It's all fun and games for Halloween at Home or with your Pod, Cohort, or close friends. These are some of our favorite games to keep busy, have fun, and find connection.
Halloween Corners Game
Supplies: Halloween Pictures, music and a room / space to place images on the wall/corners
Halloween Corners Game Prep
1. Get at least 4 Halloween images / pictures
2. Tape one image to different corners or areas of the room.
3. Have container and place the name of each Halloween image on a piece of paper and drop into the container.
4. Have music and a way to turn it on and off during game play.
How to Play Halloween Corners
1. Turn on the music and have the kids walk in a circle or randomly walk around the room.
2. Then stop the music. When the music stops, each child selects a corner and goes and stand by that Halloween image.
3. Once everyone has selected a corner, the Game Host randomly pulls a piece of paper that has the corners images/names on them from a bowl and states that image name.
4. All player who choose that Halloween corner are now out of the game!
5. Start the music back up and continue to play until there is one person left and they win a prize.
Halloween Corner Game Tips
1. As the player number dwindles, start pulling corner images, so they have fewer choices. It keeps the game moving and works well when you get less than 6 players.
2. Make sure that when you are under 4 players that they don’t all choose the same corner. If they do, just start the music and make them select again.
3. This is a great all play game that anyone can play whether 3, 23 or 73! Families often enjoy playing as a group.
4. Halloween Corners can be played several times and most kids will ask to play it again.
Candy Corn Catch
Supplies: Candy corn, plastic pumpkins, string or belt
Candy Corn Catch Prep & Game Play
Divide guests into groups of 3 teams, 4-5 per team or if couples into pairs. Then announce that you are going to play Candy Corn Catch where team members will toss candy corns into the pumpkin that will be tied around a team member’s waist.
To make things fair give each team member the same amount of candy corn, so if some people choose to eat it rather throw it, they will have a choice. Suggest 10 per person.
Now select a team member to wear the pumpkin (these should be the ones for trick or treating so there is a hole on top) and tie the plastic pumpkin around one team member’s waist. Now establish a throw line for those with the candy and place the pumpkin wearing teammate 5, 7 or 10 feet away.
Once everyone is set let the tossing begin. The kids and adults can throw candy corn all at one time or one at a time. The person wearing the pumpkin can move around to try to catch the candy corn as it is thrown. Once everyone has thrown the candy corn, take the pumpkin and count how many went in. Also have the kids pick up any that is on the floor or ground and through it away.
Switch who has the pumpkin around their waist and play another round of Candy Corn Toss. Add up how many go in each round and then total the amounts after everyone has had a turn. Add up the number of candy corn that made it in the pumpkin from all the rounds and the team with the highest number Wins.
Easy to Adapt for Small Groups Too!
Have a small group of kids or just two or three?
For two or three kids, the adult wears the pumpkin and each child takes turns tossing the candy corn. After each child takes a turn, count the candy corn and highest total wins. Keep score or just enjoy playing.
For groups of 4 – 8 kids, just divide them into team of two and play two or four rounds. At the end of each turn, tally the candy corn total and the team with the most points after all the rounds are completed wins.
Candy Corn Catch Relay Version
1. Form 2-3 teams and set candy corn toss line and have one player on each team wear the pumpkin.
2. The first player on the team is given 3 candy corn and tries to get it in the pumpkin.
As soon as one of the three candy corn tosses goes in the pumpkin, the next person gets their turn and 3 candy corn. However if none of the three candy corn go in the pumpkin, then that person goes to the end of the teams line.
3. Play until all members of a team successfully toss the candy corn into the pumpkin. That team wins.
How to Play Halloween Jinx
As your guests arrive at the party hand them a card or piece of paper with a list of words on them. These words need to be the same for each guest. These are the forbidden, or jinx, words of the night.
When a guest hears another guest use one of the words on the list, they'll need to yell "Jinx!" The person who said one of the forbidden words 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. A little prize or simply bragging rights is their reward for being able to keep their mouth shut.
Halloween Jinx Word Ideas
It works best if your list contains 3-5 jinx words. Too many words will be tough to remember and too few words won't be challenging enough.
You'll also want to pick words that aren't very common but may come up several times during the party.
Here are some jinx words ideas but feel free to come up with your own:
| •Halloween | •October | •Ghost | •Pumpkin |
| •Costume | •Candy | •Mask | •Scary |
| •Spooky | •Dark | •Midnight | •Creepy |
| •Boo | •Blood | •Ghost | •Shadow |
| •Night |
Halloween Jinx Game Variations
Here are some variations of the Halloween Jinx game to mix things up a little bit and make them work for your party.
•Instead of handing out individual cards, you can post the list somewhere. Just make sure that all the guests are aware of the words.
•You can make the game tougher by sticking a label to each guest's back with their own individual forbidden word. When a guest hears another guest using the word on their back, they can take off the label
A fun Halloween party game icebreaker that will have your guests trying to make their best guess.
You can choose to have the winner be the one who guesses the closest, or who guesses to closest without going over.
Halloween Game: Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin
Give kids something to aim for with this holiday-themed activity
Place bare pumpkin cut-outs around the house or yard and have kids try their luck at pinning the stems on.
Skill level: Beginner
Materials:
Tracing paper
Pencil
Masking tape
Medium-weight cardboard
Craft knife
Cutting board
1-inch flat paintbrush
Orange acrylic paint
9x12- inch piece of green felt
Scissors
Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
15-inch length of medium-weight wire
Green pushpin or upholstery tack
Several yards of 1-inch wide green ribbon
Directions:
1. Enlarge pumpkin and leaf pattern (see How to Enlarge Patterns). Trace patterns; tape pumpkin pattern onto cardboard and place on cutting board.
