Family Friendly Halloween Movies

I am a very insistent matriarch about family time. My children are still young, and I am trying to instill in them family values, and the importance of spending intentional time with each other. That way, when they have families of their own, their family is as happy as ours is. I mean, sure, we're still normal and have moments where we disagree with each other...but because we do spend time together as a family having fun, our bonds are strong.

So when our favorite months of the year come, we are prepared to spend a lot of family time together. October is one of our favorite months, collectively. Not only is Halloween the best holiday of them all, but it's the time when fall festivals happen. One of the busiest times of the year is around Halloween.

The corn mazes, the pumpkin patches, the festivals, the starting of our favorite savory food season... it's amazing. Why, even this weekend we will be taking a day trip to the mountains so we can see the changing of the leaves and bid farewell to the leaves until next year. But not all of our family time in the fall is spent outside playing in the leaves.

Sometimes, we just need a night in with some popcorn (caramel or regular...or both), some soda, and some great family movies. Here is our list of movies we traditionally take the time to watch every October as a family as we get into spooky season!

1. Nightmare Before Christmas

This movie is enjoyed any time of the year, but we make it a point to watch this every October, and of course, around Christmas. Jack and Sally are year-round decorations in this house, with all of us being avid collectors. I even have Long Live Pumpkin Queen novel which I read in less than 4 hours. We have Christmas ornaments, we have Pop It's of the characters. We're a bunch of nerds and NBC is a household staple for the holidays.

2. Hocus Pocus - 1 and 2

Last year when Hocus Pocus 2 came out, it was near this time of year and it was watched like 4 times by the time the month was out. HP 1 and 2 are MUSTS for a Halloween Family Moviethon. The Sanderson sisters graced my childhood every October, and now my girls enjoy it with me as we giggle and dance to the crazy witchy tunes of this classic and its sequel. Again, with the nerdism, I even have a color-changing Hocus Pocus coffee cup (and it's HUGE so it holds just the perfect amount of coffee).

3 and 4. Frankinweenie and Corpse Bride

Tim Burton is one of my favorite producers, and he is a VIP member of my Halloween favorites for the silver screen. Corpse Bride is no exception. Of course, if I love NBC, then Corpse Bride is a no-brainer. The theories that that the Tim Burton movies Frankinweenie, Corpse Bride, and Nightmare Before Christmas have the same dog and male character for all three is a fun little caveat, to help create an order if you're having a Tim Burton movieathon.

5. Casper The Friendly Ghost

This one is an obvious favorite. I know, a lot of my movies are from the 90's but hey, these were the amazing movies that graced my childhood and filled it with joy. I remember being 5-years-old and wishing I had a ghost best friend.

6. Every one of the Halloween Town movies.

Listen. I don't care who you are, or how corny these movies are. These are some of the best family Halloween movies to watch with your kids. As long as your kids aren't old enough to be 'too cool' for early 90's special effects.

7. Beetle Juice

This one is on my list to watch this month. I haven't watched this movie in years, and it's just good to relive the chaos that is the Beetle Juice. Again, I know there are a lot of Tim Burton movies on my family list, but really no one does Halloween better than TB.

8. Practical Magic

Sandra Bullock is my girl, and one of my absolute favorite movies of all time is Practical Magic. It's one of my comfort movies. But I love watching this movie around Halloween since it's themed around Halloween in the setting of the movie. Nothing makes a cool October night feel just the perfect amount of Halloween than a witch ritual that forces the dead to stay dead.

9. The Addams Family

While the Addams Family movies are not specifically Halloween, they very much have a spook-goth vibe that goes with Halloween. Wednesday of course, being the princess of darkness and solemn-faced grouchiness. I am also a fan of the series Wednesday on Netflix.

10. The Little Vampire

Halloween isn't Halloween without a little blood-sucking action, and The Little Vampire is the perfect cure for that. Not only is there no actual blood-sucking in this vampire movie, so it's great for kids, it is silly, and fun, and has a great message about how people (and creatures of the night) can get along and coexist.

11. Coraline

Coraline isn't exactly based around the holiday of Halloween, but it is super spooky and a little creepy for a kid's movie. It's great for kids who are a little older, and who won't have nightmares from the spooky themes of this movie.

Bonus:

For the after-hours when the grown-ups can watch whatever they want, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a great traditional Halloween watch, along with The Craft, and Death Becomes Her.

My links are affiliate links, so I may earn a commission on any purchases after clicking the links! Thank you in advance for helping me provide for my family!

Time is precious, so thank you for giving my article some of yours to read. I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to subscribe!