We don’t really celebrate Halloween where I live (I’m from Slovenia). We have our own thing called Night of the Witches.
We don’t do trick-or-treating. Jack-o’-lanterns aren’t on every porch. But every year my family gets together, and the kids need something to do besides run around.
So I started digging into Halloween party games, the kind that work whether you’ve got a 6-year-old or a 16-year-old in the room.
I found way more than I expected. So here are 57 Halloween party games, sorted by who’s playing, so you can skip straight to what you need.
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Halloween Party Games for Kids
These are the easy Halloween games that keep little hands busy without a long list of rules to explain first.
Halloween Bingo
Print out bingo cards with Halloween pictures instead of numbers. Think ghosts, pumpkins, bats, black cats, and witches. Give each kid a card and a handful of candy or buttons to use as markers.
Call out the pictures one at a time from a matching set of cards, and have kids cover the picture if it’s on their card. The first kid to fill a full row, column, or diagonal yells bingo and wins a small prize. Keep a few rounds going so more than one kid gets to win.
Candy Corn Guessing Jar
Fill a clear jar with candy corn before the party starts and know the exact count. Set the jar out with slips of paper and pencils so kids can write down their guess and their name.
Have everyone submit their guess before a set time, then reveal the real number. Whoever guesses closest without going over wins the whole jar.
It’s low-effort to set up and keeps kids busy throughout the party.
Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of small Halloween items to find, like a plastic spider, a black cat cutout, a candy corn, a mini pumpkin. Hide them around the house or yard before guests arrive.
Give each kid or team a copy of the list and a bag to collect items. Set a time limit and let them search. Whoever finds the most items on the list, or finds everything first, wins.
Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin
Draw or print a large pumpkin face missing its nose and tape it to a wall at kid height. Cut out several orange paper triangle noses and put a loop of tape on the back of each one.
Blindfold each kid, spin them around a few times, and point them toward the pumpkin. Let them walk forward and stick their nose wherever they land. Whoever gets closest to the right spot wins. This game is funny enough so nobody will mind if they lose.
Halloween Memory Match
Print or buy a set of matching pairs of Halloween picture cards, like two ghost cards, two pumpkin cards, and so on. Lay all the cards face down in rows on a table or the floor.
Players take turns flipping two cards at a time, trying to find a matching pair. If the cards match, that player keeps them and goes again. If not, they flip both cards back over, and it’s the next player’s turn. Whoever collects the most pairs by the end wins.
Halloween Word Search Race
Print out Halloween-themed word search sheets, one per kid, with words like ghost, witch, candy, and pumpkin hidden in the grid. Hand out pencils and set a timer.
Kids race to find every word on their sheet before time runs out. The first one to circle all the words wins, or if nobody finishes, whoever found the most when time’s called takes it.
Keep a couple of easier sheets on hand for younger kids so they can keep up.
Guess That Spooky Sound
Put together a short playlist of Halloween sound effects: creaky doors, howling wind, a witch cackling, thunder, an owl hooting. Play each clip one at a time without telling kids what it is.
Have kids write down or shout out what they think each sound is. Give a point for every correct guess. Whoever has the most points when the playlist ends wins, and you can replay any sounds nobody got right just for fun.
Halloween I Spy
Find or print a busy Halloween scene packed with small details, pumpkins, bats, candy, spiders, ghosts. Gather the kids around it, or hand each one their own copy.
Call out clues like “I spy something orange and round” or “I spy something that flies at night.” Let kids point to or shout out what they think you’re describing. Keep going through a list of items until everyone’s had a turn guessing.
Halloween Coloring Contest
Print the same Halloween coloring page for every kid, along with crayons or markers. A pumpkin patch, a friendly ghost, or a witch on a broom all work well.
Set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes and let kids color. When time’s up, lay all the pages out and have the group, or a couple of adults, vote on categories like most colorful, best use of glitter, or funniest. Everyone gets a category to win so nobody feels left out.
Halloween Maze Race
Print maze sheets with a Halloween theme, like helping a ghost find its way back to a haunted house, or guiding a cat through a pumpkin patch. Hand one to each kid along with a pencil.
Set a timer and let kids race to solve their maze first. The first one to trace a full path from start to finish wins. Keep a couple of extra copies handy in case anyone wants to try again.
Spot the Difference: Haunted House
Find or print two nearly identical pictures of a haunted house scene with five or six small differences hidden between them: a missing window, a different colored pumpkin, an extra bat.
