Falloween

Last week I saw a banner on the side of the road that caught my eye. In big print it read "Falloween!" Anything that has to do with Fall and Halloween is definitely going to grab my attention. Combine the two and I'm pretty much hooked. From what I could gather from the banner, a local high school was going to put on a fun fest type of deal that weekend, so on Saturday we headed over to see what they had to offer. As we pulled up, I felt DUPED!

Yeah, that's a carnival/fair kind of thing going on there. Some of you know that I am not fond of these kind of things. But it was a nice day out and we did drive quite a bit to get there, so we stayed. I am glad we did because this was NOTHING like the county fair. Parking was free, entrance was free, and most of the stuff was beyond cheap! Local farmers were there selling food. I loaded up on green peppers for 25¢ each! Wristbands were $20 each to ride the rides, which was about fair price, but with how cheap everything else was, who could complain?

Ok, I do have a tiny complaint. If I am paying $1.25 for a fried Oreo, I better be buying the Oreo that was advertised. Not the knockoff Kroger brand.

Who am I kidding? It was a cookie, it was cream filled, and it was fried. It was delicious :)

Does your school put on carnivals or fun fairs?

Halloween Party Games Part 2

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This is part 2 of my list of Halloween Party Games that we like to play at our party each year. If you would like to read post 1, you can find it HERE.

All of the games have been modified so everyone can play together without the bigger kids hurting or leaving the smaller kids out. Most games require a time limit, so we download Halloween songs and play those. When the music stops, the round or game is over.

Acorn Bucket Fill

Divide players into 2 teams. Place a lot of acorns in a bowl. Using a spoon or other object that makes holding acorns difficult, like these Halloween Skeleton Hand & Arm Tongs, have each player get a spoonful, then race to a bucket to dump their acorns into. If any fall off the spoon, they are not allowed to pick them up. When the music stops, the team with the most in their bucket are the winners.

Cotton Ball Scoop

This is the same idea as the acorn bucket fill game, only using cotton balls. Make sure your cotton balls are separated or some will get an unfair advantage.

Water Bottle Bean Bag Toss

With this game I just spray painted some water bottles black. I put a little rice in the bottom of each to keep them from tumbling over on their own. I made some bean bags out of Halloween fabric. Children throw the bean bags at the bottles. Whoever knocks the most over wins.

Candy Corn Drop

Have children stand on a step stool. Place a 2 liter bottle in front of them. Give them candy corns. Children must try to drop the candy corns through the opening of the bottle. Whoever has the most when the music stops is the winner *this could get frustrating for younger players, so cutting their opening a bit bigger is ok*

Pumpkin Pop 

Pumpkin Balloons (store bought or orange where you can draw on your own pumpkin face) are tied to each kid's ankle with a string. They have to try to pop each others balloon by stomping on it. The last player with an inflated balloon still tied to their ankle wins.

Pumpkin Roll  

Divide kids into 2 teams. Each team gets a pumpkin, roughly the size of a head- evenly round so it rolls well. Set a cone a few yards away. Have the children take turns rolling the pumpkin from the start line, around the cone, then back to the start line. The team that has the last member across the line wins.

Pumpkin Relay Race 

Divide kids into 2 teams. Position them an even amount of feet apart and around an object, like a house or just around the outskirts of the yard. Give the person in position 1 a mini pumpkin. Have them race to person in position 2 to pass the pumpkin off to them, and so on, until the last child has the pumpkin and passes the finish line. The team with the first child across wins.

Good Old Fashion Piñata

I don’t put candy in our goodies bags since I figure the kids are getting enough sweets over the next few weeks. However, I don’t think any party is complete without a Halloween Pinata!

Halloween Bingo

This one is pretty self explanatory :)  A quick Google search will get you a ton of free printable Bingo cards, or if you are feeling creative, make some up yourself!

Skeleton Dice Roll

I found these plastic skeletons at the dollar store. They are not assembled. Using dice, players must try to roll the skeleton back together. Roll 1 get a head, roll 2 get a hand, ect. The team that completes their skeleton first wins.

