Halloween party games for kids, teens and grown-ups

Halloween party game picker

Tell it who is coming and where you will play, and the list narrows to the games that fit. Tap a game for how to play it.

25 games.

Halloween party games for kids and families

Short, loud and easy to explain to a five-year-old in costume. Most need things you already have.

• Mummy wrap race

  • Ages 4 and up
  • Teams of 2 or 3

  You need: A roll of toilet paper per team, a timer.

  One player on each team is the mummy and stands still with arms out. Teammates wrap them head to toe (face left clear) before the timer runs out, usually two minutes. A grown-up judges the best mummy; if the paper tears, tuck the end in and keep going.

  Tip: Have the mummies walk a "mummy parade" at the end to unwrap themselves. Cleanup becomes part of the game.

• Pumpkin bowling

  • Ages 3 and up
  • Any, taking turns

  You need: A small round pumpkin, 6 to 10 empty plastic bottles or toilet paper tubes.

  Set the bottles up like pins at the end of a hallway or patio (draw ghost faces on them first). Roll the pumpkin with the stem as a handle. Two rolls per turn; count the pins down.

  Tip: Choose a squat pumpkin. Tall ones curve off and frustrate little kids.

• Monster freeze dance

  • Ages 3 to 10
  • 4 or more

  You need: Music you can pause.

  Everyone dances like the monster the DJ calls out: zombie, bat, robot, ghost. When the music stops, freeze in that monster's pose. Anyone still moving sits out a song (or, for little ones, just becomes the next DJ).

• Witch's mystery boxes

  • Ages 5 and up
  • Any

  You need: Shoeboxes with a hand-sized hole, wet or squishy foods.

  Fill each box with something that feels creepy and give it a spooky label: peeled grapes ("eyeballs"), cold cooked spaghetti ("worms"), a damp sponge ("brain"), dried apricots ("ears"), popcorn kernels ("teeth"). Players reach in without looking and guess what it really is.

  Tip: Check for food allergies first, and put out wipes. Some young kids hate this one; let them be the label reader instead.

• Donuts on a string

  • Ages 5 and up
  • 3 to 8 at once

  You need: Ring donuts, string, a broom handle or a clothesline.

  Hang one donut per player at mouth height. Hands behind backs; first to eat their donut without it falling wins.

  Tip: Cut the strings short so donuts do not swing into faces. Mini donuts work for small children, with an adult watching.

• Apples on strings (bobbing without the tub)

  • Ages 5 and up
  • 3 to 8 at once

  You need: Small apples, string, a clothesline.

  The old apple-bobbing tub means everyone shares one bowl of water. Hanging apples gives the same "no hands" challenge: first to take a proper bite wins.

• Pin the face on the jack-o'-lantern

  • Ages 3 to 8
  • Any, taking turns

  You need: A big paper pumpkin, paper eyes, nose and mouth with tape, a blindfold.

  Blindfold the player, spin them gently, and let them stick on one feature. Each child gets one piece, so together the group builds one wonderfully wrong pumpkin face.

• Pass the pumpkin

  • Ages 3 and up
  • 6 or more in a circle

  You need: A small pumpkin or gourd, music.

  Pass the pumpkin around the circle while the music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops answers a silly question ("What would your monster name be?") or does a dare from a hat. Nobody is out, so it suits mixed ages.

• Spider web yarn hunt

  • Ages 4 and up
  • Up to 8

  You need: A ball of yarn per child, a small treat for each.

  Before the party, tie a treat to the end of each yarn ball and unroll it around furniture, under chairs and through doorways, crossing the other strands. Each child gets a color and winds their strand back to find the prize.

  Tip: Takes about 20 minutes to set up. Keep strands off stairs.

• Ghost in the graveyard

  • Ages 5 and up
  • 6 or more

  You need: A yard at dusk, a "home base".

