21 Halloween Party Games for Kids
Halloween parties are already pretty exciting for kids, so it doesn’t take much to get everyone having fun. A few games do help though, especially when you have a group of kids who have finished eating and are suddenly looking for something to do.
I put together a mix of Halloween party games that get everyone moving, along with some quieter ones for when the party starts to settle down. You don’t need to play all 21. Pick a handful that work for your space and keep an extra one or two ready because kids have a way of getting through party games much faster than you expect.
1. Mummy Wrap Race
You’ll need a few rolls of toilet paper for this one. Split the kids into teams and have each team choose one person to be their mummy.
When you say go, everyone starts wrapping their mummy from the shoulders down. The first team to finish wins, or you can forget the race and choose the funniest mummy at the end.
Don’t worry when the toilet paper starts ripping. It will. That’s usually when this game gets the most laughs anyway.
Just make sure everyone keeps the toilet paper away from the mummy’s face.
2. Pumpkin Bowling
Save some empty plastic bottles and draw ghost faces on the front with a black marker. Set them up like bowling pins and use a small round pumpkin as your bowling ball.
Let each child roll twice and count how many ghosts they knock over.
A pumpkin is not going to roll like an actual bowling ball, which makes this harder than it looks. Sometimes it heads straight for the pins and sometimes it takes a random turn halfway there.
3. Donut on a String
Tie donuts onto pieces of string and hang them where the kids can reach them with their mouths.
Everyone puts their hands behind their backs and tries to eat their donut without touching it. The first person to finish wins.
I’d do this one outside if the weather allows. There will be crumbs everywhere, and trying to eat a swinging donut without your hands gets messy pretty quickly.
4. Ghost Cup Knockdown
Draw ghost faces on white plastic or paper cups and stack them into a pyramid.
Give the kids a soft ball and let them take turns trying to knock the entire ghost tower down. You can give everyone three throws or see who can knock it down using the fewest tries.
If you’re playing inside, definitely stick with a soft ball. This game gets competitive faster than you’d think.
Printable Halloween Party Games
Once the kids have been running around for a while, it’s nice to have a few games where everyone can actually sit down.
I put together a Halloween Printable Games Bundle with Halloween Scattergories, an A to Z word game, another Halloween word game, Find the Guest Bingo, Halloween Trivia, What’s Your Spooky Name, a Candy Dice Game, Spooky Hunt, Halloween Riddles, This or That, and Emoji Pictionary.
You can print the whole bundle or just choose two or three games that fit your party. I especially like having these ready in case the kids finish the other activities sooner than planned.
5. Eyeball Spoon Race
Use plastic eyeballs or draw eyes on ping pong balls. Give each child a spoon and have them balance an eyeball on it while walking or racing toward the finish line.
If they drop it, they stop, put it back on the spoon, and continue.
For a bigger group, I’d turn this into a relay instead of having everyone race at once. It’s a lot easier than trying to figure out which of 15 kids crossed the line first.
6. Halloween Freeze Dance
Put on a Halloween playlist and let everybody dance.
Pause the music randomly. As soon as it stops, everyone has to freeze right where they are.
You can have anyone who moves sit out, but I usually wouldn’t bother with that for younger kids. Start the music again and let everyone keep playing. Nobody ends up sitting on the side waiting for the game to finish.
7. Eyeball Pong
Set a few plastic cups on a table and decorate ping pong balls to look like eyeballs.
Have each child stand behind a line and try to bounce an eyeball into one of the cups. Give them three or five tries and count how many they make.
If it’s too easy, move the throwing line back.
8. Halloween Charades
Write Halloween words and actions on little pieces of paper and put them into a bowl. One child picks a clue and acts it out without talking while everyone else guesses.
Try things like:
Carving a pumpkin
Walking like a zombie
Flying like a bat
Riding a broomstick
Trick or treating
Crawling like a spider
Seeing a ghost
Walking like a mummy
Dancing like a skeleton
Making a witch’s potion
You can divide everyone into teams, but for a casual kids party I’d probably just let them shout out guesses.
9. Witch Hat Ring Toss
Set a witch hat on the floor and grab a few plastic rings. Glow necklaces can work as rings too.
Mark a line and give each child three chances to toss a ring over the point of the hat.
Move the line around depending on the ages of the kids. What feels ridiculously easy to a ten year old can take a five year old quite a few tries.
10. Halloween Candy Dice Game
Give each player four pieces of candy and put the rest in a pile in the middle. Take turns rolling one die.
Use these rules:
1: Take one candy from the middle
2: Take two candies from the middle
3: Skip your turn
4: Give one candy to another player
5: Put one candy back
6: Take one candy from another player
The first person to collect 10 pieces wins.
I’d set a stopping point before you begin. Once candy is involved, nobody is going to volunteer to end the game.
11. Monster Freeze Tag
This is a good one if the kids have a lot of energy and you have enough room outside.
Choose one person to be the monster. When the monster tags someone, that player has to freeze in place. Another player can unfreeze them with a high five.
Switch monsters every few minutes so several kids get a turn.
That’s really all there is to it. You don’t need to turn every Halloween game into something complicated.
12. Pin the Spider on the Web
Draw a big spiderweb on poster board and make a paper spider for each child. Write their names on the spiders so you know whose is whose.
