50 Fun Things to Do for Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner! We’ve rounded up 50 of the best scary (and not so scary!) ideas for parties, games, and spooky fun.

History of Halloween

Before we dive into the fun stuff, here’s a quick rundown on the history of Halloween. Believe it or not, it’s actually a combination of two very different holidays—the Celtic festival Sanhain and the Catholic celebration of All Saints Day.

Sanhain was held on October 31, when Celts believed the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth. They dressed up in costumes and held bonfires to ward off ghosts, make sacrifices, and do fortune tellings.

Fast forward a couple thousand years. By this time, Christianity had made its way into Celtic lands. Catholics celebrated All Saints Day on November 1, to honor martyrs and saints. Eventually, the two celebrations more or less merged and new traditions, like trick or treating, ghost stories, and costumes, were introduced to form what we celebrate today—Halloween!

Fun Things to Do for Halloween

Whether your Halloween plans include hosting a party, passing out candy, or just having fun as a family at home, here are 50 ideas to help you plan the perfect celebration.

Halloween Party Ideas

1. Set up a fire pit in the backyard and tell scary stories and roast marshmallows.
2. Host a themed costume party—the more creative, the better! (Examples: Characters from a movie or book, uniforms from professions, or villains from history)
3. Have a Halloween potluck where everyone brings a spooky dish or treat.
4. Transform your house into a haunted house and let your guests brave a tour. You can up the scare factor by assigning a few people to dress up and jump out and scare your guests.
5. Make Halloween crafts, like a candy wreath using leftover wrapped Halloween candy
6. Whip up some cookies and frosting and invite friends over for a cookie-decorating party
7. Host a BYOP (bring your own pumpkin!) party and carve jack-o-lanterns. You can also have your guests vote on their favorites or award participants with Scariest, Funniest, or Most Creative.
8. Watch a scary movie in the dark.
9. Host a murder mystery dinner game. (You can find kits, accessories, and scripts online.) Send invitations to guests and encourage everyone to dress up as their character.
10. Not into the scary stuff? Host a fall festival with games and food and fall décor, like hay bales, leaves, and apples.
11. Set up a photo booth with different Halloween props. Hats, fake mustaches, feather boas, fake snakes, and glasses are a few ideas to get you started.
12. Do a spooky scavenger hunt. You can hide fake bones, candy, or other Halloween-themed items.
13. Who says gingerbread houses are only for Christmas? A Halloween gingerbread house is a spooky twist on the holiday favorite and a fun get-together for friends.
14. Have a glow party! Wear glow in the dark clothes, make necklaces and bracelets out of glow sticks, and dim the lights for a fun twist.
15. If you love all things pumpkin spice (and who doesn’t?), host a Pumpkin Spice party. Serve pumpkin-spice flavored drinks and treats and burn scented candles.
16. You don’t need to wait for the dark for the fun to start! Host a Halloween brunch and invite guests to come in costume.
17. Visit a local pumpkin patch and participate in their fall activities.
18. If you’re hosting an adults-only party, have a “Boos and Brews” beer tasting or cocktail party. It’s a great time to sample seasonal drinks, like pumpkin or apple flavored beers and wines.
19. If you count your pets among your friends and family, host a pet costume party and invite everyone to bring their pet dressed in costume. Serve treats for your four-legged friends as well.
20. Host your very own monster mash with friends. This is a theme that’s great for kids and adults. Make a playlist of fun Halloween songs. You can even get a fog machine to add a fun effect to the dance floor!

Halloween Games

21. Bobbing for apples is a classic Halloween game. For a more hygienic version, tie apples to a string and hang them along a clothesline. Guests can try and eat as much of their apple as possible hands-free.
22. Play Halloween bingo! Just download some cards online or make your own. Pass out fun prizes for the winners. For a fun twist, use candy corn or other Halloween candy as markers.
23. Halloween isn’t just about treats—you can have some fun with tricks, too! If you have a doorbell camera, you can have some harmless fun making spooky noises or talking to your visitors as they approach. (Check out these great trick or treating videos caught on camera!)
24. Scattergories is a perfect party game and even more fun with a Halloween twist.
25. Pin the spider on the web is a perfect game for kids. Make a large spider web on the wall, and have kids try and “pin” a spider cutout (using tape) to the middle of the web.
26. Charades – Write Halloween-related phrases and movies on index cards
27. Make your own witch hat ring toss out of construction paper and anything ring-shaped, such as glow-stick bracelets or pool diving rings.
28. It’s simple to put a Halloween spin on bean bag toss or cornhole. Decorate a box to look like a monster or jack-o-lantern and see who can get the most bags in.
29. Halloween tic tac toe is another easy game to set up that everyone knows. Use painter’s tape to make a giant board on the floor, then use mini pumpkins and gourds as markers.
30. A ghoulish take on the potato sack race, a ghost race uses white pillowcases decorated like ghosts.
31. Put a fun spin on Name That Tune by playing a few seconds of a Halloween song, and see who guesses first! You can also write lines from songs on cards and see how many each person can guess correctly.
32. A photo scavenger hunt is a great game for a large group. Divide up in teams and have them hunt for Halloween-related items, like a black cat, ghost decorations, or pumpkins, then take pictures of the items.
33. Not sure what to do with all that Halloween candy? Turn it into a guessing game and see who can guess the most candies correctly.
34. Want a sweet alternative to bobbing for apples? Play donuts on a string! Tie donuts to a ribbon and attach them to a rope or clothesline. The object is to eat the donut (no hands!) without letting it fall off the ribbon.
35. Play Ghost in the Graveyard! It is a perfect Halloween game for kids, teens, and adults.

Activities for Kids

36. Face painting is a fun activity for kids, and many Halloween objects (like witch hats, ghosts, and pumpkins) are simple to paint.
37. Make pumpkin Rice Krispie treats with some orange food coloring and pumpkin-shaped cookie cutters.
38. Little ones can still decorate pumpkins without carving them. Pumpkin painting is a fun, safer, and much less messy alternative!
39. Kids can get their energy out with a pumpkin stomp. Blow up orange balloons as “pumpkins” and let kids stomp them.
40. Print off Halloween-related coloring pages for kids to color or paint.
41. Kids will have fun getting crafty by painting Halloween rocks. Frankenstein, ghosts, and pumpkins are perfect for rock painting.
42. If you’re skipping trick-or-treating, a Halloween pinata is a fun way to let kids enjoy Halloween candy.
43. Print out masks online (or buy them from a craft store) and let kids decorate them with feathers, googly eyes, and other materials.
44. An “eyeball hunt” is like an easter egg hunt, but uses googly eyes attached throughout the yard or house. Kids “hunt” for the eyes and trade them in for candy.
45. Play pumpkin toss by using pumpkin candy and candy bowls or plastic cauldrons.
46. Make ghost lollipops by wrapping tissues around lollipops, then tying a ribbon at the base to create a “ghost.” Attach googly eyes or use a marker to make faces.
47. Play musical chairs with Halloween music or sound effects.
48. Kids can get their wiggles out and show off their dance moves at the same time playing Monster Freeze Dance. Kids can dance while you play Halloween music, then stop when the music stops. Whoever is still dancing when the music stops is out.
49. Watch Halloween cartoons or movies as a family.
50. Go to the library with your kids and check out Halloween-related picture books.

Whatever your Halloween plans are, these games and activities are sure to get you in the mood for spooky season!