“Life is more fun if you play games.” So said Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl. We couldn’t agree with him more—especially when it comes to Halloween! There’s a lot of spooky fun to be had, and an overwhelming amount of choices to keep kids entertained throughout the season. Just plan well, keep calm and let the games begin.
11. Spider Web Walking Game
Excellent for the little ones. Use tape to make a web on your floor for your little one to walk, and put prizes down at different locations for your kid to pick up.
10. Apple Bobbing
Another classic that’s perfect for 2018. Whether you float the apples in a tub of water or dangle them from strings tied to a tree branch or swing set, kids find the challenge of biting the apples without using their hands irresistible.
9. Vampire’s Bowl of Blood Race
Sit two players at a table with a bowl of red gelatin and a set of plastic vampire fangs in front of each of them. Have players put on their fangs, hold their hands behind their backs, and race to see who can be the first to gulp down their bowl of “blood.”
8. Pumpkin Bowling
Arrange a triangle of 10 tin cans or butternut squash. Players take turns gently rolling a medium sized pumpkin into the pins, with three chances to knock them all down.
7. Pumpkin Hunt
Just hide small real or plastic pumpkins with candy attached to them throughout the house or classroom that kids can find while doing other activities!
6. Mummy Race
In a completely timed contest, two teams wrap their racer completely in toilet paper (including binding their legs together) and sends them off hopping to a designated finish line. At the finish line, the team works to remove
5. Zombie Freeze
In the freeze dance game, players dance to music then freeze whenever someone stops the music. In Zombie Freeze, kids walk around like zombies while the music plays. When the music stops, instead of freezing, they have to lie down and play dead.
4. Halloween Jinx
Having a party? Make a list of Halloween words for your guests to avoid saying. Put the list on cards that you distribute to guests. When a guest hears another guest use one of the words on the list, they yell “Jinx!”—the offender gets their card taken away and they’re out of the game. The last person who hasn’t used one of the jinx words is the winner.
3. Witches’ Brew
Kids gather around a pot or something else representing a cauldron. The first player starts the game by saying, “I am a witch making my brew and into the cauldron I just threw frog’s eyes.” The second player continues by repeating the first player’s statement and adding her own ingredient at the end i.e. “…I just threw frog’s eyes and a wolf’s tooth.” The next player repeats the first and second players’ ingredients, and adds on a third ingredient. Play continues around the circle, and any player who forgets the list of ingredients or can’t come up with a new ingredient is out of the game. The last player standing wins.
2. Musical Ghosts
In this ghost-themed take off on musical chairs large white sheets scattered around the party space replace the chairs. There’s always one less sheet than there are players. Kids dance in the middle of the room while the music play, and when it stops, the kids must race to grab a sheet and put it over their heads like a ghost costume. The player left standing who isn’t a ghost is out, a sheet is removed from the game, the music starts and play continues until only one ghost is left wearing a sheet.
1. Candy Corn Catch
Use Halloween’s most contentious candy to test your skills in this hilarious game. Catch candy corn thrown by your partner into a plastic pumpkin you’re wearing around your waist.