Throwing a Halloween party can be a lot of fun, especially when it’s for kids. There are many steps to throwing a great kids party, and one of them is putting together a bunch of fun Halloween games for children.
It can sound daunting to organize Halloween games for a children’s party, but there are quite a few ways to go about it and you can choose the easiest way for you.
Choosing Halloween Games For Kids
You can make games using do it yourself (DIY) materials at home, purchase ready to go games or use a combination of the two.
Personally, I prefer a combination of DIY and purchased items, but that’s only because my DIY stuff usually looks like I made it myself. However, many of you are more talented and can make great looking items in your spare time.
I’m going to present many types of Halloween games for kids below and try to point out when they can be purchased, made at home or both. Pick and choose what games will work for your party, and mold them however you want to fit your situation.
There are suggestions to get you feeling creative and motivated. You can change any party idea to fit your children’s age group and your household however you want. Let’s get started!
Guess Who Game
The Guess Who game is very similar to the version adults play and this is one of the lowest priced Halloween games for kids. As soon as a child enters the party, you tape a piece of paper on their back with the name of a Halloween related creature or character on it.
If the party has children who can’t read, I recommend having both a picture of the creature and the name written out on the paper.
Throughout the entire party, each child will need to ask other party-goers to look at the paper on their back. Then the child can ask questions to get clues about who is on their back.
You can choose characters based on the theme of your Halloween party, popular scary movies in their age group, or just use Halloween as a general guide.
Here is an example of how the game goes:
Child: Is mine friendly or scary?
Answer: Scary
Child: Is it a monster or a human?
Answer: Both
Child: Does it bite people?
Answer: Yes
Child: Does it have fangs?
Answer: Yes
Child: Is it Dracula!
Answer: It is!
That is a quick example of how the game goes. Many people keep the questions limited to yes and no questions, but that might be difficult depending on the age of the children.
It’s also common to implement a question limit per person, depending on how many people are attending the party.
So you can say the child only gets to ask two questions per person. This is to encourage kids to socialize with more people at the party.
This is one of the more popular halloween games for kids and adult parties because it gives everyone an excuse to talk to each other. No more standing around awkwardly when Guess Who is in play.
Supplies:
• Pen and paper.
Optional:
• Pictures of Halloween characters.
Guess How Many Game
This is a game you’re probably familiar with and it’s also one of the simplest Halloween games for children. You fill a jar with candies, preferably Halloween themed candies, and children try to guess how many candies are inside the jar.
Using candy corns inside a candy jar looks great and makes it hard to count just by looking. However, if your theme is all about green creatures or blue monsters than you may prefer green or blue candies.
For younger kids, you may want to use a larger candy like jaw breakers to make the game a bit easier.
Kids must have a place to write their guess on, so put paper or a clipboard out next to the jar. There are also ready to go candy guessing cards available for purchase online. My favorite part of the Guess How Many game is to find a fun looking glass jar to put the candies in.
Depending on the type of candy, you can use a skull shaped glass jar, a low priced 50 ounce jar with a chalkboard label or any fun candy jar with a lid.
Make sure it’s not your favorite jar because whoever gets the closest guess wins the jar along with the candy inside.
There are links above to fantastic jars, but they are only suggestions for anyone wanting to add some special touches to their children’s game.
The great thing about this Halloween game is that many people will have most of the supplies already in the home.
Anyone on a tight budget will likely be able to throw this game together for only the cost of the candy in the jar.
Prize: Glass Jar and candy inside.
Supplies:
• Candy of your choice.
• Candy Jar
• Paper and Pen
Optional:
• Candy Guessing Game Cards
• Decorative Glass Jar
Disappearing Donuts Game
The disappearing donut game is one of the Halloween games for kids that has its prize built into the gameplay… a donut! Basically, this is a no hands donut eating race.
The donuts are hung by a string from above and everyone tries to get a bite while holding their hands behind their back. This may seem simple but it’s harder than it sounds.
Preparing for Disappearing Donuts
Tie one end of string to something above the head of your partygoers. This can be a tree branch, clothesline or anything else you can find.
If there isn’t anything in your yard or home, you can hold up a broomstick or tie a long string up high, from one side of the game field to the other side. Then tie the donuts to the string above your head.
Leave a couple feet in between each hanging string because players will be moving around and chasing after their swaying donut.
Once you have a string hanging for each player, you want to tie a donut at the height of each players mouth. This means the donuts will be at different heights.
Playing Disappearing Donuts
• Each player stands by their hanging donut.
