Party games for Halloween

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A great way to liven up a kids' Halloween party is with some games - and it's easy to give any traditional party game a Halloween theme by adding scary costumes, some ghost-shaped sweets and maybe turning the lights out.

If you're in need of some inspiration give some of these a go - they're all either free or cheap as chips and won't take much preparation. Don't blame us if you end up wanting to join yourself!

Fruit bobbing: Fill a bowl or bucket with water and get the kids to grab the apple, strawberry, plum (whatever's cheapest) without using their hands and only their teeth.
Tip: Adult supervision required - have a towel ready.

Wink murder: An old favourite that kids love. Get the kids to sit in a circle and you select one to be the detective. The detective goes out of the room and all the children close their eyes. You walk round the circle and touch one on the head - that child is murderer. Tell everyone to open their eyes and call the detective back in. The detective stands in the middle of the circle, while the murderer has to wink (or blink) at people without the detective seeing. When a child is winked at, they have been murdered and must slump to the floor and close their eyes. Once the detective has correctly identified the murderer, they re-join the circle - the murderer becomes the detective and the game starts again.
Tip: Explain the rules before you start playing and don't play with really young kids (under 5s) who'll probably just sit and stare at each other without really understanding. Expect lots of acting when kids are winked at!

Hide and seek: We don't need to explain the rules for this one. You can add a halloween theme by turning the lights off and giving the seeker a torch - and get them to play wearing costumes.
Tip: Keep it to one room - remove all breakables first and make sure all the kids know they're not allowed to run!

Hot or cold game: Get one child to leave the room and hide an object (make sure they know what you're hiding) - let the other kids watch where you hide it. When the child comes back in, they have to find it - the others will help them by shouting hot if they're near by and cold if they're not. If you can make it a Halloween themed object that they have to find and give Halloween themed sweets as prizes, all the better.
Tip: Let the kids be creative with their shouting - so 'freezing', 'warm' and 'boiling' are all ok.

Biscuit decorating competition: Buy some Halloween shaped biscuit cutters (you can get these really cheaply from the supermarket in the run up to Halloween) and make some biscuits before the party - then get some icing sugar, coloured icing, hundreds and thousands and so on and get everyone to decorate a biscuit.
Tip: You don't really need a prize for this one - everyone will be happy enough just to eat their biscuit.

Add a Halloween feel to a traditional game: Use your imagination with some other well known games - add Halloween themed sweets to a pass the parcel, instead of pin the tail on the donkey get them to pin the hat on the witch and give a Halloween themed prize to a treasure hunt.

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