Halloween is absolutely one of my favorite holidays. I don’t know if it’s the candy, the dress up or the chance to play… I simply adore Halloween. If you live in Maryland, you should drive by and check out the decorations that dress my home this great month of October.

As nurses, Halloween is a great holiday as well. It invites a chance to play, let loose and be silly for a change.

[Tweet “Here are the top ten ways nurses can get innovative with Halloween fun.”]

1. Play a spooky trick on your supervisor. Just for fun leave a scary spider or hairy mouse on their chair.
2. Trick or treat around the unit. If you can’t pass out candy, give out special treats to each patient such as a yo-yo or slinky.
3. Sing spooky songs. My mother was a nursery school teacher and so I know the ‘Spooky Walk’ song by heart.
4. Bring in holiday music and play it around the unit. Nothing gets people up and dancing better than Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’.
5. Dress in a costume. Oh boy. It is so fun to paint our faces, wear masks and pretend to be something we are not. Even if for just one day out of the year. I LOVE dressing up in scary outfits.
6. Bring in candy for your co-workers. Who doesn’t love food in nursing? I heard a fellow nurse say in a meeting the other day ‘Will work for food.’
7. Wear Halloween scrubs. How fun to wear orange and black or prints of pumpkins and ghosts!
8. Howl at the moon. For those of you night shift nurses,  you can drive into work gazing up at that big old moon. Give a loud ‘Howl!’ in the car on your way to work.
9. Make sure you’ve decorated around your nursing place of employment. This can happen all month, but be sure to have a pumpkin or two carved around the unit.
10. Have fun. The best way to enjoy any and all of the holidays is to play. Make Halloween (and nursing) fun by allowing your inner goblin to come out!

What would you add to this list? I’d love to hear some more spooky Halloween healthcare ideas!