Halloween Boo Bag: The Old Bean Bag Toss Game Gets a New Twist

Whether you are organizing a Halloween carnival for a community group, or putting together a Halloween get together for neighborhood children, no Halloween party is complete without a Halloween boo bag toss! A Halloween boo bag toss is a new twist on a favorite old game - the bean bag toss. Children have always enjoyed the bean bag toss game, and with a few tips, you can quickly and easily create your own unique boo bag toss game.

Creating the boo bags (equivalent of bean bags) is cheap and easy. All you need is a few socks, Ziploc bags and rice, ribbons and paint pens to decorate. I would recommend buying a new bag of socks at Wal-Mart for this game. Stuff the mini Ziploc bags with rice and seal. Push the Ziploc bags with rice in them into the toe area of the socks. Next, cut pieces of Halloween ribbon and tie around the socks, just under the bags of rice. At this point, the hard part of your boo bag is done!

When I make boo bags, I like to cut a fringe starting just below the ribbon to the top of the sock. If you chose, you might want to use beaded ribbon for an added zest. To complete your boo bags, use the paint pens to bring your ghosts to life! Start with a black paint pen, and give the boo bag eyes, a nose and a mouth. At this point, your boo bag is complete; however, you can feel free to let you creative juices flow by decorating them in true Halloween style. For example, one year I actually used black socks and orange ribbons. I put the eyes, nose and mouth on each boo bag with a yellow paint pen. Then, I used yellow, orange and white paint pens to decorate the boo bags with candy corn.

Now that the boo bags are finished, you need to decide how to use them - what games would you like to play with them? Here are a few ideas that I have tried in the past that have proven to be a big hit with the children. Decorate brown paper bags using whatever you like - ribbon, glitter, paint, markers, fabric, stickers, etc. Make each bag worth a certain number of points (The closest positioned bag would be worth 50 and the furthest worth 100). Have the children toss the boo bags into the paper bags and keep track of the points. Or, using cardboard boxes, stack them however you like to create a haunted house. Cover the boxes with construction paper or fabric and decorate. Make "windows" in the haunted house and have participants toss the boo bags into the windows for points. Make sure to leave the back fairly open to air so that it will be easy to retrieve the boo bags.

Here is another game you could play with your boo bags. Decorate the sidewalk outside by using Halloween colored chalk. Put lines 1 foot apart and label with a points value. Let each child toss a few bags and see who can get the most points. Another game idea is to spread boxes of candy throughout the area. Let each child throw the boo bags towards the boxes. Then, let the child chose a piece of candy from whatever box his or her boo bag lands in. I like to put the box with the best treats furthest away to challenge the children.

Now you can take these ideas and make your own boo bags at home to start a new Halloween tradition with your family.