Halloween Party Ideas for Children: Games, Activities and Food

Halloween is a favorite time of year for little ones. Trick-or-treating and dressing up like your favorite superhero is only half the fun. Halloween parties, complete with costume contests, challenging games and activities, and of course, festive foods that just scream "Halloween" are also a great part of being a kid during this fun time of year.

Depending on the age of the children you plan to invite, keep activities fun, and not too scary. Nothing can ruin a great time like a child who's crying at the top of his or her lungs, begging to go home, because something scared them a little too much. Instead of going for the ghoulish and gruesome, opt for activities that get children involved in the fun, without giving them nightmares later.

Halloween party games:

- Bobbing for apples is a great game to play with kids of all ages. All you need is a small tub with water and enough apples for every child to catch one of his/her own.

- The apple on a string game is sure to get kids laughing and having a great time. Simply tie strings around the stems of apples, and tape them to the ceiling at varying heights. Children are encouraged to try to take a bite out of their apple, without using their hands.

- Build a scarecrow contests are fun to do out of doors, if the weather is good. Separate children into 2 or 3 teams. Give each team a set of old clothes, and a rake or two. Their mission is to be the first group to build their scarecrow, using leaves to stuff the set of clothes you provided. It's a race to see who will finish first. It's also a great team building activity, which encourages children to work together to get a job done.

- Another fun idea is a costume relay race. Break children into 2 or 3 teams. Select one child from each team to be the costume wearer. This child will stand at a distance from the others, who will line up on a starting line. Give each child on the starting line a garment for his or her costume wearer to put on. On the count of three, children will race to the costume wearer, give him or her the piece of the costume they are carrying, then race back and tag the next person in their teams line. When the costume wearer is fully dressed, both he/she and the last person to give him or her a piece of the costume run back to their team first, to be declared the winners.

Other Activities

- Costume contests are always a hit at Halloween parties. Let children show off their best Halloween attire, by having a little parade, complete with audience and judges. It's always best to make sure that every child gets at least some sort of recognition, or award. Use categories like "Coolest costume" "Sparkliest costume" "Scariest costume" "Most Original Costume" and any others you can think of.

- Hayrides are always a lot of fun at Halloween parties, if you can manage them. Even a trailer hooked to the back of a rider mower can make a great hay-ride for kids.

Fun Halloween Foods

Use Halloween cookie cutters to cut out bread shapes for sandwiches. For ghosts frost the outside of the "sandwich" with a bit of cream cheese, and use strawberry jelly for filling. For witches use a bit of green food coloring to tint the cream cheese, then place shredded wheat cereal around the edges of the face, for hair, and use black grapes cut in half for the hat.

Freeze gumball "eyeballs" into kids ice cubes, for fun Halloween party drinks.

Another great trick with ice is to fill a plastic glove with water colored green with food coloring. Cut away the glove and float your "witch's hand" in a bowl of fruity flavored punch.

Scarecrow cupcakes are easy and fun, using shredded wheat to resemble the "straw". Use gel frostings to decorate eyes, and mouth. Use a candy corn for the nose.

You can also make a chocolate cake graveyard. Simply stand graham crackers on end, to resemble tombstones. Frost the graham crackers and write on them with colored frosting gel. Use gummies, or decorated Halloween shaped cookies to add witches, ghosts and other Halloween favorites to the "haunted cemetery" cake.