Give kids a set amount of time to study both pictures and circle every difference they find. Whoever spots the most differences correctly wins. This one works well for kids who’d rather sit and focus than run around.
Mummy Wrap Relay
Split kids into teams of two or three and give each team a roll or two of toilet paper. One kid on each team is the mummy, and the rest of the team races to wrap them from head to toe.
Set a timer, usually 1-2 minutes. When time’s up, whichever team has wrapped their mummy most completely, or looks the most like an actual mummy, wins.
But just so you know…this game will make kids get really loud because they’ll be having so much fun.
Freeze Dance to Spooky Music
Put together a playlist of upbeat Halloween songs, like the Monster Mash or spooky instrumental tracks. Have kids spread out and start dancing when the music plays.
Stop the music at random moments. Anyone still moving when it stops is out, or if you want everyone to keep playing, just have them freeze in a silly pose until the music starts again.
Keep starting and stopping the music until you’ve got a winner, or just play a few rounds for fun.
Witch’s Broom Balance Relay
Split kids into two or more teams and give the first kid on each team a broom and a small item, like a plastic spider or a mini pumpkin, to balance on the broom’s bristles.
Kids race one at a time to carry the item across the room and back without dropping it, then hand the broom off to the next teammate. If the item falls, that kid has to stop, pick it up, and keep going from where they dropped it. Whichever team finishes first wins.
Monster Feet Walk
Give each kid two sturdy paper plates and have them stand on top of the plates, one foot on each. The goal is to “walk” across the room by sliding the plates along the floor without ever stepping off.
Line kids up at a starting point and set a finish line across the room. Whoever slides across first without stepping off their plates wins. It’s harder than it sounds, and watching everyone wobble across is half the fun 😉
If you want a head start with the kids’ table specifically, I put together a free printable pack of Halloween games for kids you can grab and print in a few minutes. Just enter your name and email below, and I’ll send it to you.
And if you want even more ideas built just for the younger crowd, I wrote a whole post on the Best Halloween Games for Kids That Will Save Your Party.
Halloween Party Games for Teens
Teens want something a little more competitive, so these lean into trivia, wit, and a bit of friendly chaos.
Halloween Trivia Battle
Put together a list of 20-30 Halloween trivia questions covering movies, candy, traditions, and pop culture. Split teens into 2-3 teams and take turns reading questions out loud.
Teams answer together, either by shouting out or writing their answer down before time’s up. Give a point for every correct answer and keep score on a whiteboard or piece of paper.
The team with the most points at the end wins bragging rights, and you can throw in a small prize if you want to raise the stakes.
Charades: Movie Monster Edition
Write down a list of horror movie characters and monsters, like Frankenstein, a zombie, a vampire, or a werewolf, on slips of paper and fold them up.
Split into two teams. One person from a team picks a slip and acts it out without speaking while their team tries to guess within a set time limit, usually 60-90 seconds.
If they guess correctly before time’s up, the team scores a point. Teams alternate turns until everyone’s had a chance to act.
Would You Rather: Halloween Edition
Write or print a list of Halloween-themed would you rather questions, like “Would you rather trick or treat in the rain or in the cold?” or “Would you rather eat a candy corn sandwich or a mystery Halloween smoothie?”
Read one question at a time and have everyone pick a side by moving to one side of the room or raising their hand. Let a few people explain their pick before moving to the next question. There’s no real winner here; it’s just a good way to get teens talking and laughing.
Mystery Clue Hunt
Write a series of five or six Halloween themed clues that each lead to the next hidden clue, ending with a final prize or answer. Hide each clue somewhere around the house or yard before the party.
Give teens the first clue and let them work together to figure out where it points. Each clue they solve leads them to the next hiding spot, until the final clue reveals the last hiding place. This works well as a small group activity or a race between two teams starting from different first clues.
Mad Libs: Halloween Story
Write or print a short Halloween story with blank spaces for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and names, but don’t let anyone see the actual story yet.
Go around the group and ask each person for a word that fits the type of blank you call out, like “give me an adjective” or “name an animal.” Fill in every blank with their answers, then read the finished story out loud.
The story will be mismatched and ridiculous, so everyone will laugh.
Two Truths and a Lie: Spooky Edition
Have each teen come up with three statements about a scary experience, a Halloween memory, or something spooky, two of them true, and one made up.
Go around the group one at a time, with each person sharing their 3 statements. Everyone else votes on which one they think is the lie. After the votes are in, the person reveals the actual lie, and whoever guessed correctly gets a point.
Category Countdown
Pick a category, like “things found in a haunted house” or “Halloween candy,” and a random letter of the alphabet. Set a short timer, around 10-15 seconds.
