Halloween party games for kids, adults and everyone in between

Mummy wrap race

Split into teams and pick one mummy per team. On go, the others wrap their mummy from ankles to head, leaving the face clear. The first team to use the whole roll without it snapping wins, and a snap means you tuck the loose end in and carry on. Finish with a mummy walk across the room, arms out, to prove the wrapping holds.

Tip: Cheap single ply tears too easily. Buy the proper stuff and keep the spare rolls for the bathroom.

Dooking for apples

Float apples in a washing up bowl and let each player try to grab one with their teeth, hands behind their back. In Scotland this is called dooking. For squeamish guests, or anyone with a cold, use the fork version: kneel on a chair, hold a fork in your teeth and drop it onto the floating apples below.

Tip: Small, soft apples float lower and are easier to bite. Put the towel down first, not after.

Doughnuts on strings

Tie a ring doughnut to each length of string and hang them from a broom handle held across two chair backs. Players stand beneath with their hands behind them and try to eat the whole doughnut without it touching the floor. The traditional version uses treacle scones, which is funnier and far stickier.

The witch's pantry

Put a few bowls under a tea towel and tell the children what the witch keeps in each one: peeled grapes are eyeballs, cold cooked spaghetti is worms, a wet sponge is a brain, jelly is slime. Each child reaches in blind and has to say what it really is. It is less a game than a sustained shriek, which is the point.

Tip: Tell the little ones it is food before they touch it. Some four year olds take eyeballs very literally.

Graveyard

Everyone lies on the floor as a corpse and must stay perfectly still. One adult is the gravedigger and walks among them, telling jokes and pulling faces. Anyone who moves, twitches or laughs rises from the dead and helps haunt the rest. The last corpse still lying still wins. It also buys the adults ten minutes of quiet.

Monster consequences

Each player draws a monster head at the top of a sheet, folds it over so only the neck lines show, and passes it on. The next player draws a body, folds and passes, then legs, then feet. Unfold them all at once and give each monster a name. Nobody is good at this, which is exactly why it works for mixed ages.

Wink murder

Deal one card per player, secretly including the ace of spades (the murderer) and a jack (the detective, who announces themselves). Everyone sits in a circle and makes eye contact. The murderer kills by winking at someone, who counts to five and then dies as theatrically as possible. The detective has three guesses to name the killer before the circle is wiped out.

Tip: Dim the lights and give the dying a minimum standard of performance. A quiet slump does not count.

One line ghost story

Sit in a circle with the lights off. Whoever holds the torch under their chin adds one sentence to a ghost story, then passes it left. The story has to end when the torch comes back to the start, so the last few players are responsible for landing it. For younger children, ban anything scarier than a cross goose.

Costume charades

Write famous monsters, villains and Halloween characters on slips, from Dracula to the Grinch who is definitely in the wrong holiday. Players act them out for their team in a minute, no words, no pointing at anyone dressed as the answer. Bonus point if the actor is wearing a costume that makes it harder.

Who dies first

The host reads out a horror film scenario: the power goes, a noise comes from the cellar, a stranger knocks and asks to use the phone. Everyone points at the guest they think would die first, and that person has thirty seconds to argue their way out of it. The room re-votes. Anyone voted dead three times becomes the ghost and narrates the next scenario.

Tip: Keep a tally. There is always one guest the room kills every single round, and they deserve a prize.

Confessions from the cauldron

Everyone writes one true, mildly scandalous confession on a slip and drops it in the cauldron: the worst costume they ever wore, the date they left through a toilet window, the thing they told their boss. The host reads them out one at a time and the room guesses whose it is. Points for fooling people, double points if your own partner gets it wrong.

Tip: Set the bar before anyone writes: embarrassing, not incriminating. Nobody wants to learn about a tax matter at a party.

Costume court

Appoint a judge. Each guest in turn is prosecuted by the person on their left for crimes against their costume: lack of effort, a bought outfit still creased from the packet, "I've come as myself". The accused gets one minute of defence, the room acts as jury, and the guilty perform a sentence chosen from a hat, such as a dramatic reading of the takeaway menu.

Terrible plot summaries

Each team writes five horror films described as badly and literally as possible. "A family moves somewhere with poor internet and worse neighbours." "Man refuses to let a hotel job go." Teams swap sheets and race to name every film. The best summary of the night gets read out again at the end, usually to more laughter than the first time.

Most likely to: horror film edition

Read a prompt and on three everyone points at the guest who fits it. Who is most likely to go and investigate the noise alone. Who would split the group up to cover more ground. Who survives purely by hiding in a kitchen cupboard. Who is secretly the killer. Whoever gets the most fingers has to explain themselves or take a forfeit.

Tip: Ten prompts is plenty. After that it becomes a referendum on one person, and they stop enjoying it.