!8: Saved Halloween Yard Haunts: December 2011

!±8± Halloween Party Games for All Ages

Halloween party games should be fun for everyone. You should be able to enjoy them with your children and then play all over again with your spouse and some friends after the little goblins go to bed. The games presented here can be adjusted to work for all age groups. You may even find ways to use them for some intimate Halloween play with someone special.

Halloween Party Games - The Wink of Death

This is one of the most versatile Halloween party games you will find anywhere. It can be played with so many different sets of rules that you will find yourself making up your own once you get the hang of it. The idea is to designate one person as a "murderer" without anyone else knowing who was designated. Only the murderer knows who they are at the beginning of the game.

Everyone walks around or perhaps goes on with other activities at the party, keeping a lookout for the murderer. The murderer has to find opportunity to make eye contact with someone and wink at them without anyone else seeing them do it. The person who is winked at has to sit down (or fall down if you have some actors in the gang) because they are now dead.

The trick is for the murderer to get them all down without anyone else seeing them wink. They should do it while others are around or it becomes obvious they are the murderer, yet they can't be seen by those other people or they will be exposed and the game is over. You can use other variations, such as changing the wink to a kiss on the cheek to make it even harder for adult Halloween parties.

Halloween Party Games - The Haunted Hunt

Scavenger hunts are great party ideas for children no matter what the holiday might be. Halloween is the perfect time for a hunt because others are out on the streets, costumes are dancing down the sidewalks, and the darkness of night takes on an eerie feel even if you are in your own backyard.

Take Halloween-related items and hide them around the yard. Make a list of everything that is hidden and send everyone out to find as many of the items as possible. You can do this before you go trick or treating so they can collect items in their candy bags or buckets without things falling out all over the yard.

This is one of the best Halloween party games to adapt for adult costume parties. You can hide gag gifts, Halloween related and not related, around the party scene. Put up a visible list of everything that is hidden in an obvious location and have everyone look for those items throughout the night.

As the items on the list are found, the finder runs up to the list and checks it off. Whoever finds the gift can keep it or you can allow trading and gambling amongst the party goes. The items used for a game like this will depend on the people coming to your party and the mood you are in!

This is also one of those Halloween party games that can be used for a private connection with someone special. Hide little things around the house and have them find them as they get the kids ready for trick or treat. Instruct them to bring all the items to the bedroom at the end of the night and only you will know what will be done with them!

Halloween Party Games for All Ages

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!±8± Halloween Games - 7 Fun & Scary Games For Teens, Families, & Groups

So, it is true that Halloween unfortunately is associated with words such as: dark, scary, evil, spooky, etc. (we probably should throw the word 'cavity' in there also)! However, as strange as the holiday certainly is, Halloween must be viewed as more than just eating an excessive amount of sugar, visiting haunted houses, or attending costume parties. Halloween should also be an opportunity to spend time with family, friends, and neighbors participating in fun and wholesome entertainment. I realize that the word 'wholesome' and 'Halloween' are not exactly synonymous with each other, but the culture, traditions, and activities of the masses should not also dictate our actions! Halloween is thus the perfect opportunity to have good clean fun, create wonderful memories, help serve others, and most importantly - allow us the opportunity to spend time with family.

Below I have listed just 7 of the many fun Halloween games that are good, uplifting, wholesome ... and extremely FUN!

1) Halloween Scavenger Hunt: Divide everyone playing into teams of 2-3 players each. Each team will need a car, camera, and copy of the tasks to be completed. The goal is to either be the first to complete all the tasks and get back to the house first, or be the one who completes the most after an hour. (For smaller children, adapt the tasks to things to do/find around the house). Examples of random items to get and tasks to do may include: trick or treat 5 houses, buy a pumpkin and carve a face, give a candy to 3 random kids, go to the video store and find the date a Halloween movie was made, go to the grocery store and find out how much a pumpkin costs, go to a grave yard and write the name of one of the tomb stones, knock on a random door and ask for a roll of toilet paper and then wrap another teammate like a mummy, etc. They can be anything ... but to prove you did it, take a photo for each task.

2) Halloween Charades: Each guest at the Halloween party will take 3 slips of paper and write down random acts (ideally related to Halloween) that can be acted out. Examples might include: trick or treating, carving pumpkins, eating candy and feeling sick, flying on a broomstick, visiting a scary graveyard, walking like a mummy, crossing paths of a black cat, attending a dress up party, etc. Place all the slips into a bowl and then divide everyone into two teams. Team 1 will start and send one person to the front, who will have one minute to act out as many scenes as possible. The team will guess, and the teammate acting can't move on to the next word until it is correctly guessed. After a minute, that team gets one point for every correctly guessed acted scene. Then, team 2 will take a turn. The first team to 20 points wins!

3) Pumpkin Quarter Toss: In preparation, carve the middle out of 5 pumpkins. Then, place them at varying distances (each a few feet away from each other). Then designate a throwing line that player will toss from, and divide everyone into two teams. For each turn, every person on the team will get one toss. If the quarter lands in the closest pumpkin, it is worth 1 point; if it lands in the next farthest pumpkin it is worth 2 points; etc. up to 5 points. The first team to score 50 points is the winner!

4) Scary Story Succession: After the trick or treating is done and the party has died down, sit around the family room and turn the lights off. One person will start and take about 30 seconds telling a scary story. At the 30 second mark, they will leave the story hanging and call someone else's name, who will then continue the story making up new twists. After 30 seconds, they will call someone else's name, and this continues - and get's very funny. Otherwise, have one person start and tell a story for about a minute. Then, everyone will take 30 seconds and make up their own ending to that story. Each person takes a turn telling their version of the ending, and everyone will vote as to which one they like the best. Players can't vote for their own story's ending, but a person receives a point for everyone who voted for their ending. Start again with a new person starting a story, and the person who scores 10 points first wins!

5) Halloween Pumpkin Hunt: This game takes a little preparation, but is extremely fun. Hide pumpkins around the yard - or for older teens, hide pumpkins randomly around the town. Then, write down clues that will lead teams from one pumpkin to the next. Divide everyone into two teams or teams of 3-4 people each (thus there pumpkins hidden for each team). The first team to find and retrieve all the pumpkins and get back to the house first is the winner.

6) Pumpkin Bocce: Set a large pumpkin in the middle of the yard (park or open field). Then, each player will need their own smaller pumpkin. Standing about 30 feet away, each player will take a turn rolling their small pumpkin and trying to get it closest to the large pumpkin. The closest player receives 3 points, and the next closest receives 1 point. Then, the person who was closest chooses another spot (but can choose to be close or far away from the main pumpkin), and this repeats. The first person to score 20 points is the winner!

7) Halloween Relay: Begin by dividing everyone playing into two equal teams, and make sure you have a lot of pumpkins because some will break. This relay has many legs/stages. For stage one: line up as a team and the first person will pass the team pumpkin over their head to the person behind who will pass it under their legs to the next teammate, etc. Once the last person gets it, they will run to the front of the line and repeat this. The team that gets the first person who started back to the front of the line first wins that leg and gets a point. For leg two: first team to gut and clean 3 pumpkins first. Leg three: designate a starting line and middle line about 30 feet away. The first person must roll the team pumpkin to the middle line and back, tag the next teammate, and then they must do the same. The first team to finish gets a point. Be creative and make up many more legs - the first team to 5 points wins!

Have Fun!