Whoever is up has to name something in that category starting with that letter before time runs out. If they can’t think of anything in time, they’re out for that round. Keep swapping categories and letters until you’ve got a winner left standing.
Halloween Emoji Pictionary
Put together a list of Halloween movies, songs, or phrases translated into strings of emojis, like a ghost and a house for a haunted house movie.
Show one emoji string at a time and let teens shout out their guess. First person to guess correctly gets a point. Keep a running scoreboard and go through as many as you’ve prepared.
Guess the Horror Movie by One Line
Pull a single memorable line from a well-known horror movie, nothing too obscure, and read it out loud without saying the title.
Let teens shout out which movie they think the line is from. The first correct guess earns a point. This works best with movies most teens would actually recognize, so stick to popular titles rather than obscure classics.
Scary Story Chain
Have the group sit in a circle. One person starts a scary or silly story with a single sentence, something simple like “It was a dark and stormy night when the front door creaked open.”
Going around the circle, each person adds one more sentence, building on whatever came before. Keep going until the story reaches a natural or ridiculous ending. Recording it or having someone write it down as you go makes for a funny read afterward.
Halloween Riddle Relay
Write out a set of 8-10 Halloween-themed riddles, each with a clear answer. Split into teams and give each team the same set of riddles, either on cards or one sheet.
Teams race to solve as many riddles as they can within a set time limit, writing down their answers. When time’s up, go through the answers together and give a point for each correct one. The team with the most points wins.
Halloween Trivia Crossword
Put together a crossword puzzle built entirely from Halloween clues, like “orange vegetable carved for Halloween” for pumpkin, or “flying nocturnal creature” for bat. Print one copy per person.
Hand out the puzzles along with pencils and let everyone work through it at their own pace. This one’s quieter than most of the other teen games, so it’s a good option for teens who’d rather sit and think than perform in front of a group.
Halloween Party Games for Adults
These work just as well with coffee as they do with a glass of wine in hand 😉
Halloween Trivia Night
Build a full round of trivia, 20-30 questions covering Halloween history, horror movies, and traditions. Split into teams and set up a scoring system on a whiteboard or notepad.
Read one question at a time and give teams a short window to answer, either shouting it out or writing it down depending on how competitive the group is.
Tally points after each round and crown a winning table at the end. Keep the questions mixed between easy and tricky so no single team runs away with it too fast.
Guess the Horror Movie by One Line
Same setup as the teen version, but pull quotes from more adult horror classics, the kind teens might not have seen yet. Read a single line out loud without the title.
Whoever shouts out the correct movie first scores a point. Keep a running tally and go through as many quotes as you’ve got prepared. This one works especially well with a group that actually watches horror movies together.
Two Truths and a Lie: Halloween Edition
Have each adult come up with 3 Halloween-related statements about themselves, two true and one made up, like a costume they wore years ago or a Halloween tradition from their family.
Go around the group with each person sharing their three statements. Everyone else votes on which one they think is false before the answer is revealed. It’s a good way to learn something new about people you’ve known for years.
Adult Halloween Pictionary
Write a list of Halloween words and phrases on slips of paper, mixing easy ones with trickier ones like “haunted house” or “jump scare.” Split into teams.
One person from a team draws a slip and sketches it out on paper or a whiteboard while their team tries to guess within a set time. No letters or numbers are allowed in the drawing. Teams alternate turns, and whichever team guesses the most correctly wins.
Word Association Chain
Start with one Halloween word, like “pumpkin.” Going around the circle, each person says the first word that comes to mind based on the word just before theirs.
Keep the chain moving quickly; no long pauses allowed. If someone repeats a word already used, or takes too long to answer, they’re out. Keep going until only one person’s left, or just let it run a few rounds for laughs.
Costume Superlatives Vote
Before the party, or as people arrive, print ballots with categories like scariest costume, funniest costume, most last-minute costume, and best group costume.
Hand out ballots and let guests vote for their picks in each category as the party goes on.
Collect ballots at a set time and tally the results. Announce the winners together, maybe with a small prize for each category, as a fun way to wrap up the costume portion of the night.
Would You Rather: Grown-Up Halloween Edition
Write or print a list of Halloween-themed would you rather questions geared toward adult humor, like “Would you rather host Thanksgiving every year or never eat candy again?
Read one question at a time and let everyone pick a side, either by raising a hand or moving to one side of the room. Let a few people explain their answer before moving on. It’s an easy icebreaker that works well early in the party when people are still warming up.
