Halloween Party Games for Kids

For years we have been doing parties around Halloween time for our children and their friends. Even when they were young pre-schoolers we found ways to make Halloween fun and not scary or evil.

Here are some Halloween party tips to help you not scare the little ones:

• If you are planning on having both kids and adults at your party, consider having adult Halloween games in one area of your home and then have an older teen or college student oversee the party games for kids in another area of your home.
• Stick to games that involve spiders, pumpkins and more kid-friendly things rather than blood and gore.
• It is always good to have a craft or activity for kids to do as they come to the party while you are waiting for everyone to arrive. (The mummy face or pumpkin decorating are great activities for this waiting time).
• Keep parties to three hours or less. Do some games, then eating, then more games, and end with goodie bags or a pinata.

Ages 2-12 Years Old

Materials:

• Small decorative fabric pumpkin or small real pumpkin
• Music (Halloween CD or find 'Monster Mash', 'Thriller' and 'Adams Family Theme Song' on the Internet)
• CD or MP3 player

Directions:

1. Play music while the kids pass the pumpkin.
2. When the music stops the person holding the pumpkin is out.
3. Allow that person to be the music stopper and then as a new person gets out let them stop the music.
4. Give a prize to the last person to survive the pumpkin pass.

Ages 3 1/2-12 Years Old

Materials:

• 20-30 White paper plates
• Mummy face template, stencil or print out
• Stickers
• Halloween music

Directions:

OPTIONAL: You can have the kids decorate the plates or you can make them ahead of time.

1. On the raised side of the paper plate draw mummy faces or use a print out and glue to plates.
2. On the curved-in side place a sticker in the middle of half of the plates.
3. Set up plates in a circle.
4. Play music and have the kids walk like mummies around the circle and when the music stops they should stop and pick up the plate they stopped by.
5. If the plate has a sticker they win a piece of candy or other prize and can continue to play.
6. You can remove plates as time goes by and make them be the first to grab a mummy plate as a variation.

Ages 3 1/2- 8 Years Old

Materials:

• Black balloons
• Black pipe cleaners
• Black electrical tape

Directions:

1. Blow up balloons and attach pipe cleaners with tape to make the balloons look like spiders.
2. Spread them all over the floor and have the kids stomp and pop the balloons.
3. You can also fill the balloons with spider rings ahead of time so when they pop the balloons, little baby spiders come out to keep as a prize.

Ages 6-12 Years Old

Materials:

• 2-3 Plastic skeletons OR
• 2-3 Large paper skeletons

Directions:

1. Disassemble the plastic or paper skeletons and hide all the parts around your house or in your yard.
2. Split the kids into teams and have them search for skeleton parts.
3. The first team to assemble to skeleton correctly wins. (They will likely have to trade bones along the way to get all the right ones).

Ages 3-5 (with adult help)

Ages 6-10 (without adult help)

This is not really a game but more of an activity to keep the kids busy at a Halloween party. You can get small pumpkins and have a table full of stuff and let the kids' imagination run wild. To make it like a game have parents or kids vote and give away prizes for most creative, most colorful, prettiest, or most Halloweeny.

Materials:

• Small to medium pumpkins
• Feathers
• Googly eyes (different sizes and colors)
• Pipe cleaners
• Fabric and tulle
• Gauze
• Paint markers
• Foam stickers
• Glue dots (easier than glue)

Directions:

1. Organize the materials in different containers all over the table or in a large open space on the floor.
2. Put a sheet of newspaper under each small pumpkin.
3. Allow kids to use the materials to decorate the pumpkins and then line all the finshed pumpkins up and take a picture!

After your party is over, store all your game materials in a plastic bin with a tight lid. Many of the materials are reusable and kids will love playing the games year after year. One last suggestion is to put someone in charge of taking pictures. In all the years we have done Halloween parties, we don't have many pictures because we get so wrapped up in the games and fun.