20 Halloween Activities for this Season

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and always has been. Growing up, my family didn’t have a lot of money, and with fewer resources comes more creativity. My mom would make my Halloween costume every year, and I have treasured memories of helping her. Each year I love creating Halloween games for my students to play.

Here are 20 activities to try this Halloween — and since each group is different, I’ve included 10 competitive games and 10 non-competitive activities. Happy Halloween!

Competitive Activities / Games to Play

1. Dracula Pie: Take a paper plate, place plastic Dracula teeth on them, and then cover in whipped cream. The person who can get through the whipped cream to the Dracula teeth and put them on without touching the teeth wins!
2. Ghost Race: Set up an obstacle course and have participants race against each other while wearing ghost costumes.
3. Sweet Secrets: Fill a bowl with various candies and have players blindfolded guess what type of candy they are tasting.
4. Halloween Bingo: Play Bingo, with Halloween candy as prizes! You can even use candy corn as bingo daubers!
5. Spiders in a Cup: In teams of two, see how many times the team can transfer a spider ring from one cup to another. You can also play this “minute to win it” style with one cup and a bag of rings for one competitor.
6. Halloween Escape Room: On my personal blog, you can download the game I made for my youth a few years ago!
7. Spiderweb Obstacle Course: Using a roll of white streams, create an obstacle course in a hallway or a small room. The goal is for students to get through the course without ripping the streamers! If you have two hallways, create two teams and have each team create the obstacle course that the other team has to go through.
8. Mummy Wrap: A classic game, split the group into teams. Wrap one person in toilet paper. The best mummy wins!
9. Murder Mystery Party: Host a classic “who done it” party complete with costumes and characters. I recommend this website! We did the “Teen Idol” one, and made our own graphics so that it felt less “murder” and more “mystery party.”
10. Scarecrow Race: Have students dress a scarecrow using clothes. You can do this a few ways — give them a costume box and let them create the best outfit; hide the clothes and have them scavenge for it; or let them do a relay race to decorate their scarecrow!

Non-competitive Activities:

1. Zombie Dance Party: Set up a dance floor and play eerie music. Participants must dance like true zombies to the rhythm of the music.
2. Spooky Stories Circle: Have people sit in a circle, and share a non-scary story in a scary voice/vibe.
3. Pass-it-on Ghost Story: Sit in a circle, and have each person contribute one word or sentence to a ghost story.
4. Candy Treasure Hunt: Hide candies around the house or yard and have participants go on a fun-filled treasure hunt.
5. Costume Parade: Organize a costume parade where participants can show off their scariest or most original Halloween costumes. You can award prizes if you’d like (Amazon has pre-made trophies!).
6. Scary-Oke: My absolute favorite activity; set up a kareoke space and allow students to sing songs! I recommend a KaraFun subscription.
7. Hay Ride: Even if you don’t have a green space and a tractor, rent a Uhaul and a trailer, fill with hay, and give rides around your parking lot!
8. Pumpkin Carving/Painting Contest: I prefer giving students small pumpkins and paint. If you’d like, make it into a contest!
9. Apple Cider Bar / S’mores Station
10. Themed Costume Party: If Halloween is taboo in your church culture, have a themed night with costumes so that teenagers can still have the fun but in a less-spooky environment. You can host a “lumberjacks and flapjacks” night,