see as you park your ship in the middle of a busy neighborhood full of kids trick-or-treating. Don’t forget to write how you feel.
4. It’s late on Halloween night, and you’ve given out almost all your candy. One last knock on your front door sounds, but when you open it, it’s not a kid in a costume. It’s a black cat! And it’s trying to show you something. Write about what happens next.
5. You’ve woken up on the morning of Halloween and find you’re invisible! How do you spend the next 24 hours?

Seasonal Themes: Writing Prompts about Fall

1. You’ve just discovered a new type of apple no one has ever seen. What does it look like? Taste like? What will you call it?
2. Plan out the perfect fall day for you and your family. What will you do in the morning? What about the afternoon? And at night?
3. Is fall your favorite season? Why or why not? If you love the fall, write a persuasive essay trying to convince someone else to love it as much as you do. If you dislike it, what would you change about the season to make it your favorite?
4. Oh no! Your friend accidentally lost their favorite scarf at a pumpkin patch. Write about the scarf’s journey finding its way back to your friend.
5. You pick up a fallen leaf with a secret message hiding underneath. Write about what it says and what happens next!

Halloween Journal Topics from Writable

If you’re looking for additional spooky and fun writing prompts to help your students get in the Halloween spirit, check out Writable. Writable has Halloween-themed journal topics and short stories with short-answer questions, a wonderful way to exercise both writing and reading comprehension skills. You can also create new ideas in seconds thanks to Writable’s AI-generating assignments feature, plus it can detect AI-generated copy from students.

Check out these ideas from Writable's generative AI prompt builder below:

1. Explain the tradition of trick-or-treating and how it has changed over the years.
2. What are some popular Halloween costumes, and why do people dress up?
3. Describe the significance of Jack-o’-lanterns in Halloween celebrations.
4. What are some traditional Halloween symbols and their meanings?
5. What is the origin of Halloween, and how has it evolved over time?

We hope you enjoy using these Halloween writing prompts in your classroom. Share with us your favorite Halloween writing ideas for students via email at shaped@hmhco.com or reach out on Instagram or Facebook. Happy Halloween!

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Want more writing ideas like our Halloween journal prompts? Try Writable to support your ELA curriculum, district benchmarks, and state standards with over 1,000 fully customizable writing assignments and rubrics for Grades 3–12 students.