Spooktacular Halloween Games for Parties with Children

Times have changed and more families are staying indoors on Halloween night. There are events at churches, malls and plenty of house parties. Consider these events for your children as they are safe and keep youngsters off the dark streets during Halloween. I truly enjoy the house parties where I can also dress up and enjoy the festivities with my children and grandchildren. Games have always been part of party entertainment, so I would like to share a few of my favorites.

Getting to know you

This Halloween game is perfect as an icebreaker and a way to meet each other. Begin by cutting out five orange witch hats, five white ghosts and five black cats from construction paper. On each of the five hats write a letter to spell "WITCH" and do the same for GHOST and BLACK. Hide these shapes in the party room before your guests arrive. Prepare name tags for your attendees using equal numbers of hat, ghost and cat shapes. Form three teams where the witches search for the hats, ghosts for ghost and cats search for the black cat shapes. The first team to find all five shapes wins. This game is good for 15 people. For a party of 21, think of using the words "monster, pumpkin and costume."

Who am I?

This is a fun game and also an icebreaker where kids and adults meet each other. For this game you will need index cards and safety pins. Write the names of characters on the index cards. Make sure the characters are ones that the kids are familiar with. They could be popular movie, story, cartoon and Halloween characters. Think about Frankenstein, The Mummy, Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and such. Pin one on the back of each guest. Then walk around and tap a person. Give them a clue or ask questions to see if that person can guess which character they are.

Bat cave toss game

Bats are sure to be out on Halloween night and looking to find their caves. This game requires three cardboard box containers. Spray paint these black. Have various sizes and distances from a tape line where the players stand. Make three bats from black felt fabric, sew them and fill with dried beans. Store bought bean bags work well too. Players try to toss the bats into the caves and receive points or prizes for their accomplishments. You may also consider tossing pumpkins into the pumpkin patch or monsters into the haunted castles or whatever is appropriate to your Halloween party theme.

Eyeball relay race

Prior to the party, make eyeballs from Ping-pong balls. Use permanent markers to make the eye color, pupils and bloodshot eye veins on each ball. You will need about five balls per team. To play the game, set a chair across the room from each team. Have the first player cup her hands and fill them with the eyeballs. She then needs to race over to the chair and sit down. She immediately gets up and races back to the team without dropping any of the eyeballs. If any fall, she must retrieve them before handing them over to the next player. The first team who finishes the entire course wins the game.

Halloween flashlight dancing

Cut circles from orange construction paper to cover the end of flashlights. Make jack-o-lantern faces on each circle and cut out the facial pieces. Tape these onto the ends of each flashlight. Give one to each child, dim the lights and let them dance around shining their jack-o-lantern faces on the ceiling and walls. Adding fun Halloween music makes the dancing even more entertaining.

Sources:

Personal experience

Eyeball Relay Race adapted from Family Fun Parties; Deanna F. Cook [Disney Enterprises Inc. 1999]

More from this contributor:

Fun Halloween Crafts for Children

Easy Halloween Costume Ideas for Little Kids

5 Halloween Songs for Preschoolers