  One player is the ghost and hides. Everyone else counts at base, "One o'clock, two o'clock..." up to "midnight!", then goes looking. Whoever spots the ghost yells "Ghost in the graveyard!" and everyone races back to base before the ghost tags them. The first one tagged hides next.

• Candy guessing jar

  • Ages All ages
  • Any

  You need: A clear jar of candy corn or wrapped candy, slips of paper.

  Guests write a guess as they arrive. Closest guess wins the jar at the end. It runs itself, which makes it perfect for the first half hour.

Games for tweens and teens

Older kids want a little suspense and a reason to turn the lights down. These deliver both without anything gory.

• Wink murder

  • Ages 9 and up
  • 6 to 20

  You need: Slips of paper (one marked "M", one marked "D").

  Everyone draws a slip in secret. The murderer kills by winking at someone, who counts to five and then dies dramatically. The detective tries to name the murderer; three wrong guesses and the murderer wins. Play in dim light for the full effect.

• Sardines in the dark

  • Ages 8 and up
  • 5 or more

  You need: A house with the lights low, flashlights.

  One person hides. Everyone else searches alone, and anyone who finds the hider squeezes into the hiding place with them. The last person to find the group hides next. It gets very quiet, then very loud.

• Halloween charades

  • Ages 6 and up
  • 4 or more, in two teams

  You need: The deck on this page and a phone.

  Teams take turns sending one actor up. They draw a Halloween prompt from the charades deck below, start the timer and act it out with no words. Correct guesses score a point.

• Costume contest with categories

  • Ages All ages
  • Any

  You need: Paper ballots, a box.

  Give several categories so more people can win: scariest, funniest, most homemade, best group or couple, best last-minute costume. Everyone votes on a ballot; no voting for yourself.

• Team pumpkin decorating

  • Ages 6 and up
  • Teams of 2 to 4

  You need: A pumpkin per team, markers, stickers, craft scraps, tape.

  Each team gets the same supplies and 20 minutes to turn their pumpkin into a character. Teams present them, and a guest judge picks the winner. No knives needed, so it works for younger teens.

• Two truths and a spooky lie

  • Ages 10 and up
  • 4 to 12

  You need: Nothing.

  Each player tells three short "spooky" stories about themselves (the time they got lost, a strange noise at night). Two are true and one is made up; everyone votes on the lie.

Halloween games for grown-ups (clean, no drinking)

Adult party games here means games built for adults to enjoy: mystery, bluffing and a bit of competition. Nothing explicit and no drinking games, so you can play them with the in-laws in the room.

• A homemade murder mystery

  • Ages Grown-ups
  • 6 to 12

  You need: An hour of writing beforehand, character cards.

  Pick a victim (the haunted mansion's owner, say). Write a card for each guest with their character, one secret, an alibi and two facts about other characters. In three rounds over the evening, everyone reveals one fact. At the end each guest writes down who did it and why, then the host reads the truth. Keep the culprit's alibi slightly wrong (the clock in the hall was broken), so the clues point to them for anyone paying attention.

  Tip: Write one extra clue you can drop in if nobody is close by the last round.

• Werewolf

  • Ages Teens and grown-ups
  • 7 to 18

  You need: Role cards (playing cards work: two Kings are werewolves, a Queen is the seer, the rest villagers), a narrator.

  Each "night" everyone closes their eyes; the werewolves silently pick a victim, and the seer points at one player to learn whether they are a werewolf. Each "day" the town debates and votes someone out. Villagers win by voting out every werewolf; werewolves win when they equal the villagers. The same game is often called Mafia.

• Costume charades

  • Ages Grown-ups
  • 8 or more

  You need: Slips with each guest's costume written on them.

  Each player draws another guest's costume and acts it out. The room guesses the costume, then who is wearing it. It is the best way to make sure everyone's costume gets noticed.

• Mummy wrap for couples

  • Ages Grown-ups
  • Pairs

  You need: Toilet paper, a timer.

