Halloween parties for kids are all about energy, excitement, and just the right amount of spooky fun. Games not only keep the little ones entertained, but they also encourage teamwork, laughter, and creativity. The best part? You can make most of these games with simple, budget-friendly materials you already have at home. Whether you’re a parent hosting a backyard bash or a teacher organising a classroom celebration, these Halloween party games are guaranteed to bring smiles, giggles, and maybe a few great memories!
Make Your Halloween Party About More Than Sweets
There is something wonderfully chaotic about a children’s Halloween party. One minute you have a room full of witches, vampires, skeletons, and superheroes politely waiting for the fun to begin; ten minutes later, someone is wrapped from head to toe in toilet paper while a miniature werewolf chases a balloon ghost across the room.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
The secret to a successful children’s Halloween party isn’t creating an elaborate event or spending a fortune on entertainment. It’s having enough activities ready to keep everyone involved without making the party feel rigidly organised.
A good selection of Halloween games gives children somewhere to direct all that excitement. They can run around, work together, be silly and enjoy a little friendly competition.
Better still, many of the best Halloween games need surprisingly little equipment. A few balloons, some paper, bottles, cardboard and inexpensive Halloween decorations can provide an afternoon’s entertainment.
Here are ten games to get your party started.
1. Mummy Wrap Race
This wonderfully silly Halloween classic deserves its place at almost every children’s party.
Divide the children into pairs or small teams. One person becomes the mummy while their teammate has to wrap them from shoulders to ankles using toilet paper or crepe paper.
Set a timer for around two or three minutes and start the race.
The objective doesn’t necessarily have to be the fastest mummy. You could award prizes for the best-looking mummy, funniest mummy, most complete wrapping or most dramatic mummy walk afterwards.
For younger children, forget the competitive element altogether and simply let everyone make their own mummy.
Biodegradable paper or inexpensive white crepe-paper streamers are particularly useful if you’re playing with a larger group.
Make it even better: Once everyone is wrapped, hold a 30-second “Mummy Fashion Show”. Play spooky music and let the mummies shuffle along an imaginary catwalk.
Just make sure faces remain completely uncovered, and children can move comfortably.
2. Pumpkin Bowling
You don’t need an actual bowling set to create a Halloween bowling alley.
Collect six or ten empty plastic bottles and turn them into ghost pins by painting them white or covering them in white paper. Add different ghost expressions using a black marker.
Then find a small, fairly round pumpkin to use as the bowling ball.
Arrange your ghosts at one end of a hallway, patio or garden and mark a bowling line appropriate for the children’s ages.
Each player gets two attempts to knock down as many ghosts as possible.
The unpredictable shape of a real pumpkin makes the game much funnier than ordinary bowling because nobody can be entirely sure which direction it will roll.
If you’re playing indoors or with younger children, substitute a soft orange ball for the pumpkin.
3. Spider Ring Toss
Turn an ordinary ring-toss game into something considerably creepier.
Make a large spider from cardboard, bottles or other recycled materials and give it several upright legs or targets over which players can throw rings.
Alternatively, place several large plastic spiders at different distances and give each one a points value.
The closest might be worth one point, while the most difficult spider could be worth five.
Glow rings can make the game particularly effective at an evening Halloween party.
Dim the room slightly, turn on some Halloween music and suddenly a very simple throwing game feels like a completely different activity.
4. Witch Hat Ring Toss
This is another easy game that doubles as Halloween decoration.
Make several cone-shaped witch hats from cardboard and paint them black, purple, green or orange. Arrange them on the floor and assign different points to each hat.
Children stand behind a line and attempt to throw rings over the pointed tops.
For younger players, place the hats close together. Older children can stand further away or try to land rings over specific coloured hats.
You can even add a “Golden Witch Hat” worth bonus points.
If you’d rather avoid making the game from scratch, a reusable Halloween ring-toss set can be brought out again for future parties.
5. Pin the Hat on the Witch
The traditional party game gets a Halloween makeover.
Draw or print a large friendly witch but deliberately leave off her hat. Make a separate paper hat for each child and write their name on the back.
One at a time, blindfold each player, gently turn them around and let them try to place the hat on the witch.
The closest hat wins.
With younger children, avoid spinning them and simply point them in the right direction. The fun comes from seeing where the hat ends up, rather than making anyone dizzy.
You can also adapt the idea into:
Pin the bow tie on the skeleton, pin the nose on the pumpkin, pin the spider on the web or pin the tail on the black cat.
6. Pumpkin Hunt
Think Easter egg hunt—only considerably more orange.