Name That Candy Blind Taste Test
Gather a handful of Halloween candies, unwrap small pieces of each, and number them without letting anyone see which is which. Blindfold guests one at a time.
Have the blindfolded guest taste each numbered piece and guess what it is. Keep score of how many they get right. This one gets surprisingly tricky; some candies taste a lot more alike than you’d think once you can’t see the wrapper.
Never Have I Ever: Halloween Edition
Come up with a list of Halloween-specific prompts, like “never have I ever forgotten my costume until the day of” or “never have I ever eaten candy meant for trick-or-treaters.”
Have everyone hold up ten fingers to start. Read one prompt at a time, and anyone who has done the thing puts a finger down. Keep going through the prompts until someone runs out of fingers first, or just play a set number of rounds for fun.
Guess the Decade Costume
Pull together photos of iconic costumes or Halloween looks from different decades: the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Show one photo at a time.
Have guests guess which decade the costume is from based on the style, colors, or references. Give a point for each correct guess. This one works especially well with a group that has a mix of ages, since everyone remembers different decades.
Storytelling Roulette
Hand everyone a slip of paper and ask them to write one scary, weird, or ridiculous sentence, without telling anyone else what they wrote. Collect all the slips in a bowl or hat.
Have one person pull the slips out one at a time and read them out loud in random order, building one long, chaotic story out of everyone’s sentences. The result is usually hilarious and makes zero sense, which is the whole point.
Halloween Trivia Speed Round
Put together a shorter set of 10-15 rapid-fire Halloween trivia questions. Set a strict time limit per question: 5-10 seconds.
Ask questions back to back with almost no pause between them, and give points to whoever answers first and correctly. This works well later in the party when energy’s dipping and you need something fast-paced to pick the mood back up.
Halloween Games Everyone Can Play Together
These are the ones that work no matter who’s in the room: little kids, teens, grandparents…
Family Halloween Bingo
Print bingo cards using a mix of Halloween images that both young kids and adults will recognize: pumpkins, ghosts, candy, black cats. Hand a card to every player, from the youngest to the oldest.
Call out images one at a time and have everyone mark their card if they have a match. The first person to complete a row wins, and running a couple of rounds means more than one person gets a turn at winning.
Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of common Halloween decorations to spot, like a black cat, a skeleton, a glowing pumpkin, or a spider web. Print or write out a copy for each family or team.
Send everyone out to walk the neighborhood, checking off items as they spot them. Set a time limit and a meeting point to head back to. Whoever finds the most items on the list, or finds everything first, wins.
Charades: Halloween Edition
Write a list of Halloween words and phrases simple enough for kids but funny enough for adults, like “trick or treat,” “haunted house,” or “witch’s cauldron.”
Split into teams and take turns acting out a word without speaking while your team guesses within a time limit. Kids can partner with an adult if they need help thinking of how to act something out. Keep swapping turns between teams until you’ve gone through the whole list.
Pictionary: Halloween Edition
Write Halloween words and phrases on slips of paper, mixing easy ones for younger kids with trickier ones for teens and adults. Split into mixed-age teams so nobody’s stuck against players way above or below their level.
One person draws while their team guesses, with a short time limit per turn. No letters, numbers, or talking allowed while drawing. Rotate through the team so everyone gets a turn at the marker.
Trivia Showdown: All Ages
Build a trivia round with a real mix, some easy questions any kid could answer, like “What do you carve for Halloween?” and some trickier ones for the adults.
Split into mixed-age teams so each team has a shot at both the easy and hard questions. Read questions one at a time and keep score on a board everyone can see.
This keeps the whole family engaged instead of leaving kids bored during adult-level questions.
Guess the Costume Silhouette
Cut out or print black silhouettes of classic Halloween costumes: a witch’s hat, a vampire cape, a pumpkin shape, a ghost sheet. Show one silhouette at a time using a projector, screen, or printed card.
Have the group guess what costume the silhouette belongs to before revealing the full picture. The first correct guess scores a point. This one’s simple enough for young kids and still fun for adults trying to beat them to the answer.
Halloween Word Search Relay
Print one Halloween word search per team, with the same list of words for every sheet. Split into small teams mixing kids and adults.
Instead of one person searching alone, have team members take turns, each person finding one word before passing the sheet to the next teammate. Whichever team finds every word first wins. This keeps younger kids involved even if they can’t read every word themselves.
