Party Ideas for Halloween

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on 31st October. Halloween has its roots in a Celtic festival called Samhain but it is now a commercial holiday, better known for trick or treating and fancy dress parties.

If you are holding a party for your children this article may provide some ideas for traditional and modern party games that will entertain children young and old.

Bobbing Apples

Probably the most well-known game is bobbing for apples. Simply fill a large bowl with water and float some apples in it. Each child should get a go to try to grab an apple using only their mouth. Hands should be on your hips or behind your back. Towels are a must as this can get quite messy, though if you're planning to hold the game indoors you could substitute apples with large marshmallows.

Snap Apple

The game that goes hand in hand with bobbing for apples is the snap apple game. String should be tied on the apple stalk so the apples can be hung from a horizontal line; a washing line is ideal! Similarly to the bobbing game, hands should be kept out of the way while the child again tries to grab the apple using his/her mouth. There are variations you an play, with the objective being either to get the first bite or to eat the whole apple. If you are planning this game for younger children, an easier option is to use doughnuts or ring biscuits, and remember that you will need different lengths of string to accommodate everyone's size.

Pass the Orange

This game will depend on how many children will be playing as it is traditionally played using 2 teams. You can obviously vary the team structure but for a general idea you would line up the children in two rows, with the same number of children in each line. An orange, or apple, is held under the chin and passed from one child to the next without using any hands and without dropping it. The first team to get the piece of fruit from one end of the line to the other without dropping it wins, and if it is dropped the game must be started from the beginning again.

Guessing Game

A good introductory game to start off the fun is to guess how many sweets (or candies) are in the jar. Each guest can write down their guess and then at the end of the party the person who came closest to the original number wins the jar.

Guessing Game 2

Put out a tray with different Halloween-inspired objects, such as a tiny pumpkin toy, a toy witch, a toy broomstick, jelly eyes, a wizard's hat, a furry black cat toy. Let each child inspect the tray and then cover with a white "ghost" sheet. Give each child a piece of paper and see how many objects they can remember. The children can either write, draw or simply shout out the number of items they can remember depending on their age, and prizes can be given out accordingly.

Mummy Wrap

Split the children into groups of three or four and give each group a couple of toilet rolls or try cutting up old sheets into strips. One of the children from each group should be the "mummy" and the other children in the group should wrap the mummy. The first team to wrap a mummy from head to toe wins the game.

Pin the Tail...

Try playing a variation of the traditional pin the tail on the donkey game. You could pin the nose on the witch, the wand on the wizard, the hat on the scarecrow.

Simon Says...

Another game that can be played is simon says but instead of simon use a name that's more fitting e.g. "the ghastly ghost" so "the ghastly ghost says walk like a zombie".

Musical Monsters

Choose some fun songs and enlist the help of an older child or adult to operate the pause button on your stereo. The children can either dance around or move like a monster and when the music stops the children have to strike a scary monster pose and hold it until the music starts back up.

Mask Making

Have some paper plates ready with some eyes and a mouth cut out and two holes punched out on either side so the children can thread some string through and create a mask. Have some decorative items spread out on the table such as glue, paints, glitter, pieces of fabric or coloured card, paper and ribbons so the children can have fun creating their own hallowed masks.

Find the eyes

Make a big jelly before the party and throw some jelly eyeballs in the mixture. Toddlers will have lots of fun routing around in the jelly picking out the eyeballs, though you might want to keep some wipes or towels to hand as they are sure to make a mess.

Written by Cat Scrivens

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