• The number one rule of this Halloween game for kids is No Hands. This is actually a hard rule to follow so it’s best to have players keep their hands behind their back.
• Players have to eat the entire donut to be the winner. You can require them to swallow it to win, or just call a tie if it’s that close a call.
• Donuts may fall on the floor during this game. Normally players can continue eating with only their mouth to win.
However, with young kids I recommend allowing hands once the donut has fallen. (You can place painter’s plastic or a tarp if the ground is dirty.)
• The first person to eat the entire donut is the winner.
Disappearing Donut Game : Playing Tips
→ If there is an age gap in partygoers, plan on having different rounds based on age. This game is more difficult for younger kids versus teens.
→ You may want to change the rules and let the youngest children use their hands, or hang mini donuts for them.
→ If you have partygoers that can’t play, they can be the referee to provide gentle reminders about not using hands during gameplay. Many players will instinctually grab for the donut.
→ Have water bottles or juice drinks nearby in case anyone has swallowing troubles or a choking issue.
→ Do Not Use Powdered Donuts. They can be an aspiration risk from inhaling the powder. Glazed, sprinkles, chocolate and other donuts with a hole are all fine. Just stay away from the powders.
Prize: The donut!
Supplies:
• Donuts with holes.
• Twine/Rope – Orange or black for extra Halloween spirit.
• Object to tie donuts to.
• Water bottles or juice drinks.
Ghost Bowling
Ghost bowling is a fun and easy Halloween game for kids that only requires a couple of items to get set up. First, get 10 rolls of toilet paper and draw two eyes and a mouth on each one with a sharpie marker.
They can be fun faces or shocked expressions with the mouth in an O, it’s up to you.
Next, get a pumpkin to use as the bowling ball. You can use a couple of different sized pumpkins if there are different ages of kids bowling. With a larger pumpkin for bigger kids.
It might be necessary to remove the stems to get the pumpkins “bowling” in a straight line.
Tip: Younger children will need to bowl from a closer line than the older kids in order to keep it fun.
You can use a drill to make the finger holes in the pumpkin similar to a bowling ball. However if that’s not your style, children can just use two hands to roll the pumpkin without drilled holes.
You can also use a smaller pumpkin “ball” to make the game easier.
Stack the toilet paper rolls into a pyramid with 4 rolls at the base, 3 in the next row, then 2 rolls and 1 roll at the top. If possible, set your ghost bowling Halloween game up with a back drop to keep the pumpkin from rolling off every time.
An inexpensive Halloween tablecloth (vinyl) is an easy way to decorate the backdrop and bowling area.
Supplies:
• 10 Rolls of Toilet Paper
• Pumpkin for “ball”
• Sharpie
Optional:
• Vinyl Halloween Tablecloth
• Drill (for making holes).
Pumpkin Patch Poppers
Pumpkin patch poppers is good if you are looking for some outdoor Halloween games for kids to get them moving around. For this game you blow up orange balloons and spread them around outside so they appear to be a pumpkin patch. Inside of the balloons are hidden candies and small prizes.
The children jump on the balloons to pop them and get to retrieve the prize inside. If you want to add extra fun prizes, you can put cute Halloween charms, like the ones pictured below, inside the balloons instead of coins.
Preparing Pumpkin Patch Poppers
• Place the prizes inside the balloons before blowing them up.
• It’s common to use coins or small candies as prizes inside the balloon.
• Once the candy or prize is inside the balloon, blow it up and then tie it closed.
Optional:
Draw a face on each balloon with a sharpie to make them jack-o-lanterns.
Add agreen ribbon to one end of each balloon for a “stem.”
Tips:
→ Don’t use chocolate candies as prizes if you live in a warm area.
→ The prize must be small enough to fit through the neck of the balloon.
→ The prize inside is important to weigh the balloon down.
→ The kids will be stomping on the balloon, so don’t place anything fragile inside.
→ You can put coins or Halloween tokens inside the balloons and then have the children trade them for small prizes that didn’t fit inside the balloons.
Supplies:
• Orange balloons
• Candy or coins for prizes
Optional:
• Pumpkin Balloons
• Halloween Charms
• Mini erasers
• Prizes for trade
• Sharpie
• Green ribbon
Halloween Bingo
Bingo is one of the most popular indoor Halloween games for children because it can be played anytime, over and over. Halloween Bingo gets the children sitting down in one area making it a good choice to play before a meal. This is one of the great Halloween games for kids because you can choose to DIY it or purchase a Halloween Bingo game.
It’s completely up to the party host to choose how much work they want to put into organizing this Halloween game.
