Are you looking for some Fun Homemade Halloween party games? We’ve assembled a great list to make your party a frugal and fun success. We started with 13 games, but the list keeps growing. We’ve also added some crafts and fun food ideas.
Halloween and the Fall can make for some really fun homemade Harvest party games. We know some people are squeamish about taking their kids out “Trick-or-Treating” so why not borrow some of these ideas. We’ve used variations of some of these for our kids’ birthday parties.
They work great as carnival-type booths or as party games for a small group of kids.
Have fun and be creative – using pumpkins, scarecrows fall leaves and other symbols of the season can make for a festive and memorable party for young kids and adults too.
Halloween and Harvest Party Games
We love playing games at our house. These party games are inexpensive and easy to make.
1. Water Gun Fun
Have your party attendees try to shoot out candle flames with a water pistol. This is a super easy homemade game. The cost of materials is about $2.
We divided the kids into teams of 3 or 4 and gave each team member a squirt gun. We put the candles on a wooden sawhorse and used melted candle wax to get the candles to stick to it. The kids stood behind a table and shot at the candles. We timed how quickly each team was able to extinguish all of the candles.
Another option is to paint plastic cups orange and draw pumpkin faces on them. Stack six of the cups in a pyramid shape and allow the kids to shoot at them with water pistols.
We used Nerf triple shot water pistols.
This is a great carnival booth-type game.
2. The Black Cauldron
Fill a big pot full of sand and mix in small prizes and pennies and nickles. See how many each kid can find in 10 seconds. Get prizes from a Dollar Store or use trinkets from around your home.
The cost of this homemade game ranges from $2 to $10 depending on the prizes you choose.
RELATED ARTICLE: Non-Scary Halloween Costumes
3. Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin or ScareCrow
Draw or paint a picture on craft paper and use a sticker for the nose or cut the shape out of felt or heavy construction paper. Put a loop of tape on the back to adhere the nose to the large poster/paper.
Steve painted this homemade Halloween pumpkin in about 30 minutes.
The cost of materials is about $2.
4. Jack-O-Lantern Bean Bag Toss
Cut a piece of wood or thick cardboard and paint a pumpkin on it. cut out large openings (eyes, nose, and mouth). Number the openings and keep track of the points as the kids toss each beanbag through the holes.
Steve made this using a scrap piece of particle board and a jigsaw. He painted it with spray paint and left-over oil-based paints we had in the garage. A homemade Harvest party or Fall Festival doesn’t have to be new or expensive.
The cost of materials is about $2.
5. Harvest Party Pumpkin Walk (Cakewalk)
Cut out construction paper orange pumpkins and write a large number on each pumpkin. Place the pumpkins on the floor and start the music. When the music stops, draw a number from a hat and the child standing on that numbered pumpkin wins a prize.
Get prizes from a local Dollar Store or used baked goods like cookies or cupcakes.
The cost of materials is about $1 plus prizes.
6. Halloween Taboo Game
As guests arrive at your party, give them each a card or piece of paper with list of words that can’t be said during the party. If someone says one of the words on the list, their card is taken away and they are out of the game. At the end of the night give a special treat to anyone who still has their list.
Examples of Taboo Words
- Boo
- Creepy
- Ghost
- Pumpkin
- Mask
- More Candy
- Phantom
- Scary
- Spooky
- Trick or Treat
The cost of materials is less than $1.
7. Fall Festival Donut Eating Race
Hang a donut from a string on a tree branch or sturdy rod. Each contestant stands with their hands behind their backs and bites at the donut. The first one to finish is the winner.
The cost of a dozen doughnuts ranges from $4 to $8.
8. Bobbing for Apples
Fill a shallow bin or metal container with water and float apples on top. Each contestant kneels on the ground with their hands behind their backs and tries to get an apple out of the water by only using their teeth.
We’ve seen some clever kids look for an apple with the longest stem and pull it out that way.
We have a metal water trough and a big plastic carrying container that we’ve used. An ice chest would also work.
The cost of apples is about $2.
9. Pumpkin Search Game
Hide a bunch of mini pumpkins (real or plastic) around your house or yard. Let your kids search for them. The one who finds the most mini pumpkins wins a prize . . . more candy of course.
If you do use mini plastic pumpkins and can fit some candy inside each one, then the person who finds the most pumpkins gets the most candy . . . oh, parents will love this one.
The cost of plastic pumpkins will range from $.50 each to $2. The best way to get them is after Halloween when they are discounted to almost nothing.
