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“Next Halloween I Think I Will Be…” Memory Game

Materials Needed

  • A good memory
  • If you have a sharp and focused group of players this game can last a surprisingly long time. Try to keep the pace of play rapid, sometimes guests will take forever trying to get it right.

    The Set Up: Have your guests sit in a circle in a large open area and select a random player to start.

    The Rules: The first player will say, “Next Halloween I think I will be __________” filling in the blank with whatever Halloween costume they choose. It can be realistic like “a ninja” or outrageous like “a private jet”. For purposes of example the first person said ”a ninja”. The person to the left of the starter(clockwise) goes next. They will say, ” Next Halloween I think I will be a ninja or __________” filling in the blank with whatever they choose. The third person would say the entire phrase including both of the previous answers(in order) and add a third.

    This continues moving left around the circle with each person repeating what the previous person said and adding an additional Halloween costume until someone forgets a costume, messes up the order or in some way makes a mistake. That person is out and leaves the circle. The person to the left of the person that is now out starts the game over again from scratch. Continue playing and eliminating players until only one person remains. That person is a very deserving winner.

    If the Game is Taking Too Long: Sometimes this game can bog down with guests taking long turns. If your game starts to slow down or even from the very beginning you can add a five second rule. So if any player on their turn goes for more than 5 seconds without adding to the list they are eliminated.

    “Everything Halloween A-Z” Game

    ($$$) This is a FREE printable game

    How much do you really know about Halloween? This game challenges your knowledge of everything Ghostly A to Z! Directions Download the game sheet, and print out one sheet for each player. You will then give everyone about 8 minutes on the clock to fill in as many Halloween-related words as they can, one for […]

    Scarecrow Building Contest

    Materials Needed

  • Old clothes - shirts, pants, hats, gloves.. etc.
  • Straw or newspaper
  • Poles, broomsticks or chairs
  • The object of the game is, of course, to build the best scarecrow. The type of scarecrow (scariest, funniest, most creative) is up to you.

    Break your guests up into teams of 4 or more. Have a pile of old clothes available with pants, overalls, shirts, hats, and other pieces of clothing for the players to use to build their scarecrow. Make sure to have enough choices of clothing, about 1-2 per team is good for variety (4 teams = 6-8 shirts, 6-8 pants… etc). You will also need to make sure that each team has a good supply of newspaper, or straw, to stuff their scarecrow with as well. If you want the scarecrows to stand you will need to supply the teams with broomsticks or poles, too, otherwise chairs for sitting scarecrows will be needed.

    Players are given a set amount of time, 15 minutes is usually good, to create the best scarecrow using the items you’ve given. You can have everyone vote on their favorites, you can make a single judge, or or if you prefer, let everyone be a winner and give every team an award for the “Best WHATEVER Scarecrow” (Such as “Best Dressed Scarecrow,” “Worst Posture Scarecrow”… just make it up as you see them).

    At the end of the contest set all the scarecrows on your lawn for a real Halloween scene everyone will appreciate.

    Halloween Who Am I?

    Materials Needed

  • adhesive backed peel away stickers
  • Gather a list of easily recognizable terms that relate to Halloween (pumpkin, ghost, candy, Dracula) making sure that you have one for each of your guests. Get some adhesive backed peel away stickers and before the party put one term on each. Be sure to keep the stickers out of sight as your guests arrive. Once the party is getting started have the guests get in a row, facing the same direction and go down the line placing a sticker with a Halloween term written on it on the back of each guest. It is okay if they see other people’s stickers, just not their own.

    Once everyone is stickered up, start the game. The guests move amongst themselves asking the other guests one yes or no question about who(or what) is written on their tag. Examples of questions might include: Am I a person? Am I a place? Am I a thing? Am I real? Am I imaginary? Am I scary?

    Once they have exchanged a single question with a party guest they then need to move onto another guest and ask another question, and so on. At any point a quest can make a guess but if they are wrong they are out of the running. The first person to accurately guess wins the game and a prize.

    Here is a sample list of suggested terms:

    Zombie
    Candy
    Monster
    Spider
    Frankenstein
    Bat
    Orange
    Costume
    October
    Mummy
    Mask
    Skeleton
    Ghost
    Vampire
    Pumpkin
    Black Cat
    Dracula
    Graveyard
    Monster
    Werewolf

    Don’t Say Halloween – Taboos and Tokens

    Materials Needed

  • Tokens for each guest
  • Your first order of business is to choose a word which will be taboo to say at the party. “Halloween” is the obvious choice but you can pick any word you like as long as it is a word that is likely to come up in conversation often. For example “candy” or “costume” would both work very well.

