Here are 25 Halloween party activities that will help you plan this year’s Halloween bash to your liking.
I don’t think I’ll ever be too old to get excited about Halloween.
It falls right in the middle of my favorite time of the year, and the magical energy of the festival is right up my alley.
And while I love all my personal fall and Halloween traditions, throwing a Halloween party is definitely the most fun and traditional way to celebrate this festival.
The best Halloween parties I’ve ever been to are the ones that have a few things happening throughout the night.
There is nothing overly organized or mandatory, but plenty of activities that get everyone involved.
Also, Halloween gives us so much material to work with. So, not having some fun activities sprinkled in your party would actually be wrong.
So, if you’re hosting this year, here are 27 Halloween party activities that everyone will enjoy participating in, and you’ll enjoy putting together!
27 Halloween Party Activities For Adults
1. Make mystery bags
Fill a few paper bags with completely random Halloween-ish things and make everyone figure out what’s inside without looking.
You could use plastic spiders, candy, fake teeth, tiny pumpkins, slime, feathers, or anything else that feels weird when you can’t see it.
Give everyone 60 seconds to identify as many objects as possible using only their hands.
And obviously, spend the entire time convincing them there’s something much worse inside the bag than there actually is.
2. Play Halloween charades
Halloween charades sounds basic until you make the prompts very specific.
Like, don’t just write ‘ghost’. Write ‘hearing a noise downstairs but deciding to investigate anyway’.
Or ‘realizing the doll you put on the chair is now on the bed ‘.
Other prompts could be escaping a zombie, getting trapped in a haunted elevator, realizing you’re turning into a werewolf, or trying to act normal after seeing a ghost.
Watching your friends attempt to communicate these things without speaking will be entertainment at its best.
3. Do a blindfolded spooky cookie challenge
Give everyone a plain cookie, frosting, sprinkles, and a Halloween design they have to recreate.
Sounds easy enough, right? But the catch is that they will be blindfolded.
Give everyone five minutes to decorate their cookie without seeing anything they’re doing, then reveal the masterpieces at the same time.
Don’t even bother awarding ‘prettiest’, coz hello, this is Halloween.
The prizes need to be for ‘Most Terrifying’, ‘Least Resembling the Assignment’, and ‘Cookie That Appears to Be Going Through Something’.
And then you eat them all.
4. Play guess the Halloween song
Make a playlist filled with Halloween songs, spooky movie soundtracks, and songs that have the right October energy.
Then play only the first few seconds of each one. The first person to correctly name the song gets a point.
Start with easy ones so everyone gets overly confident, then slowly move into harder movie themes and obscure songs.
By round ten, somebody will be yelling an answer before you’ve even pressed play. Whether that answer is remotely correct is another matter.
5. Have a Halloween lip-sync battle
Tell everyone before the party to secretly choose one song for a Halloween lip-sync battle. And please encourage unnecessary commitment.
You could go spooky, dramatic, villainous, or choose a completely normal song and try to make it feel like Halloween.
At the end, everyone can vote for the winner.
6. Do a spooky polaroid challenge
If someone has an instant camera, put it somewhere accessible with a bowl filled with Halloween photo prompts.
Throughout the night, people can pull one and recreate it.
Here are some ideas for your photo prompts:
- Ghost sighting
- Final girl
- Possessed family portrait
- Mysterious figure in the background
- Caught in a haunted house
- The last photo found on the camera
Stick all the pictures onto a wall as you go.
By the end of the party, you’ll have a collection of funny Halloween memories to keep.
7. Play “Who Said It: Horror Movie or My Friend?”
This requires a bit of preparation, but I think it would be hilarious with the right friend group.
Before the party, collect weird, dramatic, or mildly concerning things your friends have actually said.
Then mix them with lines from horror movies.
Read each quote aloud and make everyone guess: Horror movie or someone in this room?
It’s fun to discover that something your friend said over brunch sounds way more disturbing than an actual horror script.
8. Have a pumpkin carving speed round
Put everyone into pairs, give each team a pumpkin, and let them pull a surprise theme from a bowl.
Maybe they have to carve a cat, a celebrity, or the world’s happiest ghost, a haunted house, or the worst pumpkin imaginable.
Then set a timer for 15 minutes and let the game begin.
The pumpkins won’t turn out good, I know, but the panic will definitely make it more entertaining.
9. Create a haunted photo booth challenge
Set up a Halloween photo corner with whatever you already have, like an old sheet, fairy lights, pumpkins, fake cobwebs, candles, or a few silly props.
But instead of everyone posing, add photo challenges.
Recreate a horror movie poster, take a Victorian ghost-family portrait, and stage a dramatic fake murder scene.
Make someone look like they’re levitating, and photograph the moment everyone ‘sees’ the ghost.
You’ll get much better party pictures with this activity than twenty identical smiling group photos (and probably several that should never leave the group chat).
10. Play Halloween version of ‘Most Likely To’
Sit everyone in a circle and start asking Halloween-specific “most likely to” questions.
Who’s most likely to:
- Investigate the noise downstairs?
- Accidentally summon a demon?
- Survive a zombie apocalypse?
- Befriend the ghost instead of running away?
- Be secretly revealed as the villain?
This activity doesn’t require any lengthy rules or supplies, and barely any preparation.
There’ll just be accusations, arguments, and discovering that apparently all your friends think you’d die first in a horror movie.
11. Do a candy draft
Buy one giant mixed bag of Halloween candy and dump everything onto the table. Then take turns choosing one piece at a time until everything has been claimed.
It sounds peaceful, but it will not be peaceful.
Trading is allowed once the draft ends, which is when the negotiations might begin. Fun from start to end.
