Halloween Night In Ideas for People Who'd Rather Stay Home

Good Halloween night in ideas are simple: put the lamps on, choose a scary film or ghost story, run a colourful bath, enjoy a scent you like and finish with a tarot card if you fancy it. You needn't do all of them. Here's an evening you can follow in order, with plenty that costs nothing.

The clocks go back on the last Sunday in October, just before Halloween, so you have a long dark evening to work with. Staying home is a perfectly respectable plan. You get to choose the film, the snacks and the exact moment you've had enough of ghosts.

First, set the room

Low light does more for a Halloween night in than a roomful of decorations. Curtains first. Then turn off the big light and move a lamp beside the sofa. If you already have fairy lights, put them in a clear jar or along a shelf. Leave enough light to see your tea, your book and the route to the kitchen.

For candlelight, the Sinful Apple ritual candle has an apple-and-cinnamon scent. It comes with a printed ritual spell card, if setting an intention before lighting appeals to you; otherwise, it's a candle for a dark evening. Put it where you'll be sitting rather than scattering candles around every room.

Clear one small surface for the night's essentials: drink, snacks, remote and something to read. The Pumpkin Style Glass Candy Jar can hold wrapped sweets on the coffee table, though it's sold empty, so you'll have to supply the sweets. It's hand wash only and can go back to storing kitchen or bathroom bits afterwards. A bowl you already own works just as well.

If you want the whole room dressed for October, our Halloween home décor ideas go room by room. For one evening, a lamp and a cleared table are enough.

Then pick a scary film or a ghost story

The best choice is the one you'll enjoy finishing. A properly frightening film is fine if that's your thing; an old ghost story read aloud gives you the same excuse to keep the lamp close without committing to two hours of jump scares. Borrow a book from the library, revisit one on your shelf or pick a story you already have saved.

Make the decision before you sit down. Scrolling through films for longer than the film itself is a fairly modern Halloween tradition, but not one worth keeping. Put your phone out of reach, make a hot drink and set out the snacks. If you're spending the evening with someone else, each choose a story and read a few pages in turn. The person listening can keep the kettle going.

Don't feel obliged to watch something grim because it's Halloween. A spooky comedy, a mystery or a familiar film that looks good by lamplight counts. This is your night in.

Take the Halloween bath

A warm bath can be the break between the film and the quieter end of the evening. Put fresh clothes and a towel within reach before you run the water, then leave the phone outside the bathroom. No bath? Take a shower, put on clean pyjamas and come back to the sofa. The change of scene is the useful bit.

If you want colour in the tub, drop the Cats Eyes Halloween Bath Bomb into the water. Its cat's-eye design opens into a swirl of colour, with fruity notes of grape, raspberry, peach and apple over jasmine and vanilla. Prefer something darker? The Skull Halloween Bath Bomb is shaped like a skull and gives the water a burst of moody colour; its fragrance opens with cranberry and pink pepper, with rose and cocoa among the later notes.

One bath bomb is enough. Let it fizz in the water before you get in, and keep a cloth nearby for wiping away any colour left on the tub. If you don't fancy a scented bath, skip the bath bomb altogether. A book, warm water and a clean towel do the job without asking you to buy anything.

Tip: put your clothes where you can reach them without crossing a wet floor. A cosy evening loses some of its charm when you have to go looking for socks.

Choose one scent for the room

After the bath, come back to a room that smells the way you want it to. You don't need incense and a scented candle going together; one fragrance has more room to be noticed. If the apple-and-cinnamon candle is still your favourite, light it again while you're in the room. If you'd rather switch, open a window for a few minutes first.

The Vampire's Kiss Incense Sticks suit the name of the night, though the scent isn't specified, so choose them for the incense experience rather than a particular fragrance note. Light the tip, let it glow, blow out the flame and put the stick in a holder. Each stick burns for approximately 30 minutes.

For a free alternative, bring in something with a smell you already like: an orange peel in a bowl, a mug of tea or the last warm biscuits from the kitchen. Scent needn't announce itself from across the room.

Safety basics before the last part of the evening

Keep candles and incense on stable, heat-resistant surfaces, away from curtains and anything else flammable. Use a proper incense holder to catch ash, ventilate the room, and keep lit items out of reach of children and pets. Stay with a burning candle or incense stick, and extinguish it before you go for a bath or turn in. In the bathroom, mind the wet floor and check the tub for residue afterwards.

End with one card, or one question

Once the film is off and the mug is empty, the evening can end quietly. Shuffle a deck, draw one card and spend a minute looking at the artwork before reaching for an interpretation. You don't have to make a prediction or work out what the coming week holds. Ask what stood out tonight, or what you'd like to make time for next.

The Requiem Arcana tarot deck has 78 cards with skeletal artwork by Vera Petruk and comes with a guidebook explaining each card's meaning. The gothic pictures suit Halloween, while the guidebook gives you somewhere to start if tarot is new to you. If you're weighing up decks, our tarot versus oracle cards guide explains the difference.

No deck? Write one question on a scrap of paper and answer it in a sentence. Something as small as 'Which part of tonight would I do again?' will do. Fold the paper into your book when you're finished. There's no ceremony to get wrong.

The short version

Start with the lamp and a story, then add the bath, scent or card only if you feel like it. A Halloween night in works best when there's room to change your mind. If a colourful bath is the part you're looking forward to, browse our Halloween bath bombs and leave the rest of the evening gloriously unplanned.