2. Using craft knife, cut out pumpkin. Paint orange; let dry.
3. Cut one stem base from green felt; glue to top of pumpkin.
4. Cut several 1-inch-wide strips of felt. Apply glue to one end of one felt strip; starting at one end of wire, wrap felt around wire to cover, adding more glue every inch or two. Join additional strips as needed to complete stem.
5. Cut three leaf shapes from felt; glue ends of leaves along stem.
6. Attach pushpin to one end of stem.
7. Glue center of ribbon onto back of pumpkin; wrap and tie ribbon around tree at children's eye level.
8. Play like Pin the Tail on the Donkey: Child tries to pin stem at top of pumpkin.
Scarecrow Relay Races
There are two versions of this game. The first, Stuff A Scarecrow, is fun for a mixed age group of kids both young and old. The other game, Be A Scarecrow, is better for children at least five or older, who can easily dress themselves. Both games get kind of messy so you might want to play them outside.
Stuff A Scarecrow
You will need:
2 scarecrow costumes: bib overalls or pair of jeans with a rope belt, flannel shirt, straw hat, burlap sack for the head with facial features drawn on with a marker
Bale of straw – loosened
5 pieces of twine, yarn, or rope each at least 1 foot long
Directions:
Divide the players into two teams. Each team is given all of the supplies to build a scarecrow. Then the teams race to see who can stuff the scarecrow first. Use the twine to tie the wrists of the shirt, legs of the pants and around the burlap sack for the head. The first team to complete their scarecrow wins the race.
Be A Scarecrow
You will need:
2 scarecrow costumes: bib overalls or pair of jeans , flannel shirt, straw hat
A bowl full of straw
Directions:
Divide the players into two teams and line them up. The first player puts on the scarecrow costume. Then stuffs hay inside their shirt and under the hat. Then that person goes to the end of the line and begins undressing. As each item of clothing is removed it is passed up the line to the person now standing in front. As they receive each item they put it on. Once they are completely dressed and have stuffed some hay in their costume. They then run to the end of the line and begin undressing. The first team to have everyone become a scarecrow wins the race.
Halloween Mystery Box Game
The Halloween mystery box game is a popular Halloween party game that will have players reaching into dark boxes to feel items like eyeballs, bones, guts, and fingers. The trick to this game is that inside the boxes are actually everyday items that the players will need to try to guess the identity of.
This game is also known as Halloween feely box, Halloween touchy feely box, Halloween sensory box, and Halloween feel box.
Creating Your Halloween Mystery Box
Your first step in creating your Halloween feel box is to find a container to put each gross item in. Here are some ideas of items you probably all ready have laying around:
You'll want to cut a hole in each box big enough for a hand to reach into but small enough that you can't see the contents of the box.
You can make your Halloween feel box extra spooky by painting them black, putting duct tape over them, covering them with a sheet, or draping fake spider webs over them. You can even go as far as putting the boxes together to make it look like a coffin.
Halloween Mystery Box Ideas
In each Halloween mystery box, you'll want to add a spooky or gross item. The person who puts their hand into the box should think that they are feeling something really disgusting, while actually, it's just an everyday item from your kitchen.
Here are some ideas of what you can put into your Halloween feel boxes:
•Dried apricots - ears
•Peeled grapes - eyeballs
•Fuzzy pipe cleaners - spider legs
•Baby carrots - toes
•Steamed cauliflower - brains
•Popcorn kernels - teeth
•Candy corn - vampire teeth
•Peeled tomato - heart
•Cooked noodles - guts
•Dried pasta - bones
•Pudding - mud
•Wet tortilla - skin
•Potato chips - scabs
•Canned peaches - liver
•Cheese sticks - fingers
•Raisins - warts
•Corn husk silk - hair
•Overcooked rice - maggots
•Canned pear halves - stomach
•Peanut butter - ear wax
•Pudding with peas - vomit
•Licorice vines - rat tails
•Slivered almonds - fingernails
•End of a pickle - nose
•Sliced melon - tongue
Let your imagination run wild when filling up the boxes. Remember that you can add ketchup, cooking oil, or water to these items to make them even grosser. Smell has a great effect as well, so consider adding fish, onions, cheese, sauerkraut, and other foul-smelling foods.
You can add dry items directly to the box but you may want to line the boxes that are going to hold wet items with a plastic garbage bag so there aren't any leaks.
Setting Up Your Halloween Mystery Box Game
After you've filled up your boxes it's time to set up the actual Halloween feel box game. Here are some free printables to help you make it even creepier.
•Printable banner for your table
•Printable Halloween sign
•Vintage Halloween images
•Playing the Halloween Mystery Box Game
•The objective of the Halloween feel box game is to guess the actual items inside of the boxes. Have each player feel the contents of the box and then write down on a piece of paper what they think the actual item inside the box is.
•The person who guesses the contents of the most feel boxes is the winner. You can give a small prize to the winner or simply let them have bragging rights for the night.
•Since the best part of the Halloween feel boxes is the look on someone's face when they stick their hand inside, you can really make it more of an experience than a game if you like Set your boxes up on a table and let people stick their hands in at their leisure.
•Don't forget to have some paper towels handy for clean up!
Monster mash freeze dance
Get the Halloween party started right with the Monster mash freeze dance! Start the music and let the laughter loose as your kids and their friends dance their monster best. This is a fun activity to get any party rocking.
What you need
•CD player
•Halloween CD
Activity
Gather the monster dancers to the dance area.
Explain to the monsters that everyone is to dance while the music is playing but as soon as it stops everyone has to freeze.
Anyone who moves while the music is off is out of the game.
Start playing the CDs and stop at random times.
The last monster still dancing is the winner.
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