Games for Halloween Parties

What is a Halloween party without fun games to play? Games can make your party much more interesting and can help provide a lot of spooks or laughs. Here are a few games that kids and adults can play. You can even take these ideas and put your own twist on them, just be creative and have fun. Enjoy!

Pass The Pumpkins
Have kids sit in a circle and pass small pumpkins or gourds when the music is playing. When the music stops, the child without a pumpkin is out, then continue until there's a winner. Winner receives a prize.

Build A Scarecrow
Divide your back yard into two sections by yellow tape or use two rooms of the house. Before your party, get 2 sets of 6-10 items together that can be used to build a scarecrow. Examples would be a hat, corn stalks, jeans, and string. Now hide these items in order to make a scarecrow around each half (one side for each team). For small children you may want to play this game during the day, to make the game harder play it at night. When playing at night send out team member with a pumpkin and small flashlight, have one person from each team (starting at same time) go on a hunt to find one item. After all items are found, the team has to be creative and construct a scarecrow, using all of the items. The team that finishes their scarecrow first wins a prize.

Blair Witch Video
Great adult party game! Do you have friends with video cameras? That's all you need. Invite friends to create a scary or humorous 5 minute film in the style of Blair Witch, then play the tapes at your Halloween party. Funny ideas could be: A bathroom with no toilet paper or locking your keys in your car on the way to work. Just take any scenario and make it Blair Witch style, outside in the dark is best with a light on your face. This can make a hilarious party treat, your guests will love it!

The Spooky Walk
Cut out pumpkins, witches, ghosts, brooms, scarecrows, and other Halloween symbols. You'll need one item per child attending. If you run out of ideas, put 2 pumpkins or witches together. You can place the cut outs in a circle on the floor or on or around a table. You'll need some spooky music to play, and you will have to be able to turn the music on and off. Have your guests walk around in a circle stepping or standing beside or on the things you cut out. At random times, stop the music and everyone freezes by the item next to them. Then from a hat or jar draw out the name of one of the cut outs, like 2 pumpkins, then the person standing next to the 2 pumpkins would be out of the game. Continue playing the music until there is a winner. Winner wins a prize, baked goods are great for this game, but if you have children playing, candy would be good.

Halloween Question Game
Write words that go together on pieces of paper and place them in a cauldron. Then, have your guests pick one piece of paper and match it with others who share the same idea. They are then in the same group. For example, things like "silver bullet," full moon," and "howl" are written on pieces of paper and these would be considered "wolfman" ideas, so they are on the "wolfman" team. "Bat," "blood," "fangs" and "Transylvania" would be on the "Dracula" team. I have found that this really helps to mix up the team players. Adjust the difficulty based on the age of your guests, if really young, use different colored paper to group teams. Once the teams are established, ask each team a question. For example, if it's an adult part, ask them questions about a certain scary movie, like, "who starred in the movie Halloween," or "what lake did Jason drown in?" If they answer correctly, the question goes to the next team, if they do not, then the person who answered the question must drop from the group. The last team standing gets a prize. You should make it a good prize, depending on the number of people you have, the game could take a while. Remember to have a lot of questions ready.

Balloon Popping Contest
Divide your guests into two equal groups. About 25 yards away place two bags of inflated black and orange balloons or colors to match your theme. Have the balloons slightly over-inflated to make popping easier. At the sound of a ringing bell or whistle, the first two relay contestants, one from each team, run to the bag and remove one balloon. Each contestant must sit on the balloon until it pops. Once the balloon pops, the players run back to the starting line, and tag the next player in line. The first team to complete the course wins. Not a quiet game, but a guaranteed favorite!

Fortune Teller
Always a great Halloween must-have. If you have a friend who knows a thing or two about tarot cards or reading palms, this could be great. Even if you don't know anyone that can tell fortunes, do it yourself and make it humorous. This can be sure entertainment and whoever is the fortune teller can have lots of fun dressing up for the role!