Some Halloween party games cost next to nothing.

Ghosts and goblins galore are coming to your door on Halloween. Some are dressed as Hollywood stars. Others show up as creatures from Mars. If your house is the place they will haunt, be afraid. Be very afraid?unless you have on hand a couple of kooky Halloween party games.

 

Great gobs of thought and a positively putrid amount of preparation go into the planning of activities that are engaging enough to delight younger kids. Halloween party games need to be simple enough to give every child a chance at fully participating. The games shared here are sure to be hits.

 

Play a game of howling and growling

 

Consider breaking the ice by using a tape recorder. Make a game out of recording some original, scary background music. First, count the number of children who will participate. Tear off that many pages from a small writing pad. You have nine children on the scene? Ask each of them to come up with some words that reflect various scary sounds.

 

Write down their suggestions?one per piece of paper. Soon, the first piece of paper may hold the words: blood-curdling screaming. Another paper: low, vicious growling. A third: cackling of a witch laughing. A fourth: wolf howling at the moon. Place all the papers in a hollowed-out pumpkin or large bowl. Turn on the tape recorder.

 

Quickly now, point to a child. The child snatches a paper out of the bowl and upon reading it, replicates the selected sound effect. The child screams or growls or cackles like a witch. Encourage the others to mimic the sound, even louder?or pass each paper down the line so each child can echo the still-resounding tones. Go fast for maximum fun. Then, play the tape for them. The finished product usually is a hilariously happy horror. It’s a howling collage of nine kids having fun. It is original background music that can be played all night long?each time a little boy or ghoul rings the doorbell.

 

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Play a game of Whack-the-Witch

 

It’s a rare occasion when kids are permitted?nay, encouraged?to hit something. But Halloween is a holiday when kids have lots of energy to expend. They are excited to be dressed up. They are agog at the colors and designs and magnificence of other kids’ costumes. The ingestion of chocolate and candy corn has them running in high gear on undiluted black-and-orange adrenaline.

 

Give them something fun to hit. Provide an outlet for their sugar-induced energy rush. A stick and a blindfold are the only pieces of equipment needed to whack the witch. Which witch? This witch is the one that on other holidays might be called a pi?ata.

 

A witch pi?ata is easy to make from strips of newspaper dunked in a creamy paste of flour and water. Make it in advance of the party and hide it until needed. Use as an armature a large, brown-paper grocery bag. Keep the innards open by bagging up some inflated balloons. Then, tie or tape the neck. Overlay the bag with pasty strips to form the witch’s dress and face. Draw her head to a point and indicate a hat by fashioning a brim out of more paper strips.

 

Your witch can be as simple or as ornate as you wish. If you prefer to make other characters, the kids will love them, too. Vampire pi?atas, ghost pi?atas and black cats are good candidates for paste and paper, finished up with paint or markers. When all is finished, cut a small hole in an unobtrusive spot. Deflate the balloons with something sharp?a knitting needle or knife. Fill the cavern with candy and toy prizes and then tape the hole shut. Let the kids whack away to their hearts’ delight on that most special evening?Halloween night.

 

So, you’ve created a monster?

 

It can be a challenge to present Halloween party games that kids can sink their teeth into. Younger kids sometimes need direction and a creative outlet for their full-moon fever. When thinking about halloween party games, think of something the group can do together. Why not create a monster of your own?one whose features and bone structure are a joint effort?

 

Cover the top of a table or a portion of an uncluttered wall with some sheets of poster paper taped together so as to be fairly seamless. That is the ample canvas you can present for decoration to your soon-to-be artists. Invite suggestions. Should we make a monster?  Should the artwork be scary or pretty? Help the youngsters begin the project by drawing a stick figure?or the shape of a giant face. Then, let the kids do their thing with Crayons, markers or poster paints.

 

Some kids might draw fangs on the mouth. Others might use markers to make big, red eyes. The child drawing the arm may wind up adding a bony hand tipped with long, curved claws. Imagination runs wild on Halloween. And sometimes, it doesn’t take a lot of cash to come up with halloween party games that are a hit at the bash.