Yahoo News Fun Halloween games to play with friends and family
Halloween is a favourite time of year in our house, a time for dressing up, seeing friends and of course, playing Halloween games. Whether you're holding a big celebration with lots of friends or planning to spend the night at home enjoying family time, there are plenty of ways to spend time together.
I’m a primary school teacher and with my teacher's hat on, the role of games master has fallen to me on many occasions and it’s a role I love.
But having hosted Halloween parties for all the children in my friendship group, and organised games just for my family, trying to keep activities fresh and adding in new ones each year is a challenge.
So whether you are seeing friends at a big bash or choosing to stay at home with family this year, here are some of the most loved games and activities that I hope will go down a treat.
Pumpkin carving
A classic activity
As the children have grown older, the competitive streak has developed. Ask your guests to bring a carved pumpkin along, then all vote on the winner.
It’s a great activity which children enjoy and adults love joining in, too. You could always issue a theme in advance or just let everyone’s imaginations run wild.
And, like the Oscars, you could have categories to ensure as many get a prize as possible. Scariest pumpkin? Best effort? Choose as many options as you like.
Ghost target
A game for the family – even if you aren’t having a party this year
You need 10 white plastic cups for this game. Draw some spooky ghost faces on them and stack them into a pyramid with four cups on the bottom layer, then three, two and one on top.
The aim of game is to see how many you can knock down with three throws of a small ball.
Have a line to stand behind to keep the game fair and keep track of how many cups have fallen over.
Gruesome hands
A messy but fun game
Fill up some latex gloves with various household food items, e.g. baked beans, rice crispies and cooked, cold spaghetti.
Lay the hands under a tea towel and your guests have to try and guess what’s in the gloves without looking and just by feeling them.
Shake and Rattle
Shake it up
Using two empty 2L soda bottles, fill one bottle with small sweets like jelly beans or smarties. Then tape the two open bottle necks together so it looks like a sand timer.
The aim of this game is to shake the sweets from one bottle to the other in the quickest time. Put some music on for this, extra bonus points for the funkiest shaking.
Make me a mummy
A team dressing up game - but with toilet paper
A classic toilet roll game so, as a top tip, buy the cheapest toilet roll! Alternatively, tea towels or old clothes will do the trick just as well.
Split into teams and the aim of this game is to make one member of the team into a spooky mummy, ensuring all their body is wrapped up. Avoid wrapping the face so everyone can breathe.
Give a time limit for this game.
The winner is the best wrapped mummy. Prize for the best mummy walk too!
Eyeball pong
Throw the ball into a cup... win a prize
This family friendly version of beer pong will be addictive yet frustrating to play.
Place ten plastic cups into a triangle formation on a table or hard floor and fill with a variety of tricks (e.g. forfeits or gruesome food) and treats. Using three white Ping-Pong balls, draw an eyeball on each one.
Decide where the children have to stand and they have to bounce the balls so that they land into the cups to receive, hopefully, a treat! Top tip; have plenty of tricks or treats to refill the cups.
Halloween memory match
Challenge your memory!
If you're getting together with friends, pop some Halloween items on a tray. Then, uncover for a set amount of time, and give people two minutes to write down as many items as they can remember. The winner is the team or individual who remembered the most correct objects.
A great perk of this game is that it can also be played virtually. Simply prepare, in advance, a simple, silent video of 20 items relating to Halloween. This can be filmed on your phone camera. Then, screen share and show it to friends for a limited time and have them write down the objects they remember.
If you’re the organiser, remember to have a written list of all the items to hand, too – as it's then easier when teams total up their correct answers.
You Might Also Like