10. Scare Crow Building Contest
Divide your guests into teams of 3 or 4 people. Give each team the same supplies you can get from thrift stores, arts and craft stores or home improvement stores: hay or straw, an old flannel shirt, burlap bags (most home repair stores sell sheets of this), rope, blue jeans, boots, 2 broomsticks, extra pieces of colored fabric, scissors and a stapler.
Give the teams 30 minutes and then judge them for their creativity.
The cost of materials will depend on if you use your old clothes or shop at a thrift store. But count on spending $3 to $10.
11. Candy Corn Guessing Game
This is another colorful and fun homemade Halloween carnival game.
Fill a jar or bucket full of candy corn and let kids guess how many pieces are in the jar. Of course, you’ll have to count before you seal the jar. The person who guesses closest to the number wins the jar and the candy.
The cost of materials is about $3.
12. Pop Goes the Pumpkin
Blow up a large number of orange balloons and staple them to a wooden board. One child at a time is given 3 darts to throw at the orange balloons. They win a piece of candy for each balloon they pop.
The cost for inexpensive Darts and Balloons is about $6.
13. Sensory Seek Search for Candy Corn
We used food coloring and alcohol to color 4 cups of each color of rice.
Directions:
- Put 1 ounce of rubbing alcohol in a small or shot glass.
- Add 20 drops of food coloring to the glass and mix.
- Do this for each of the two dying colors separately.
- Put four cups of rice in a gallon-size zippered bag and pour the dye mixture all over.
- Shake up the bag, massaging the rice inside to distribute the coloring.
You should end up with Orange, Yellow and White rice.
Dry the rice on cookie sheets in a slightly warm oven for a couple of hours. Or leave it in the oven overnight with the oven light on.
Mix the multi-colored rice in a big bowl and pour in a couple of bags of candy corn. We added about one pound but you can add more if you like.
The kids are given 1 minute each to try to sift out as much candy corn with their hands as possible.
The cost of materials is about $1. But this homemade Halloween game will take you about an hour of prep time.
14. Glow Stick Ring Toss
We bought inexpensive glow sticks and stuck a couple of pieces of PVC pipe in the ground. The kids stand a few feet away and toss the glow stick circles on the stakes. Give each child 3 or 5 glow stick hoops to toss. Whoever gets the most on the stake wins a candy prize.
The cost of materials is about $3.
Halloween Party Crafts
When you’re planning a homemade Halloween party, you don’t just have to play games. Doing some fun DIY crafts with kids is always a hit. Just make sure you have some large surfaces that are protected from spilled paint, water and other materials.
15. Pillow Case or T-Shirt Decorating
Buy several pillowcases or T-shirts from thrift stores and wash them. You can choose Halloween colors like orange, purple, black, lime green and of course white. Give each child some fabric paint to decorate their item. Start this project at the beginning of the party and use a fan to help dry the paint quickly.
16. Halloween Coloring Pages
Having a couple of boxes of crayons and downloading some free Halloween coloring pages could be fun for just about any aged party attendees.
Get free printable pages from these sites:
- Crayola.com has hundreds of free coloring pages – this link is specifically for their Halloween pages.
- HappinessIsHomemade.net has 22 free Halloween Coloring Pages to download
- Coloring.ws has dozens of free Halloween Coloring Pages for downloading.
RELATED ARTICLE: Free Coloring Pages for Adults
17. Paper Plate Spiders
Staple two paper plates together. Tuck in 8 sparkle Pipe Cleaners for legs and staple them in place. Paint in your favorite colors and add eyeballs on top. You can hang from a ribbon or just leave laying on the table. Use different sized paper plates for variety.
Halloween Party Food
There are so many options for fun Halloween Food. Basically, anything orange and black will look festive. Here are a few ideas.
18. Homemade Halloween Pumpkin or Spider Cookies
Make a batch of sugar cookies and provide colored frosting and sprinkles so the kids can decorate their own. Or make spider cookies using vanilla wafers as a body covered with chocolate frosting. Place M&M’s for eyes and eight pieces of black string licorice for legs. Kids love decorating . . . and then eating these cookies!
19. Spider Cupcakes
Let your imagination go wild with these cupcakes. Use a Devils’ Food cake mix, chocolate frosting, and brown sprinkles. Add Black Licorice legs and red-hot eyes.
Halloween can be so much fun with a little planning. It does not have to cost a lot to make memories with your family!
For more Halloween ideas, visit the Halloween board on our Halloween Ideas Pinterest page!
And for even more Homemade Party Fun, visit the Holidays page in our Money Saving Tips section.
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This section includes Card Games, Number Games, Word Games, Strategy Games, and Board Games.
The squirt gun candle game looks like fun! I never would’ve thought of that! I don’t understand the point of bobbing for apples though, that was never fun to me
The kids always loved the squirt gun candle game!