Gross, Inexpensive Halloween Game

Kids today still enjoy a gross game. Halloween is a perfect time to pull out a few icky tricks to gross out party guests. Darkness and imagination will easily convince a party guest that he is plunging his hand into a treasure retrieved from an eye bank, a brain research center or the county sewer department.

I haven't taken part in this game in 30 years, yet I remember the script and the gross feeling as I reached into the buckets and grabbed something as instructed. A few buckets, some cold water and a reasonably-priced trip to the grocery store are all that is necessary to create a gross Halloween party game that kids will remember and talk about for quite some time.

Supplies
Three buckets
Cold water
One bunch of grapes
2 pounds spaghetti
10-12 bananas
Blindfold

Game Preparation
Adding to the creepiness factor of this gross Halloween game is the location. At the party I attended, the game was set up in a dark shed outside. For an indoor party, a porch, spare bathroom or laundry room would be a suitable location. Keep the area dimly lit. Each party guest will enter the area alone, wearing a blindfold, with the narrator. The squeals that the other party guests can hear will guarantee anticipation.

To prepare the food, boil the spaghetti according to package directions. Drain in a colander and rinse with cool water. Peel the grapes. Peel the bananas. Place the spaghetti, grapes and bananas into separate buckets, and then fill the buckets at least two-thirds full with cold water.

Game Play and Script
The narrator will instruct the player that he is to put his hand into a bucket and pull out the item he finds. For the peeled grape bucket, the narrator should explain that a visit to the eye bank yielded the bucket's contents. The spaghetti represents brains found at the research hospital's brain lab. A cold, peeled banana in a bucket of cold water feels like only one thing - something that is usually left behind in the toilet and flushed to the sewer department.

I was 15 years old when I played this game as part of a Halloween-themed initiation party for a school club. I was grossed out then and I can still imagine the feeling all these years later