Halloween bingo is very easy to DYI compared to some other games as long as you are able to print out the bingo boards. The good news is there are lots of free printable Halloween bingo boards available with a simple Google search.
You can find your favorite designs and then print them out for free, which is always a bonus. Getting free printable boards is the route I recommend for playing this Halloween party game for kids.
Supplies:
• Free printable Halloween bingo cards
• Free printable Halloween bingo tokens
• Free printable Master bingo images
• Scissors
Optional:
• Purchase Halloween Bingo game for kids.
Bobbing For Apples
Bobbing for apples is one of the classic Halloween games for kids and most people are already familiar with it. However, sometimes you want a reminder of this fun game, but don’t want to get wet or don’t want to spread germs.
For these reason, we are offering a couple alternative ways to bob for apples too.
Classic Bobbing for Apples
This children’s Halloween game begins by filling a bucket or large container with water and then adding apples. Having at least 12 apples or around two apples for each child is recommended for bobbing.
It’s good to have extra apples floating around because they really move around while bobbing. There can also be splashing and dripping water with this fun Halloween game for kids, so place your bucket accordingly and have towels handy.
There are a few different options for game play depending on how large your water container is. If all the kids can bob for apples together, they can begin bobbing at the same time.
The first one to get an apple wins and the rest of the children keep going until they each get an apple. For smaller water containers, you can have a few children bobbing for apples at once or have one child go and time how fast each one takes to get an apple.
Individual Bobbing for Apples
Some people are concerned about spreading germs, but still want to enjoy this classic Halloween game. An alternative version to the classic bobbing for apples is providing each child with their own bowl or bucket filled with a few apples.
Below is a video with an example of each child having their own water container. The bowl doesn’t need to be too large and each child can still have a great time.
You can also have a few buckets with water, so that less children are using each bucket and spreading fewer germs. Don’t be afraid to pull out kitchen pots if you are short on water containers.
Dry Bobbing for Apples
There is another alternative to this classic Halloween game for kids if getting wet seems like a bad idea altogether. When the weather is too cold or there are a lot of kids wearing Halloween make-up it might be a good idea to try dry bobbing for apples.
Dry bobbing for apples is played by tying strings to the apples and hanging them from a branch, swing set, clothesline or other height. Buy apples with stems and then connect the string to each stem and hang them from varying heights.
To play, each person stands next to an apple and then races to be the first one to get a bite out of it.
Supplies:
• Bucket or other containers
• Apples
• Water
Pumpkin Head Race
Pumpkin head racing is one of those backyard Halloween games for kids of all ages. To play, everybody is given a mini pumpkin and the children line up side by side at the starting line. Each child balances the mini pumpkin on the top of their head before the race begins.
Once everyone has their pumpkin safely on their head, it’s time to get this Halloween party game started. Start the race and all the kids try to walk as fast as they can without their pumpkin falling from their head.
You have the option of making the fastest child the winner, but you can also make anyone who never drops their pumpkin a winner or anyone who doesn’t quit and finishes the race a winner.
As far as winners go, pumpkin head racing is one of the Halloween party games for kids that offers the opportunity to make everyone a winner.
For this reason, it’s a great game to play before serving cupcakes or other party snacks which you can hand out as rewards for winning at pumpkin racing.
Any children who don’t race can be used as referees during the event to win their cupcake reward too.
You can also plan the pumpkin race before the piñata and give out treat bags as prizes so the kids can gather piñata candy in their new treat bags.
Supplies:
• Mini pumpkin for each child
Halloween Piñata
Pinatas are a classic backyard activity that has become one of the most anticipated Halloween games for kids. When kids see a fun Halloween piñata sitting around the house, the excitement builds until the day it gets hung up.
If you are a crafty parent, there are tons of great DIY recipes available for making Halloween piñatas at home. With a simple google search you can find instructions for making paper mache or cardboard pumpkin, ghost, bat piñatas and more.
Some parents like to have a couple smaller piñatas, instead of one large one, when there are a variety of age groups at the Halloween party. This way the older kids can have their own piñata and don’t have to wait around for the young children to figure things out.
Piñatas for each age group lets the young children go slow and still enjoy finishing off the piñata. It also allows parents to put different prizes in each piñata based on age group.
There are smaller Halloween piñatas linked below, they are about 18 to 24 inches tall. This will give you an idea about the cost for having separate piñatas. You can also use these sizes as a guide for making piñatas at your own party.