12. Play a Halloween whisper challenge
Put headphones on one person and blast the music while someone else mouths a Halloween phrase to them.
They have to figure out what’s being said by reading their lips.
Use phrases like ‘someone is standing behind you’, ‘the pumpkin is watching us ‘, or ‘I think there’s a ghost upstairs’.
The real fun is watching a normal Halloween sentence turn into something like, “Sarah wants a burrito.” Keep going until everyone has had a turn.
13. Have a minute-to-win-it tournament
Create five or six challenges that take only one minute each, like:
- Stack as many candy corns as possible.
- Unwrap Halloween candy while wearing oven mitts.
- Toss rings around witch hats. Balance mini pumpkins.
- Move gummy worms from one bowl to another without using your hands.
Keep a running scoreboard throughout the party instead of doing everything at once. Then announce the winner at the end of the night.
The prize can be tiny. The bragging rights, unfortunately, might last until next Halloween.
14. Have a costume awards ceremony
If you have a big party coming, then a single ‘Best Costume’ award is nowhere near enough.
Create categories that make everyone stand a chance of winning something, like:
- Most Unnecessarily Committed
- Best Use of Something Already in Your Closet
- Most Likely to Frighten a Child
- Most Confusing Without an Explanation
- Best Last-Minute Costume
- I’d Actually Wear This Tomorrow
You can even prepare handmade certificates in advance (that’ll make for a fun pre-Halloween activity) or buy super cheap trophies.
Then host a very serious awards ceremony toward the end of the night. Acceptance speeches should obviously be encouraged.
15. Make up a group Halloween story
Sit everyone in a circle and have one person begin a scary story with two sentences. And then stop.
The next person has to continue it for another two sentences before passing it along again.
Nobody gets to plan, and nobody is allowed to undo the plot twist the person before them just introduced.
Twenty minutes later, your story will somehow involve a haunted Airbnb, someone’s ex, an evil grandmother, and a murderous pumpkin.
I would expect nothing less!
16. Host a moody dinner
For my fellow pretty Halloween people, skip the plastic decorations and make the entire night dark and candlelit.
Ask everyone to wear black, cover the dinner table in candles, add a few pumpkins and dried flowers, and put on a hauntingly pretty playlist.
And please don’t make your pasta look like intestines.
Just serve really good fall food, pour cranberry mocktails, and pretend you’re all attending a suspicious dinner at an old European mansion. It’ll be much better.
17. Have a ‘Bring a Potion’ party
Everyone has to bring a homemade Halloween drink with a dramatic name. That’s the whole assignment.
Someone might bring Vampire’s Kiss. Someone might make Poison Apple. And someone might arrive with a purple concoction called Witch’s Revenge.
Set everything up on a potion table and taste them throughout the night.
At the end, vote for:
- Best Tasting
- Prettiest
- Best Name
- Most Likely to Actually Contain a Spell
18. Have a fun cake-off event
I am obsessed with cakes so much, so this idea is definitely making it to my Halloween party this year. And if you feel the same, feel free to steal.
Get a few plain mini cakes, split everyone into teams, and assign each team a different decorating theme.
The themes can be like: Vampire wedding, haunted graveyard, cute ghost, cursed birthday party.
Put frosting, sprinkles, Oreos, candy eyes, chocolate, and gummy worms on the table and give everyone 30 minutes to decorate the cake.
Then judge the finished cakes on prettiest, funniest, and most horrifying.
The best thing about this party activity is that when it’s over, you’ll have plenty of dessert.
19. Set up a pumpkin painting cafe
Pumpkin carving is fun, but finding dried pumpkin guts on your floor three days later is not as fun.
This is why I just love the idea of setting up a pumpkin painting cafe.
You just need to buy mini pumpkins and put out paints, brushes, ribbons, stickers, and markers.
Then turn your table into a tiny fall cafe with hot chocolate, coffee or tea, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and a cozy playlist.
Spend the evening painting pumpkins and talking.
Everyone leaves with a cute October decoration, and nobody has to stick their hand inside a pumpkin.
20. Play “Who Am I?”
When everyone arrives, stick the name of a Halloween character, villain, monster, or famous spooky figure onto their back without letting them see it.
Throughout the party, they can ask other guests yes-or-no questions to figure out who they are, like:
- “Am I human?”
- “Do I kill people?”
- “Do I have good hair?”
The first few people to figure theirs out get prizes, while the hopeless ones can continue questioning their identity until dessert.
21. End the Night With Midnight Pancakes
This isn’t really a party idea. It’s something I think we should add to any Halloween party.
Once everyone has spent hours playing games, eating candy, watching movies, or solving fictional murders, announce midnight pancakes.
Put out mini pancakes with strawberries, chocolate chips, Nutella, whipped cream, maple syrup, bananas, and crushed cookies, and let everyone make their own plate.
Then you all can just sit around the kitchen in half-ruined costumes and talk.
It’s always these bizarre end-of-the-night moments that you remember most.
Don’t miss: The Ultimate October Challenge for a Cozy, Spooky, and Fun-Filled Month
Halloween Parties Are Better Chaos
You definitely don’t need to plan fifteen activities for one Halloween party. You don’t want your guests to feel like they’re in a summer camp.
Just pick four or five activities from this list that sound perfect for your group and keep them ready for whenever the night needs entertainment.
It’ll give everyone an excuse to be silly, laugh a lot, take many pictures, and make the kind of Halloween memories you’ll still be bringing up next October.
And if two grown adults end up arguing over the last fun-size chocolate bar? Well, I’d say the party went pretty well.
Before you go, pin this post to save it for later. And have a Happy Halloween!
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