Fun Halloween Games and Activities for Your Holiday Party

If you're having a Halloween party, you need to gave fun things for your guests to do. Here are some simple ideas that are fun and inexpensive ways to entertain at your Halloween bash.

Bobbing for apples is a traditional Halloween game. All you need is some sort of bucket or wash bin and some apples. Place the bin in a sturdy surface at about waist height, then fill it with water. Drop in your apples, and people can bob for the apples. If you'd like to do something a bit more adult, you can buy the tiny bottles of liquor and put them in the bin and have people bob for those. Try to use a variety of liquors.

Mini pumpkin carving can be fun for both kids and adults alike. Get a bunch of pumpkin carving kits at your local dollar store, and get a selection of small pumpkins and gourds from the grocery store. Let people carve whatever they like into the pumpkins and gourds. If you want to make it more of a game, you can set a time limit and judge the results for bragging rights or prizes.

Costume contests are a big tradition at Halloween parties. You can make it more fun and interesting for your guests by having multiple categories such as best, worst, most authentic, most unusual and so on. You can also encourage people to dress in the most unusual costumes they can come up with, and have a voting contest to see if people can figure out who or what each guest is supposed to be.

Halloween hangman is a fun game that's inexpensive to set up. All you need is some large craft paper or butcher paper, a thumb tack and a fat marker. Tack paper to a wall and have people write out puzzles on it. Instead of general categories, choose Halloween specific ones like horror movie characters, monster names, Halloween books, etc. You could also expand this to include Halloween charades and other themed games.

Guess that food can be a gross and fun game for your guests at Halloween. Get some plastic or wax-lined takeout boxes from your local craft or party store, being sure that they are opaque. Set up a table with several boxes, each containing some type of food. Guests must close their eyes, stick their hand in the box, and guess what the food is. Some good foods are cooked rice, pudding, salsa, cooked spaghetti, gelatin, or anything else that would be gross or unusual to stick your hand in. Be sure to cover the floor under the table to catch drips, and provide paper towels or easy sink access for cleanup.

Guess the ingredients is another fun party game. Make foods that use normal ingredients but look odd or gross. Kitty Litter Cake is a fun one, "roach puree" (walnut garlic dip), stuffed roaches (cream cheese filled dates), bat wings, tapeworm sandwich, etc. There are lots of gross recipes out there to choose from. Get your guests to try your dishes and see if they can figure out what each one is really made of. If you want to turn it into a contest, the person with the most right guesses gets a prize.