Blindfold one child at a time and have them try to place their spider as close to the middle of the web as possible.
For younger kids, I’d skip spinning them around first. Being blindfolded is enough.
13. Candy Corn Relay
Split everyone into teams and place a bowl of candy corn at one end of the room or yard. Put an empty bowl at the other end.
One player from each team races over, grabs a piece of candy corn with a spoon, carries it back, and drops it into the team’s bowl. Then the next person goes.
Keep playing until the starting bowl is empty or set a timer and see which team collects the most.
If you don’t want everyone handling candy that will eventually be eaten, use pom poms in orange, yellow, and white instead.
14. Halloween Mystery Touch and Feel Game
This is the gross one.
Put different foods inside bowls or boxes where nobody can see them. Give each one a creepy name and have the kids reach inside to figure out what they’re touching.
Try:
Cooked spaghetti for witch hair
Peeled grapes for monster eyeballs
Cold rice for maggots
Pumpkin seeds for monster teeth
Slime for monster goo
Corn kernels for witch teeth
Don’t tell them what’s actually inside until everyone has guessed. Half the fun is listening to one kid scream about touching eyeballs while you know they’re just grapes.
15. Pumpkin Hot Potato
Use a small pumpkin instead of a ball for a Halloween version of Hot Potato.
Have everyone sit in a circle and pass the pumpkin while music plays. Stop the music randomly. Whoever is holding the pumpkin when it stops is out for that round.
If you don’t want anyone sitting out, give the person holding the pumpkin a silly Halloween challenge instead. They could howl like a werewolf, walk like a zombie, or do their best witch laugh before jumping back into the game.
I like that version better for younger kids.
16. Halloween Pictionary
Write Halloween words on scraps of paper and toss them into a bowl. One person chooses a word and draws it while everyone else guesses.
Some easy words are:
Pumpkin
Ghost
Witch
Spider
Candy corn
Haunted house
Broomstick
Skeleton
Bat
Cauldron
Black cat
Vampire
No letters or numbers while drawing.
Stick with easy objects for younger kids. Watching someone attempt to draw a haunted house is entertaining enough without making the words impossible.
17. Halloween Balloon Pop
Before the party, write silly Halloween challenges on small pieces of paper and put one inside each balloon. Blow up the balloons and scatter them around the room.
Kids take turns choosing and popping a balloon, then they have to do whatever is written inside.
Try challenges like:
Walk like a zombie
Do your best witch laugh
Howl like a werewolf
Pretend to be a black cat
Dance like a skeleton
Fly around like a bat
Make your scariest monster face
The popping can be loud, so I’d skip this game if you have kids at the party who don’t like sudden noises.
18. Spider Web Obstacle Course
Use crepe paper or yarn to make a giant spiderweb across a hallway or between chairs.
Kids have to crawl under, step over, and squeeze through the web without touching it.
You don’t need a huge setup. A few strands at different heights can make it surprisingly tricky, especially when everyone is trying to get through in a Halloween costume.
Use something that will tear or come loose easily if a child gets tangled.
19. Monster Musical Chairs
Set up chairs just like regular Musical Chairs, but use Halloween music.
When the music stops, everyone finds a chair. Remove one chair after each round until you have a winner.
To make it a little more Halloweenish, have the kids move like different monsters while the music is playing. One round they can walk like zombies, the next they can fly like bats, and then they can stomp around like monsters.
This is also an easy game to pull together at the last minute because you probably already have everything you need.
20. Halloween Find the Guest Bingo
This works really well near the beginning of the party when everyone is still arriving.
Give each child a bingo sheet with Halloween prompts. They walk around talking to the other guests and find someone who matches each square.
Prompts could include:
Someone wearing orange
Someone who loves candy corn
Someone who has carved a pumpkin
Someone wearing a spooky costume
Someone who likes haunted houses
Someone who doesn’t like scary movies
Someone who can make a ghost sound
Someone who is afraid of spiders
Have the person initial the matching square. The first child to get a row wins.
There’s a ready to print version of Find the Guest Bingo in my Halloween Printable Games Bundle too.
21. Pumpkin Pass Relay
Split the kids into teams and have each team stand in a line. Give the first person a small pumpkin.
The goal is to pass the pumpkin down the line without dropping it. Once it reaches the last person, they run to the front and start passing it again. Keep going until everyone has had a turn at the front.
For older kids, make them pass the pumpkin over their heads on one round and between their legs on the next.
Use a small pumpkin for this. Nobody needs a giant carving pumpkin rolling onto their foot in the middle of a Halloween party.
Which Halloween Party Games Should You Choose?
You really don’t need to plan 21 games for one party. Three or four is usually plenty, especially if you’re also serving food, decorating pumpkins, opening presents, or doing other Halloween activities.
I’d start with something active like Mummy Wrap Race, Pumpkin Bowling, or Monster Freeze Tag while everybody still has plenty of energy. Later on, switch to Charades, Pictionary, Find the Guest Bingo, or the Candy Dice Game.
It also helps to have one extra game ready that doesn’t require much setup. Kids can fly through an activity you thought would take 20 minutes in about five.
And if you’d rather have a few games already made and ready to print, you can grab my Halloween Printable Games Bundle and choose whichever ones work best for your party.