  The kids' race with a grown-up twist: each pair wraps one partner with one hand each (the other hand stays behind your back) in 90 seconds.

• Blind candy taste test

  • Ages Grown-ups and teens
  • Any

  You need: Ten unwrapped bite-size candies on numbered plates, answer cards.

  Guests taste each candy blindfolded or with eyes closed and write what it is. Most right wins. Harder than it sounds once the chocolate ones start blending together.

• Halloween photo hunt

  • Ages Grown-ups
  • Teams of 3 or 4

  You need: A phone per team, a list.

  Give each team a list to photograph on a walk around the neighborhood in 30 minutes: a skeleton, an inflatable, a black cat decoration, a house with fog, a team photo with a carved pumpkin, a stranger who says "Happy Halloween" back. One point per photo; bonus for the most creative.

• Scary story chain

  • Ages Teens and grown-ups
  • 5 to 12

  You need: Dim lights, a flashlight to pass.

  Whoever holds the flashlight adds one sentence to a scary story, then passes it on. Each player also draws a twist word from a bowl (a mirror, a phone call, a missing cat) that must appear in their sentence.

Printable Halloween bingo cards

Bingo is the one game that works for a classroom of 25, a family table and an office break room alike. Make as many different cards as you need, print them, and call the words from your phone. Every card is different, with a free space in the middle.

Five in a row across, down or diagonally wins. For little kids, play "four corners" or a full card for a longer game. Cards and called words stay in this browser only.

Halloween charades deck

Spooky but not scary: creatures, costumes and Halloween things to act out, at three levels. Kids mode keeps to the easy prompts. Pass the phone to the actor, start the timer and keep score for two teams.

Want a drawing round too? Our words to draw deck works the same way.

Three party plans

Classroom party (about 45 minutes, 20 to 30 kids)

1. Halloween bingo while the treats are handed out (15 minutes; print a card per child).
2. Mummy wrap race in teams of three (10 minutes).
3. Monster freeze dance (10 minutes).
4. Pass the pumpkin with silly questions to calm down at the end (10 minutes).

Family party at home (about 2 hours)

1. Candy guessing jar as people arrive.
2. Pumpkin bowling and the yarn spider web for the kids while the grown-ups talk.
3. Costume contest with categories, so every kid can win something.
4. Ghost in the graveyard outside once it is dark.

Grown-up party or office (about 2 hours)

1. Costume charades as the icebreaker, then split into teams with the team generator.
2. The homemade murder mystery, with clue rounds spread through the evening.
3. Blind candy taste test during dessert.
4. Werewolf to finish, for as long as people want to keep playing.

Have a regular dice group? A Halloween Bunco night works well for 8 to 12 grown-ups, with costumes, candy-corn tally markers and a "Boo-nco" prize. New to it? Start with how to play Bunco.

Planning ahead for the holidays? Thanksgiving games has table games and printable place cards. Christmas games has bingo, charades and a left-right gift story.

For the rest of the year, our game night planner picks games by group size and time.

Expecting a crowd of 20 or more? See games for large groups for icebreakers and team games that scale. For the teens' corner, truth or dare and would you rather stay clean on every setting.

Halloween game questions

What are good Halloween party games for adults?

A homemade murder mystery, Werewolf, costume charades, a blind candy taste test and a neighborhood photo hunt all work without drinking. For a group of 12, a Halloween-themed Bunco night is easy to run and has prizes built in.

What Halloween games work for a classroom party?

Choose games that need little space and nobody sits out for long: Halloween bingo (print the cards on this page), pass the pumpkin, monster freeze dance and the mummy wrap race in teams.

What games can teens play at a Halloween party?

Wink murder, sardines with the lights down, Halloween charades, a team pumpkin decorating contest and a costume contest with several categories.

Are there drinking games here?

No. Every game on this page works for a mixed crowd, and none of them involve alcohol. That is a rule for the whole site.