How to Throw a Halloween Party for children - game ideas

To throw a really great Halloween party that small children will enjoy, build up is key!

I start the build up to the Halloween Party two weeks in advance. We have craft days where I invite a few of the children round to begin preparations. These include:

• Pumpkin carving (no more than 2 days in advance or they dry out and begin to shrink!)
• Painting pumpkin pictures to cut out and display on the wall
• Making peg dolly ghosts (white tissue paper and silver pipe cleaners to secure)
• Painting conkers to make disembodied eyeballs
• Wrapping up small gifts for a game of pass the pumpkin (similar to pass the parcel)

The great thing about the preparation is that it reduces fear factor on the day where the 'eyeballs' may be a little too gross.

Next we plan the Halloween Party games together and I ask the children for ideas. For example last year it was a 4yr old that came up with the pass the pumpkin game!

This years games for a two hour party 4pm - 6pm are:

• A quick craft project - making masks (paper plates, shredded paper for hair, crayons for features etc)
• Zombie dancing competition
• Mummies game - teams of children use toilet paper to wrap up a team member as a mummy within a time period, most covered mummy wins.
• Hunt the eyeballs - I can either hide these around the room or as is the case this year within a haunted pop up tent! I have spookified the tent and will use the left over toilet paper to create a mass for the eyeballs to be hidden inside the tent. One child in turn will have to find two eyeballs then exit via the spooky pop up tunnel!

Then we break for party food. I prepare simple finger food such as slices of pizza, cocktail sausages, sandwiches, sliced fruit, tomatoes,cucumber etc and not forgetting cakes and treats and water/juice to drink. I prefer the sealed juice drink cartons with straws as they are less messy and you have no spillages! Disposable plates/cutlery is also a must if you want to reduce washing up. Then back to the games:

• Peg dolly ghost hunt in the garden with torches
• Pass the Pumpkin

Every game when party planning for small children MUST result in every child being a winner! I have low sugar treats or novelty Halloween items as prizes.

That's it for the games.

Meanwhile the room and garden will be decorated in Halloween theme with posters of witches and ghouls and cobwebby fibers.  Balloons are always a must for small children. Though they won't be accessible until the end when they can take one home with them. A spooky Halloween music tape is also an added bonus for specific games.

Always Play safe. Ensure parents are responsible for their own children. Avoid allowing the children to wander up the stairs etc and of course keep candles and all naked flames well out of reach of small children.