Halloween
Halloween games for kids, by age
Fourteen games for a kids' Halloween party, sorted by who's coming. Most of them need a roll of toilet paper, a bag of balloons or nothing at all. Every one has been run in our living room.
As an Amazon Associate, How Kids Play earns from qualifying purchases. Nobody pays to be on this page, and most of these games don't need anything you'd buy.
For the littlest ones, 2 to 4
- 1Pumpkin bowlingLine up six empty water bottles, hand them a small pumpkin, and let them roll it. Draw faces on the bottles with a marker if you want ghosts.A small pumpkin and six bottles
- 2Spider web walkStretch yarn across a hallway at different heights. They climb over and under without touching it. Nobody is out, they just go again.A ball of yarnFind one
- 3Monster stompBlow up black and orange balloons, scatter them on the floor, and yell go. Stomp them all. That's the whole game and it's the one they'll ask for twice.A bag of balloonsFind one
- 4Feed the pumpkinCut a mouth in a cardboard box, draw a jack-o-lantern face around it, and let them throw bean bags in from a line of tape.A box and some bean bagsFind one
For the middle crowd, 5 to 8
- 1Mummy wrapTwo teams, one roll of toilet paper each, one kid gets wrapped. Best mummy in three minutes wins. Take a photo before they tear out of it.Toilet paper, one roll per team
- 2Donut on a stringHang donuts from a broomstick with string. Hands behind your back. First one finished wins, and everyone gets sticky.Donuts and string
- 3Flashlight ghost huntCut ten paper ghosts, hide them around the house, turn the lights off, and hand out flashlights. Whoever finds the most wins.Paper and flashlightsFind one
- 4Pass the pumpkinMusical chairs with a small pumpkin. Music on, pass it around the circle. Music off, whoever's holding it does a silly monster dance.A small pumpkin and music
- 5Halloween bingoPictures instead of words, so the little ones play right along with the big kids. Call out the squares while the pizza's in the oven.Printed bingo cards
For the big kids, 9 and up
- 1Guess the gutsBowls of cold spaghetti, peeled grapes and pumpkin insides under a towel. Reach in, no looking, write down your guess.Bowls and a blindfold
- 2Candy corn relayMove candy corn from one bowl to another using only a straw. First team to clear the bowl wins. Harder than it sounds.Candy corn and straws
- 3Costume charadesEveryone writes a costume on a slip of paper. Draw one, act it out, no words. Zombie and vampire go fast. Cowboy takes a while.Paper and a bowl
- 4Wrap a scareOne kid steps out. The others pick a word like witch or bat. The kid comes back and asks yes-or-no questions until they get it.Nothing
Running the party
- Run three games, not eight.A kids' party is 90 minutes and half of it is food and costumes. Pick one for arrival, one loud one in the middle, and one quiet one at the end.
- Have a prize for everyone.Not one winner. A pencil or a sticker per kid, handed out at the same time, and nobody cries.
- Set the loud one before the sugar.Mummy wrap and monster stomp go better before the candy bowl comes out, not after.
- Put one game outside.Even in October. Fifteen minutes of yard time resets the whole room.
- Let the shy kid be the judge.There's always one who doesn't want to play. Give them the stopwatch or the score sheet and they're in without being in.
Mixed ages in one room
The trick with a party that has a 3 year old and a 9 year old in it is picking games where being older doesn't help much. Pumpkin bowling, pass the pumpkin, the flashlight ghost hunt and bingo all work that way: the little ones win their share, so nobody quits. Save mummy wrap and the candy corn relay for when the big kids are on a team with a small one.
If it rains
Three of these take a hallway and nothing else: the spider web walk, the flashlight ghost hunt and costume charades. Between them that's an hour indoors, which is usually all you need.
More for October
