Halloween parties are my favorite kid's party. We always invite the neighbor kids over before trick-or-treating for food and games. Generally speaking, the weather is cooperative, the time frame is just around 2 hours and whether it is a weekend or school night, parents are happy to not have to worry about dinner and keeping the kids occupied until it is finally time to go out trick-or-treating. Where we live, most kids hit the streets around 6 pm, so we have our party from 4 to 6. We do everything outside so there is little prep involved, and the kids and parents can come and go as they please. Have everyone come in costume and the kids can go out together when it's time.
The food is all prepared ahead so I do not have to hover over it when everyone comes. I make sloppy joes and keep them warm in a slow cooker. If sloppy joes aren't your thing you can do hot dogs in a slow cooker, make wraps or a sandwich tray. The idea is that there should be no last minute work, no grilling or baking. Easy is the mantra here. Buns, chips, fruit salad, pasta salad. That's it. I find that the buffet of food disguised as bloody fingers, floating guts and all the other fun Halloween stuff works better for a Halloween party on another night. On this night it is all about getting something for the kids to eat that isn't laced with sugar, that will come later!
Most of the neighbors enjoy the social time and the kids love the games. Nothing complicated, just fun for all ages. Many of the games can be played without any help or teams. I usually designate the older kids to keep the games going and help the younger kids. We had such a tough time keeping the dads out of the mummy wrap game that it became their own competition every year. Just go with the flow on this night. You will find everyone is so excited to be outside and having fun, no one will be bored.
Pin The Spider to the Web
What ever happened to Pin the Tail on The Donkey? Kids today have never heard of it. But this Halloween version is perfect for the younger set. I use a large decorative web made of raffia type material, and you can hang it on a tree trunk or garage wall. We use spiders with a piece of sticky velcro on the back, and every player gets their own spider. We blindfold with 2 pirate's eye patches and give them a spin and have them try and get their spider to the center of the web. Easy, no adults needed. The little ones will try over and over, and with the eye patches no one has to tie a blindfold.
Bouncing Eyeballs Using ping pong balls and a permanent marker, make the balls into bloodshot eyeballs. You can come up with many versions of games to use them with. Relay races balancing them on a spoon or bouncing them into cauldrons or pumpkins from different distances. A glass bowl full of ping pong ball eyeballs is a great decorative piece on the table. If you happen to have a cat (black or not), he'll love the ping pong balls too!
Mummy Game
There is a bit of waste in this game, but it is hands down the favorite. Go to the dollar store and buy many packages of the cheap toilet paper. Divide into teams and each team gets a dad, it doesn't matter as long as they are similar sizes on each team. Each player gets a roll and one by one they have to wrap their dad. When one finishes their roll, the next player goes. By the time the last roll is on, the mummy dad should be covered from head to toe. The dads like to wrap the kids because they are little and they can get it done quickly, but there will be arguments about who gets wrapped, so beware. We find wrapping the dads eliminates hard feelings, and the dads are so good at those creepy mummy voices too!
Broomstick Races
Divide into teams and each player must hop on the broomstick and race to a designated area and put on the witches hat, a cape, stockings, whatever clothing items work best and then race back on the broom to the line. They take it all off and the next player puts it on and takes it off at the other end. The costume brooms work best as they are shorter and safer for kids.
Broomstick Sweep
In a garage or other enclosed area, you need a laundry basket on its side at each end and each player has one of these goals. Using a witch's broom, each player must sweep as many balloons as possible into their basket. We use orange, black and purple balloons, and trust me, sweeping balloons isn't easy!
Ghostly Chairs or Cupcake Walk
Another old fashioned game that today's technology kids don't see. Start with one less chair than children and play the Halloween tunes. When the music stops, one child is chairless and is eliminated. The other version is the old fashioned cake walk using a square to stop on instead of a chair. In the old fashioned cake walk the winner got to take home a cake. Today, the prize at our house is a half dozen Halloween cupcakes. What busy mom wouldn't love that!
There is one table where the kids could leave their masks or costume pieces while they ate and played. Before it is time to go, one of the moms or older kids helps retouch the makeup and put the costumes back together. When it is time to hit the streets trick-or-treating, we would have a parade of wagons and dads while the moms headed home to answer the door. The mess is minimum, the kids are fed, and everyone is happy to go!
About the Author:
Susie Tilton is a blogger from Tennessee. You can check out her blog at Sweetie Petitti.
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Using ping pong balls and a permanent marker, make the balls into bloodshot eyeballs. You can come up with many versions of games to use them with. Relay races balancing them on a spoon or bouncing them into cauldrons or pumpkins from different distances. A glass bowl full of ping pong ball eyeballs is a great decorative piece on the table. If you happen to have a cat (black or not), he'll love the ping pong balls too!
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