Guess the Spooky Sound (Family Edition)
Put together a playlist of sound effects that mixes silly sounds, like a cat meowing or a door squeaking, with a few genuinely spooky ones, like distant thunder or a low growl. Keep the scary ones mild enough for young kids.
Play one clip at a time and have everyone guess what it is, either shouting out or writing it down. Give a point for each correct guess. This version works well as an opener since it’s gentle enough not to actually scare anyone.
Guess Who’s Behind the Mask
Before the party, take close up photos of each family member wearing a Halloween mask, face paint, or a partial costume that hides who they are. Print the photos or pull them up on a screen.
Show one photo at a time and have the group guess who’s behind the disguise. This works surprisingly well even with people who know each other well, since a mask or face paint changes things more than you’d expect.
Halloween Story Starters
Write out a set of cards, each with the first line of a spooky or silly story, like “The pumpkin on the porch started to glow at midnight.” Hand one card to each person or team.
Give everyone a few minutes to finish the story however they want, out loud or written down. Go around and have each person share their finished version. The range of directions people take the same opening line is usually the best part.
Halloween Family Feud
Before the party, survey family members with a handful of Halloween questions, like “name something you’d find in a haunted house” or “name a Halloween candy kids trade away.” Tally the most common answers.
Play it out Feud style, splitting into two teams and having them guess the top answers from your survey. Award points based on how high up the list each guessed answer ranks. This one takes a little prep beforehand but gets a big reaction on the day.
Halloween Riddle Chain
Write a series of Halloween riddles where the answer to each one becomes a clue pointing toward the next riddle, ending with a final answer or prize.
Read the first riddle to the whole group and let everyone work together to solve it. Each solved riddle leads to the next, until the group reaches the final answer together. This works well as a group activity rather than splitting into competing teams.
Pumpkin Trivia Race
Put together a short set of 10 easy Halloween trivia questions that both kids and adults can answer, nothing too tricky.
Ask questions one at a time and let anyone shout out the answer. First correct answer wins a small pumpkin-shaped prize or piece of candy. Keep it fast-paced since it works best as a quick filler game between bigger activities.
Spot the Fake Halloween Fact
Put together a list of Halloween facts, some real and one made up, and read them out loud one at a time, like “candy corn was originally called chicken feed.”
After reading through the whole list, have the group vote on which fact they think is fake. Reveal the answer and see who guessed right. This works well as a calmer, seated game between more active ones.
Musical Pumpkins
Set out small pumpkins, one fewer than the number of players, in a circle on the floor. Play Halloween music while everyone walks around the pumpkins.
Stop the music at random. Everyone scrambles to grab a pumpkin, and whoever’s left without one is out. Remove one more pumpkin each round until only one player and one pumpkin are left.
Halloween Freeze Tag
Pick one person to be “it” and have them wear a witch hat so everyone can spot them easily. Set clear boundaries for where the game can be played.
The person who’s “it” chases the others, and anyone tagged has to freeze in place, striking a spooky pose. Frozen players can be unfrozen if another player who’s still free touches them. Play continues until everyone’s frozen, then pick a new person to be “it.”
Balloon Pop Relay
Fill Halloween colored balloons with small prizes, dares, or trivia questions written on slips of paper, then scatter them around the party area.
Have players race to grab a balloon and pop it, usually by sitting on it, then read or claim whatever was inside. This works as a steady activity throughout the party rather than one single round, letting people wander over and pop one whenever they want.
Candy Corn Estimation Jar
Set out a jar filled with candy corn, separate from the kids’ version if you’re running both, and keep the real count written down somewhere private.
Let everyone, kids and adults included, submit a written guess with their name attached. At the end of the party, reveal the actual count and announce whoever guessed closest without going over. Whoever wins takes the jar home.
Tips for Picking the Right Halloween Games for Your Party
You don’t need all 57 games, obviously. Just pick a handful based on who’s coming to your Halloween party.
If it’s mostly kids, lean on the kids’ section and add one or two from the everyone list to keep things moving. Mixed ages do best with games from the everyone section plus one or two from each age group so nobody’s stuck watching from the sidelines.
Keep score simple. A whiteboard or even a stack of candy as points works better than anything complicated, especially once kids are involved.
And always have one backup game ready. Something might run shorter than you planned, and having an extra in your back pocket keeps the party from stalling.
Wrap Up
With 57 games split by age group, you’ve got more than enough to fill a party without scrambling for ideas at the last minute. Pick a few from each section, print out what you need, and you’re set.
If you want a head start with the kids’ table specifically, grab my free printable pack of Halloween games for kids, and you’ll have something ready to hand out the moment the party starts.