    Next decide on what you will use for the tokens. Classic wooden clothespins(you can decorate them if you like) work very as tokens since they are easy to remove and clip onto clothing without damaging the persons costume. You can also use safety pins, Mardi Gras style beads or anything else that is easy to remove and wear.

    When you start the game give each guest one token and ask them to wear it. Tell them the taboo word and explain to them that the word is not to be said at all. If someone says the taboo word then the first person to call them out is to be given the token by the offender. Now one quick witted person has two tokens and the person who said the taboo word has none. The person with no tokens can get one back if they are the first to call out someone else who uses the taboo word.

    This continues throughout the party until at some point near the end the person who has collected the most tokens is declared the winner and given a prize.

    ESP Test – Eekstra Spookery Perception

    Materials Needed

  • a Zener deck of 25 cards
  • Pens
  • paper
  • To test the ESP ability of your party guests you will need a deck of 25 cards made up of five cards with each of the following five symbols: circle, cross, wavy lines, square, star. You can make them yourself by cutting thick construction paper into quarters and drawing on the symbols with a marker.

    To start the game pass out pen and paper to your guests and find a spot where you are facing all of the guests and none of them are behind you where they might see the cards you draw from the deck. Shuffle the deck and draw the first card, looking at it yourself but not allowing the guests to see it. Focus all of your psychic energy on mentally projecting the image which is on the card for 10 seconds. During this time the guests should be trying to receive your psychic message and write down their guess at the symbol on the first card. Then place the card face down and draw the next card. Repeat the process until you have done all 25 cards and your guests should have 25 answers.

    To check the results turn the deck of cards you discarded face up so that the top card was the first card you drew to start the test. Show the guests the card which is the correct answer for the first card drawn and write it down on your own answer sheet for reference later if you need it. Continue until you have finished all 25 cards. Whichever guest had the most correct answers wins the game and a prize.

    Tip: Make cheat sheets for the guests with either images of the five symbols or just the words circle, cross, wavy lines, square and star to keep beside them during the test. You would be surprised how often the guests forget the symbols during the game.

    “The Mind Reader” Game

    ($$$) This is a FREE printable game

    Players will be competing to see who is the best mind-reader as they try to “read the mind” of the “test subject” and match his answers. Halloween is about magic and fun, so why not add a little of both with this unique printable game your guests will love. Directions Print out one game sheet […]

    “Howl”-o-“Scream” Contest

    Materials Needed

  • Area to get loud in
  • Get back to the fun and funny basics of Halloween with a good ol’ fashion screaming contest. Have all your guests stand in an open area (if outside make sure it’s not too late to upset your neighbors). Have each player come up to the front of the crowd, and on the count of 3 do their best imitation of a Halloween horror scream (think B-movie type thing).

    Now, since many boys may not want to “scream like a girl” you can offer them up their own howling contest. Have the male guests come up and instead of scream, give their most realistic howling at the moon routine. You will be surprised how competitive the guys will get with this, some will really give it their all.

    For a bit of humor you can offer each contestant a “personalized prompt” to get them in the mood to scream, such as for a fashion diva guest you could say “You leave the house and realize your shoes don’t match your outfit! 1, 2, 3… scream!” or for the fanatic book lover in the group you could say “You come home and find all of your book shelves have been rearranged. They are not in alphabetical order anymore! 1, 2, 3…. scream!” Not only will this be very funny for your other guests it makes the game much more personal and fun for the screamers, too.

    At the end either have a select group of judges choose a winner, or have all the guests vote on the winner. You can also make up different awards for the “Best Scream,” “Loudest Scream,” “Most Realistic Howl,” “Most Blood Chilling.” You can be as creative as you want with the awards and winners since the real fun is in the contest!

    Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest

    Materials Needed

  • pumpkins seeds
  • measuring tape
  • You are going to want a lot of pumpkins seeds, around 10 per party guest. You can save the seeds from the pumpkins you make into Jack-o-lanterns and dry them or buy them from the grocery store.

    Use a string or tape to make a starting line for people to stand behind while spitting. The first contestant selects three seeds from a bowl and attempt to spit them one at a time, as far as possible. Repeat the process until all of the guests have had a turn and then the first person starts the process again. Each guest should end up getting three turns of spitting three seeds so nine total attempts.

    A judge tracks where the pumpkin seeds land and keeps up with who currently has the longest attempt. Have a tape measure handy so you can measure the distance if you are not sure if one attempt is longer than another.

    Once all guests have had their turns the person who spit the seed the longest distance is declared the Halloween pumpkin seed spitting champion and awarded a prize. If you have kids playing you might consider awarding separate prizes for the youngsters.