Halloween Party Games for Kids and Adults

These Halloween party games bring the spooky fun without the stress. You will find 22 ideas: easy Halloween games for kids, mysterious games for teens and adults, and a few that work for the whole family. Each game lists the number of players, what you need and how to play, and most use cheap supplies like toilet paper, pumpkins and paper plates.

Halloween games for kids

Mummy Wrap

Players: 6 to 30, teams of 2 or 3
You need: Two rolls of toilet paper per team, a timer

One player on each team is the mummy. Teammates wrap them from head to toe, leaving the face clear, in two minutes. The best wrapped mummy wins. It is the most popular Halloween game for kids and adults alike.

Pumpkin Bowling

Players: 2 to 20
You need: Small round pumpkins, ten plastic bottles or toilet rolls

Set up the bottles like bowling pins and roll a small pumpkin to knock them down. Each player gets two rolls per turn. Track scores over three rounds.

Pin the Hat on the Witch

Players: 4 to 20
You need: A witch poster, paper hats with tape, a blindfold

Blindfold each player, turn them around gently and let them stick the hat on the witch. Closest to the right spot wins. Little ones can play without the spin.

Monster Freeze Dance

Players: 5 to 30
You need: Spooky music

Kids dance like monsters while the music plays and freeze in a scary pose when it stops. Anyone still moving sits out. The last monster standing wins.

Witches Hat Ring Toss

Players: 2 to 20
You need: Three or four witch hats or cones, glow stick rings

Set the hats at different distances and give each player five rings. Ringing a hat scores points, with further hats worth more. Glow rings look great after dark.

Ghost Bowling

Players: 2 to 15
You need: Toilet rolls with ghost faces drawn on, a ball

Stack the "ghosts" into a pyramid and give each player three throws to knock them all down. Count the ghosts toppled for the score.

Spider Web Untangle

Players: 6 to 20
You need: Balls of yarn, small prizes

Tie a prize to the end of each yarn ball and weave the yarn around chairs and table legs. Each child follows their strand, winding it up as they go, to find the prize at the end.

Pumpkin Hot Potato

Players: 6 to 30
You need: A small pumpkin, music

Pass the pumpkin around the circle while music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops is out. Keep going until one player is left. Full rules on our hot potato page.

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Players: 4 to 30
You need: Picture clue cards, small treats hidden around the house or yard

Hide clues leading from the front porch to the spooky treat at the end. For older kids, use riddles. Our scavenger hunt ideas page has clue templates you can adapt.

Halloween games for teens and adults

Werewolf

Players: 7 to 20
You need: Role cards or folded slips of paper

Players secretly get roles: a few werewolves, a seer and villagers. At "night" the werewolves silently choose a victim, and during the "day" everyone debates and votes on whom to banish. Villagers win by finding all the werewolves. See the full werewolf game rules.

Mystery at the Manor

Players: 6 to 16
You need: A short story and character cards you write in advance

Give each guest a character with a secret. Over the evening, reveal clues in envelopes and let guests question each other. At the end, everyone writes down who they think is behind the mystery. It works like a home made mafia game with a script.

Costume Contest

Players: Any number
You need: Voting slips, a box, prizes

Guests vote anonymously in categories such as scariest, funniest, best couple and best homemade. Announce winners near the end to keep everyone around for the reveal.

Feel Box Mystery

Players: 4 to 30
You need: Shoe boxes with hand holes, peeled grapes, cold spaghetti, gelatin

Fill each box with something squishy and tell a story: grapes become "eyeballs", spaghetti becomes "brains". Players feel each box and write what they think is really inside. Most correct guesses wins.

Halloween Movie Emoji Quiz

Players: 4 to 40
You need: A sheet of emoji clues for spooky stories

Turn famous spooky stories and monsters into short strings of emojis. Teams decode as many as they can in five minutes. Write your own clues so the quiz fits your crowd.

Two Truths and a Spooky Lie

Players: 4 to 20
You need: Nothing

Each player tells two true spooky or strange stories and one invented one. Others guess the made up tale. It follows the format of two truths and a lie.

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Players: 4 to 20
You need: Pumpkins, carving kits, newspaper

Give each player or pair a pumpkin and 30 minutes. Guests vote for scariest, funniest and most creative. Use child safe carving tools or let kids decorate with markers instead.

Halloween games for everyone

Bobbing for Apples

Players: 2 to 20
You need: A large tub of water, apples, towels

Players kneel and try to grab an apple with their teeth, hands behind their back. Fastest wins. For a no splash version, hang donuts from strings and eat them without hands.

Halloween Charades

Players: 6 to 30
You need: Slips with Halloween words, a timer

Teams act out words such as "vampire", "black cat" or "haunted house" in one minute each. Follow the standard charades rules.

Spooky Story Circle

Players: 4 to 15
You need: A flashlight

Turn the lights down. The first player starts a spooky story with one sentence, then passes the flashlight to the next player, who adds a sentence. Keep it mild for younger guests.

Candy Corn Count

Players: Any number
You need: A jar of candy corn, slips of paper

Guests guess how many pieces are in the jar. The closest guess takes it home.

Halloween Bingo

Players: 4 to 40
You need: Bingo cards with spooky pictures, counters

Call out bats, ghosts, pumpkins and cauldrons. Players mark their cards and the first line wins.

Skeleton Relay

Players: 4 to 20, two teams
You need: Two cut out paper skeletons in pieces

Teams race to assemble a paper skeleton, one player running up to add a bone at a time. First complete skeleton wins.

Planning tips for Halloween party games

• Kids: pick active, short games, and keep the scares gentle for under eights.
• Adults: a hidden role or mystery game can carry most of an evening. Pair it with a costume contest.
• Prep the night before: wrap the feel boxes, cut out skeletons and set up the bowling lanes.
• Prizes: candy, glow sticks, mini pumpkins and spooky stickers are cheap and fun.
• Allergies: check before using food in feel boxes or bobbing games.

How to choose

Start with the age of your youngest guest. Under eights do best with bright, silly games like Mummy Wrap and Ghost Bowling, where nobody is out for long. Tweens and teens want a little mystery, so add the Feel Box and Spooky Story Circle. For an adult crowd, build the night around one bigger game such as Werewolf or Mystery at the Manor, then fill the gaps with quick rounds of charades and the costume vote. Mixed family parties work best with team games where kids and adults play side by side.