Planning a fun and spooky monster mash for the littles? Here are 21 simple and easy Halloween party games for kids!
Halloween is such a festive and fun time for the kiddos. There are so many exciting traditions besides just trick-or-treating such as corn mazes, apple picking, creative Halloween costumes, and more. What better way to enjoy all these silly and spooky traditions then to throw a Halloween party for the kids.
To make it simple, I’ve listed 21 Halloween games and activities for all ages that are sure to be a hit! From traditional activities such as bobbing for apples and carving pumpkins to new and different games like pumpkin relay races and spider web obstacle courses. Choose a handful from the list and your guests will surely have a wicked good time!
21 Halloween Party Games For Kids
1. Bobbing For Apples
Bobbing for apples is a classic Halloween party game! It is so much fun and quite hilarious to watch. Fill a large bucket with room temperature water and add a dozen or so apples. Each participant gets two minutes on the clock to see how many apples they can grab with their teeth. And remember no hands! Whoever grabs the most apples or is the quickest to grab just one is the winner! WARNING this game will get you pretty wet, so play with caution. If you want a similar but less wet game see below!
2. Bobbing for Donuts
Similar to bobbing for apples, this game is just as fun but a little less messy. To set up the game, hang donuts from a tree branch using ribbon or string. Make sure to hang the donuts low enough for your kids to reach. The goal is to be the first person to eat an entire donut without using any hands. You can also use mini donuts if you want to cut down on the sugar. This game is sure to bring lots of excitement and giggles.
3. Painting Pumpkins
Painting pumpkins is an easy craft for a children’s Halloween Party. All you will need is a pumpkin for each child and a handful of acrylic paints and paintbrushes. Look for sugar pumpkins at your local grocery store. They are smaller than traditional pumpkins, making them easier to take home. Be sure to lay out a large tarp to catch the excess paint and make some DIY art smocks from trash bags to protect everyone’s clothes. I would recommend doing this activity at the beginning of the party so that the pumpkins have plenty of time to dry before going home.
4. Eyeball Dig
This is an exciting game that will surely give everyone the heebie-jeebies. Fill a large bucket with at least 2 pounds of cooled spaghetti. In the spaghetti hide twelve or more eyeballs. Taking turns, have each blindfolded participant dig to find as many eyeballs as they can in one minute. Whoever finds the most eyeballs wins! This tutorial has all the details and more.
5. Decorate Halloween Cookies
Every holiday party needs some festive cut-out sugar cookies. Make your sugar cookies ahead of time using your favorite recipe and these Halloween cookie cutters. When the kids arrive let them decorate the cookies using royal icing and sprinkles. Don’t forget to send them home with the plate of cookies they decorated.
6. Halloween Piñata
Piñatas are always a favorite party game no matter what age. Your local party store will most likely have a festive Halloween-themed piñata. Stuff it full with candy and treats. If you want to make it more challenging, blindfold the kids as they go up to swing.
7. Halloween Freeze Dance
Freeze dance is the best game to get that energy out and blast your favorite Halloween tunes. Think monster mash, ghostbusters, I put a spell on you, and more. Spotify has some great Halloween music playlists with all the best Halloween music.
8. Pin the spider on the Web
Same rules as the traditional pin the tail on the donkey game but make it spooky. All you need is a poster board, sharpie, cut out spider, and blindfold. On your poster board draw a spider web. Have the kids go up one by one while blindfolded to pin the spider in the middle of the web. Whoever gets the closest to the middle wins!
9. Halloween Slime
Gooey, oozey, creepy…. This spooky Halloween slime recipe is so fun for the kids to make and play with. A bit of an educational science experiment too! It only requires a few ingredients and is easy to clean up and take home to play with later on.
10. Spider Web RUn
Create a spider web run through your hallway using black crepe paper. Hang the crepe paper from wall to wall making it an obstacle course. See if everyone can make it through to the other side without touching or tearing apart the web. Hang some spiders for added spookiness.
11. Toilet Paper Mummy relay
Divide the kids into teams of three to four. Pick one person from each team to be the mummy and give everyone else a roll of toilet paper. Make sure the toilet paper is of decent quality or else it will tear too easily. On the count of three, everyone with a roll of toilet paper will try to wrap their mummy as quickly as possible. The first team to wrap their mummy completely wins.
12. Ghost In The Graveyard
This game brings me back to my childhood. It was a game I played all the time with friends in the neighborhood. It is a great game if you want to send the kids outside to expend some energy and is especially fun at night. Here are the rules: The object of the game is to find the ghost – a player who is hiding. The player who finds the ghost’s hiding spot, yells “Ghost in the Graveyard” to notify the other players. The player who finds the ghost is safe, but all the other players must run back to base. The ghost tries to tag someone before they do. The player they tag then becomes the ghost for the next round.
13. Candy Corn Jar
Super simple game… Fill a large jar with candy corn. Have everyone guess how many pieces of candy corn are in the jar. Whoever is the closest wins!
14. Hot Pumpkin
Instead of hot potato, it’s hot pumpkin. Find a mini pumpkin, one that can easily be passed around. Have everyone sit in a circle and pass the pumpkin to their right. When the music stops whoever is caught holding the pumpkin is eliminated. Keep playing until there is only one person left. They are the winner!
15. Pumpkin Run Relay
Another game to get the energy out! Split the group into two teams. Relay style, each member of the team must walk to a designated spot and back to their team while balancing a mini pumpkin on their head. If the pumpkin falls off their head they have to start over from the beginning. The team that gets everyone over the finish line first wins.
16. Dirt Pudding Cups![Halloween Party Foods](https://bynataliechristina.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Halloween-Party-Foods.png)
This easy-to-make dessert recipe is always a hit amongst the little ones. You can prep the layers beforehand so the kids can easily assemble them. Let them chill in the fridge and bring them out during movie time. Here is the recipe!
17. HalloweeN Popcorn Hands
Kids love making these Skeleton hands. It is a fun craft that is edible too. All you need are some disposable gloves, popcorn, candy corn, and ribbon. Drop a candy corn in each finger of the glove. Then fill with popcorn. Tie the bottom of the glove together with ribbon and voila a spooky skeleton hand. Find accessories like Halloween rings to place on the fingers for extra pizzazz.
18. Flashlight Tag
Another fun game to play outside but not till dark. Same rules as hide and seek but the seeker carries a flashlight to help them find everyone in the dark. If the seeker spots you with the flashlight you are out.
19. Face Paint
Get everyone into character with some face paint. Come up with a few easy designs and let them pick which design they want. Here are some really neat and easy-to-use face paint crayons.
20. Carving Pumpkins
If you are planning a Halloween party for the older kids, carving pumpkins is a must. Here are 43 Free Pumpkin Stencils to make your best jack-o’-lanterns. Amazon makes easy-to-use pumpkin carving kits that don’t involve any knives, making it a much safer activity.
21. Watch a Halloween Movie
As the party is coming to end, put on a classic Halloween movie. It is a great way to entertain the kids as people start to leave. Also, a good way to calm everyone down before heading home. Some of my favorite Halloween-themed movies are:
- Monster’s Inc
- It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
- Hocus Pocus
- Casper The Friendly Ghost
- Haunted Mansion
- Halloweentown
I hope you found some Halloween party game inspiration from this post. Don’t forget to have some yummy Halloween-themed food, play some spooky music, and have some prizes on hand, and you will be the ghostess with the mostess! Happy Halloween!
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