Hide miniature pumpkins, pumpkin tokens or Halloween objects around your home or garden. Give each child a basket or bag and challenge them to find as many as possible.
You can keep things straightforward for younger children by leaving objects partly visible.
For older children, make the game more challenging by providing riddles and clues.
You could also hide one special golden pumpkin. Whoever discovers it wins an additional prize.
For larger parties, consider giving everyone a different coloured token to find. That prevents one particularly enthusiastic child from collecting everything before the others have had a chance.
7. Spooky Freeze Dance
This is one of the easiest ways to use up some Halloween energy.
Create a playlist of family-friendly Halloween songs and let everyone dance. When the music suddenly stops, every dancer has to freeze.
Anyone who moves can either sit out briefly or perform a funny Halloween challenge before returning to the game.
Instead of simply freezing, call out a character as you stop the music:
“Zombie!”
“Witch!”
“Vampire!”
“Skeleton!”
Everyone then has to freeze in a pose representing that character.
The funniest interpretation can earn a bonus point.
This variation keeps children involved even if they aren’t particularly interested in winning.
8. Ghost Relay Race
Draw friendly ghost faces onto white balloons and divide the children into teams.
Each player has to transport their ghost from one end of the course to the other and back again before passing it to the next teammate.
The challenge comes from deciding how they are allowed to carry it.
Try balancing it on one hand, holding it between the knees, keeping it in the air without catching it or carrying it on a paper plate.
For younger children, simply carrying the balloon while negotiating a few cones is challenging enough.
For older children, create a mini haunted obstacle course.
Keep balloons away from very young children because pieces from burst balloons can present a choking hazard.
9. Monster Says
“Simon Says” becomes “Monster Says” for Halloween.
One adult or child becomes the Monster and gives the group instructions.
“Monster says creep like a zombie.”
“Monster says flap like a bat.”
“Monster says stir a witch’s cauldron.”
“Monster says howl at the moon.”
Players should only perform the action when the instruction begins with “Monster says”.
Once everyone understands the game, speed up the commands and deliberately try to catch them out.
The beauty of Monster Says is that it requires virtually no preparation, making it an excellent emergency activity when you’ve finished another game earlier than expected.
10. Halloween Scavenger Hunt
For the final activity, turn your house or garden into a miniature Halloween adventure.
Instead of simply hiding objects, create a trail of clues that leads from one location to another.
The first clue might say:
“Where witches brew and bubbles rise, your next spooky secret quietly lies.”
The children then search near a toy cauldron for their next instruction.
Picture clues work well for younger children, while older children can tackle riddles, puzzles and simple codes.
Finish the hunt with a treasure box containing stickers, pencils, temporary tattoos, small toys or individually wrapped treats.
For a larger group, consider making the scavenger hunt cooperative rather than competitive. Everyone works together to solve the mystery and discover the final treasure.
Create a Halloween Games Zone
If you’re hosting several children, don’t feel everyone needs to play the same activity at the same time.
Creating little “zones” can work brilliantly.
One part of the room might contain pumpkin bowling while another has witch-hat ring toss. A table could provide Halloween colouring or puzzles while another area becomes the dance floor.
Children naturally move between activities, and you avoid the frustration of making fifteen excited youngsters wait for their turn.
It also gives children a quieter space if noisy party games overwhelm them.
A colouring table, puzzle corner or Halloween activity book can offer a welcome change of pace between energetic games.
Prizes Don’t Have to Be Sweets
Halloween already provides plenty of opportunities for sugary treats, so game prizes don’t necessarily need to add to the mountain.
Halloween pencils, stickers, temporary tattoos, mini notebooks, erasers, badges and glow bracelets can be just as exciting.
You could also award funny certificates such as “Best Zombie Walk”, “Master Mummy Maker” or “Champion Ghost Bowler”.
For younger children especially, try to make sure everybody receives something during the party.
Match the Games to the Children
The best Halloween party isn’t necessarily the one with the most impressive decorations or expensive entertainment.
It’s the one where the children actually have fun.
Mix energetic activities such as freeze dancing and relay races with calmer games such as ring toss, scavenger clues and craft activities. Allow children to opt out of something they don’t enjoy and have a quieter alternative available.
Most importantly, don’t worry if your carefully planned schedule immediately goes off course.
If everyone is still laughing hysterically at the mummy race twenty minutes later, let them carry on.
Halloween parties are supposed to be a little chaotic.
And years later, nobody will remember whether the games started exactly on time—but they might remember the afternoon when their best friend became the world’s worst toilet-paper mummy.
