Halloween Party 2023 edition

We have been hosting a Halloween party for the third year running, so we had a few takeaways from previous years.

1. Always plan more activities than what fits into the schedule to be safe in case of unexpected situations.
2. Switch things up! People get bored playing the same games every year, although some of our games, namely the Halloween Quiz and the Movie Quiz has been mainstays.
3. Get prizes that makes people care enough about competing, but not so much that they prioritize winning over having fun.
4. Be clear about what games are going to be played.

Since we had fewer guests for this year’s party, we decided to form pairs as teams for the games.

Game 1: Halloween Quiz

I think this game is just perfect for opening a Halloween party. It is simple, lighthearted and fun.

Each year, we change up the topics to keep things fresh. This year went with a nostalgic theme, featuring questions about childhood favorites like Sailor Moon, Pokémon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more.

If you want a great Halloween Quiz / Trivia, make sure to check out my wife's Halloween Party Game pack.

Game 2: Movie Emoji Pictionary

The objective of this game is to guess the titles of movies using only emojis as clues. We played something similar to this, that I found online:

Game 3: Monikers

Charades and Monikers are always super fun, and they are quick to play making the perfect for any party.

We used some custom words that we prepared in advance. We followed the standard rules of 3 rounds:

• Round 1: Use any words, sounds, or gestures.
• Round 2: Use only 1 word as a clue.
• Round 3: Just charades. No words.

Game 4: Sound imitation

We found this Pantomime and sound game in Flying Tiger that was originally designed for kids, but we liked the concept of the game, so we decided to extend it with some new, weird, quirky cards with unusual sounds making it more fun and challenging.

Game 5: Jigsaw Puzzle speedrun

We bought one 54-piece puzzle for each team, which they received at random.

This game takes between 3-15 minutes to complete based on skill level and luck, and it requires good teamwork. For example a team might use a strategy that one person is sorting the pieces while the other assembles the puzzle.

I recommend getting 54-piece puzzles for a satisfying and manageable challenge. Be careful that the difficulty increases exponentially with the more pieces the puzzle has.

Game 6: Cat's cradle

Playing this game is a fun way to bring in some nostalgia, as everyone in our group played it back in elementary school. While it may not become a staple of your game nights, it is sometimes nice to switch things up a bit.

Cat's cradle is a two person dexterity game that is played with a string. The objective is to pass the string back and forth to each other transitioning between different shapes. The challenge is to see how long you can keep it going without messing up.

Game 7: Jenga / Stacking towers

Continuing with the childhood theme, we brought in another classic game: Jenga, or "stacking towers", as Jenga is a copyrighted term. We used a Halloween-themed variants where the pieces were shaped like bones.

The rules are very simple: stack a tower and take turns removing one piece at a time (in this case a bone), until someone messes up, and the tower falls. The more pieces you remove, the less balanced the tower becomes, making it more likely that the tower will fall.

The game is quick, fun, and filled with suspense

Game 8: Basketball three throw

While you might not have enough space to play sports, you can still play some even in a smaller flat! All you need is a basket or hoop that can be hung up somewhere, and a smaller basketball that won't cause too much damage if it bounces around.

There are many rules you can come up with, we simply had players take turns to see who scores the most points from 10 shots.

Game 9: Movie Quiz

This year we wrapped up the party with another staple game, the Movie Quiz. This game is always very well received, although it is a lot of work to prepare.

As a reminder here is how the game works:

• As the game master, I select several movies that I believe all guests have seen. I then watch each movie and create short clips containing some clues about the movie, but nothing too obvious.
• I create 3-5 clips per movie.
• Players are shown the clips one clip at a time and the objective is to guess which movie the clips are from.
• Each player can guess only once for each movie, regardless of whether they are correct or not. This adds a strategic risk/reward element.

Summary

Another year, another successful Halloween party! This year's theme centered around childhood games, tapping into the nostalgia factor, and I think it delivered.

Don't be afraid to revisit your childhood favorites, there is a reason you enjoyed them! While you may need to tweak the rules a bit, I can guarantee it will be fun!