Supplies:
• Piñata – DIY or Purchased
Optional:
• Piñata for each age group at party (Smaller Sized)
• Pumpkin pull string Piñata
• Witch Piñata
Mummy Wrappin Game
Mummy wrappin is one of the easier team Halloween games for kids. The children are split up into at least two teams and one child will be a designated mummy for each team.
The other children are each given a roll of toilet paper and the race is on to wrap their mummy the fastest. There are a few variations on this fun Halloween game for kids.
One idea is to have the wrapping begin when you start playing Halloween music. The game can end when a team completely wraps their mummy, except for the face, or when the children all use up their entire roll of toilet paper. It’s up to you!
As you can see this is one of those fun Halloween games for kids of all ages. However you play, Mummy wrappin is sure to be a hit at any Halloween party.
Supplies:
• Cheap toilet paper rolls – one for each child.
The Pumpkin Poke
The pumpkin poke is a simple way to award children with tricks or treats during your party. This is one of the DIY Halloween games for kids, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. The pumpkin poke is pretty easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of complicated supplies.
The hardest part will be deciding what to put inside the cups. Treats, tricks and prizes or just treats and prizes? It’s up to you, but you will find some ideas here to help you decide.
The pumpkin poke works by setting up cups filled with prizes in the shape of a pumpkin. Tissue paper is placed over the cup opening with a rubber band to hide what’s inside.
One at a time children are allowed to poke a hole in one cup and take the prize inside for themselves. I recommend putting different items in a lot of the cups so kids don’t see the same prizes over and over.
You can use a combination of tricks, treats and fun prizes inside the cups.
Building the Pumpkin Poke Board requires a few basic supplies, but you don’t have to be super crafty to get this one done. Start with a foam core poster board which the orange cups will attach to. (A piece of cardboard can work in a pinch).
Take the orange tissue paper and cut it into squares large enough to cover the top of each cup and drape down the sides.
Next place your prizes in each cup and rubber band a piece of tissue paper over the top of each cup. Do this until all the cups are filled and covered with tissue paper.
Next, arrange all the cups into the shape of a pumpkin, tissue side up, on the poster board as desired, placing two green tissue paper cups on top as a pumpkin stem. (Or you can glue green paper above the cups for a stem.)
Next use a mini hot glue gun to stick each cup to the poster board and then let them dry completely. The board is complete and this Halloween game for kids is ready to be played.
Candy is a great option for some of the pumpkin poke prizes, but it can be exciting for the kids when you add in prizes and a few “tricks”.
Below are links to give you some creative and fun ideas for prizes.
Ideas for Prizes:
Halloween rubber ducks – Cute!
Bendable Zombies – These are fun!
Stretchy skeletons
Neon eyeball bouncy balls
Small stickers – 24 sheets
Ideas for Tricks:
Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans
Beanboozled weird flavored jelly beans
Bugs, flies and mice. Can also use these for the fear factor party games below.
Supplies:
• Foam core poster board or thick cardboard
• Orange tissue paper sheets
• Green tissue paper for stem
• 30 Orange disposable cups
• Mini glue gun
• Prizes – Tricks, treats and candies.
• Rubber bands
• Scissors
Hot Pumpkin
Hot pumpkin is basically the hot potato game using a mini pumpkin or a mini jack-o-lantern playground ballmini jack-o-lantern playground ball. This Halloween game for kids is easy to set up with minimal supplies.
You can get a mini pumpkin, purchase a mini jack-o-lantern rubber ball or even just use duct tape to make a face on a ball you already have at home. Have the children pass around the mini pumpkin and follow the same rules you would for hot potato, except have the kids say “hot pumpkin” when playing this Halloween game.
Supplies:
• Mini Pumpkin
Optional:
• Mini Jack-o-lantern rubber ball
Halloween Pin the Tail on the Donkey
This is one of the classic Halloween games for kids that anyone can play. Instead of a donkey you can use a pumpkin, witch, cat, web or any Halloween monster.
There are so many possibilities for this children’s Halloween game. Some examples are pin the wart on the witch, the tail on the cat, the nose on the pumpkin, the spider on the web and the bow tie on the skeleton.
For crafty party planners it’s possible to create these games on your own. They can be made out of poster board materials with double sided tape for stickiness. Other party planners may prefer purchasing them at a Halloween specialty store or online.
Here are links to online Pin the Mouth on the Vampire and Pin the Eyeball on the Zombie Halloween games for kids.
These are easy to set up on game day and most can be re-used by applying double-sided tape next year.
Be sure to check out Fun Halloween Games for Kids Part 2Fun Halloween Games for Kids Part 2 to find more great Halloween games and to see our Fear Factor Event.
Looking for more fun Halloween posts?