Halloween party games for adults, families and kids

By the Hangtime Games team · October 26, 2026

Halloween is October 31, and the party usually has a problem: half the people are in costume, half are holding a drink, and someone dressed as a giant banana can't sit down. So skip anything with a rulebook. These games take a minute to explain and work when people wander in late.

Start with who's coming

• Little kids (4 to 8): active, messy games, 10 minutes each. Three or four games is a full party.
• Older kids and teens (9 to 16): anything with bluffing, drawing or a scoreboard. They will want a rematch.
• Adults: games you can play standing up with one free hand. Team games beat solo ones once there are more than 8 of you.
• Mixed family party: teams of mixed ages, so the 7-year-old and the grandparent are on the same side.

No-tech Halloween games

1. Mummy wrap race. Teams of 2 or 3, one roll of toilet paper each, two minutes on the clock. One person is the mummy. Judge on coverage, then make each mummy do a walk. Ages 4 and up.
2. Donuts on a string. Hang donuts from a broom handle or a string across a doorway. Hands behind your back, first to finish wins. Put a towel down. Ages 3 and up.
3. Pumpkin hunt. Hide mini pumpkins (or paper ones) around the house or yard before guests arrive. Ten minutes to find as many as you can. Give one golden pumpkin a bonus prize.
4. Witch's brew touch test. Bowls under a towel: peeled grapes for eyeballs, cold spaghetti for worms, a wet sponge for a brain. Guess what it is without looking. Ages 5 and up, and adults scream more than kids.
5. Spooky story circle. Lights off, one flashlight. Each person adds one sentence to a ghost story, then passes the light. The last person has to end it. About 10 minutes, ages 8 and up.
6. Costume charades. Write everyone's costume on a slip. Draw one and act it out. Guessing the person is allowed, which helps.

Halloween games on the TV

For the middle of the party, when people are sitting down with snacks, put a game on the TV and let everyone play from their phone. Open hangtime.games/host on the TV or a laptop, and guests join at hangtime.games/play with a four-letter code. No app, no account.

A spooky trivia board you write yourself

Trivia Board is our free Jeopardy-style game: 1 to 8 players, or up to 8 teams sharing phones, about 20 minutes, in person only. It doesn't have a Halloween category built in, so write one. Five clues, easiest first, as statements. Here's a column you can borrow:

1. 200: This orange squash gets a face carved into it every October. What is a pumpkin?
2. 400: Count Dracula is said to fear this kitchen ingredient that comes in cloves. What is garlic?
3. 600: Mary Shelley wrote this 1818 novel about a scientist and the creature he builds. What is Frankenstein?
4. 800: Halloween grew partly out of this Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest. What is Samhain?
5. 1000: In 1938, the night before Halloween, a radio drama of this H.G. Wells novel made some listeners think Martians had landed. What is The War of the Worlds?

Even better: a category about your own Halloweens. “The year Dad went as a traffic cone.” “The house that gives out full-size candy bars.” Fill out the rest of the board with built-in categories like Best of Disney or The 80s.

Who's Lying? as a murder mystery lite

Who's Lying? is a whodunnit for liars, with murder mystery cases and an evidence board of 16 items on the TV. Everyone's phone shows which item is the secret, except one player: the Liar. Each person gives a one-word clue, then you argue and vote. Caught Liars get one guess at the secret to steal the win. Dim the lights and it feels like a murder mystery party with none of the scripts. 3 to 10 players, about 20 minutes, part of the Launch Pack.

Doodler with a Halloween house rule

Doodler is free, 2 to 10 players, about 15 minutes: draw on your phone and the drawing appears on the TV while everyone guesses. The game picks the words, and there's no Halloween word list, so add a house rule: everything gets drawn in costume. A toaster dressed as a vampire is still a toaster, and now it's funnier. For little ones, kid mode swaps typing for six multiple-choice picks.

Prefer paper? Play spooky Pictionary with these words: ghost, bat, black cat, witch's hat, cauldron, skeleton, spiderweb, broomstick, mummy, full moon, haunted house, candy corn.

Bowl Game for a big costume party

With 8 or more adults, Bowl Game is the loudest thing you can do. It's Fishbowl in two teams, 4 to 16 players, about 30 minutes. Everyone writes 3 to 5 slips on their phone. Make the theme monsters, horror villains and the costumes people are wearing tonight. Describe it, then one word, then act it out. The act-it-out round in costume is the best part of the night.

A simple plan for the night

Kids party (90 minutes)

1. Costume parade as guests arrive (15 minutes)
2. Mummy wrap race (10 minutes)
3. Donuts on a string, then snacks (20 minutes)
4. Doodler in kid mode on the TV (15 minutes)
5. Pumpkin hunt (10 minutes)
6. Story circle by flashlight while parents arrive (10 minutes)

Adult or mixed party (an evening)

1. Mingle and costume charades as people arrive
2. Your spooky trivia board once everyone has a seat (20 minutes)
3. Two or three cases of Who's Lying? (20 minutes)
4. Bowl Game when the room is loud enough (30 minutes)

What you need

• A TV or laptop with a web browser. Not sure how to get it on the TV? See casting, AirPlay or HDMI.
• A phone for each player, or one per team.
• For the no-tech games: toilet paper, string, donuts, mini pumpkins, a flashlight and a towel you don't love.

Trivia Board, Doodler and Wordy Birdy are free. Who's Lying? and Bowl Game are in the Launch Pack, a one-time $5 founder price ($10 later). Only the host buys it, and guests never pay or sign in.