Jennifer

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I love Halloween, unabashedly so. 

There’s something rather magical about dressing up, running around, knocking on neighbors’ doors, yelling “trick or treat!” and having treats delivered straight into your bag. And yes, while free candy is always nice, it’s the spirit of the season—which is purely playful—that speaks to my heart. 

A couple years ago, we threw my daughter a Halloween-themed birthday party. Her birthday happens to fall in October and that year, she wanted a Halloween costume party. My mother-in-law baked her a pumpkin-shaped cake. My husband designed a haunted house invite, and I make a mix CD of some classic Halloween tunes. 

One of the biggest parts of the preparation process, though, was coming up with a list of games to play. We came up with a list of mostly classic games and then threw a little Halloween spin on them. Since that party, these games have become an October tradition for our family: 

Mummy Wrap

Take several rolls of white crepe paper (I prefer it to toilet paper because it looks more like bandages but either one will do), and take turns wrapping each other into mummies. I suppose you could add a time limit or judging aspect to this, but honestly, the kids have always had the most fun just wrapping. 

Monster Charades

We play this as a family after dinner during the Halloween season. Break into two teams. Have each team write down a variety of monsters or Halloween characters (cat, witch, jack-o-lantern) on craft sticks or strips of paper. Then have each team put their sticks in a separate container then trade containers. That way your team is drawing from the other team’s list. When it’s your turn to go, draw a stick and act it out. 

Zombie Tag

This is a great game for the kids to play when they're in a group. It’s just like regular tag except that when the zombie (a.k.a “It” person) tags you, you turn into another zombie and then start tagging others. The game continues this way until everyone’s been turned into a zombie. 

Spider Web Game

I found directions for this game in a book published in the 1930s. I guess you can say it’s a classic. It’s also a great way to surprise the kids after school or on a weekend morning. Hide a toy or small trinket somewhere in the room. Then tie it to the end of a ball of yarn. Wind the yard in and around the room, creating a big web. Then tie the end to a starting place and have children follow it to their prize. 

Halloween Pictures Game

Just like the classic “picture-guessing” game, kids draw a picture of something and have the other guess what they’re drawing. To make it Halloween-themed, you can use famous monsters, or Halloween book or family movie titles like It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and The Corpse Bride. 

Getting out, running around and having a great time is fun in any season. The fact that once a year, we get to make it even sillier with the addition of legendary stories and characters? Well, that's cause for a spooky celebration.