Wood Craft Surface Coloring

We found some wooden face masks and door hangers at Michael's for $1 each. When it was time to start winding down a bit, we broke them out with a few paint pens and Sharpie markers. It keeps the kids busy while setting up new games or to give the parents a little quiet time ;)

Cookie Decorating

Make some cut out sugar cookies in Halloween shapes. Then let the kids chose 2 or 3 each they would like to decorate. Then break out the frosting, sprinkles, gel decorators icing, candy corns, and anything else you can think of that kids would love to put on their cookies. Kids LOVE to get creative, and this is one activity they can make one of a kind, then enjoy the sweet reward at the end!

Pumpkin Decorating

I conclude every Halloween Party with pumpkin decorating. This has been the highlight of the party every year. The kids love to get creative and deck their pumpkins out. Here are some items we use that help them dress up their pumpkins:

Paint Pens *I recommend these over traditional paints. Paint Pens dry very quickly, so the kids aren’t leaving with wet paint pumpkins that will get all over the kids, the cars or ruin on the way home.*

Black Yarn

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glitter *be warned, kids LOVE glitter! Your floors will shine for days if you choose to break out the glitter!*

Tacky Glue *Have enough on hand for each child. Michael’s sells the small 3 packs for around $2.50 each*

Witches Hats *You can find my tutorial for these HERE*

Candy- like m&m’s, twizzlers, gummy savers, ect.

Foam cutouts. Again, Michael’s sells big packs of small size foam cutouts your kids will love to plaster on their pumpkins!

 

Halloween Party Games Part 1

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my policy tab for more information.


Have I told you that I LOVE parties? Did I also tell you that I LOVE Halloween too? So what could be better than throwing a Halloween party? We are coming up on our 4th annual Halloween Party next weekend and I have been busy narrowing down party games. I have so many ideas each year, but there just aren't enough hours in the night to play them all. So, I thought I would share with you the games that have been proven to be successful year after year here. I am going to split this list in 2, so be sure to come back tomorrow for more fun game ideas!  

I have children ranging from ages 2 to 14 in attendance, so the games have all been modified so everyone can play together without the bigger kids hurting or leaving the smaller kids out. Most games require a time limit, so we download Halloween songs and play those. When the music stops, the round or game is over.

*Be sure to check out part 2 of the Halloween Party Games HERE*



Sand Dig

I use those big black Halloween cauldrons and fill them with sand. Making colored sand in black and orange makes this game even more festive! You can find how to make your own HERE. Place a lot of objects in each bucket. I use spider rings, plastic snakes and roaches, pumpkin erasers, ect. Anything Halloween related works. The kids with the black sand must each find a black spider, and the kids with the orange sand each have to find an orange spider. The team where each player finds their respective colored spider wins. I use pumpkin scoopers for the little shovels to make it a little more festive.

Witch Hat Ring Toss

This is ring toss, only make it festive by using witches hats for the rings to go around. *You can find these at the dollar store* Make it more fun by using glow necklaces for the rings!

Pass The Pumpkin

This is kind of a version of musical chairs. Have players sit in a circle. Each player gets a mini pumpkin. *Actually, we use other things like leaves, acorns, gourds and such. Pretty much anything fall related* If you have 10 kids, 9 kids will get a pumpkin. Start the music. When the music stops, the one left with no pumpkin is out. Remove player and 1 pumpkin after each round until the last one with a pumpkin is left.

Straw Paper Pick Up

Print off a lot of 1 Halloween character. I use skeletons. Make them so you can cut them into squares, with skeletons on each square. Give each child a straw. Children must suck up as many squares of paper as they can before the music runs out. Whoever has the most at the end wins.

Spooky Circle

This is also like musical chairs, but I use cutouts I bought at the card party store. I place Halloween characters (witch, bat, ghost, spiders, ect) on the ground. Have one for each player. When the music starts children go round the circle. When it stops they must find a character to stand on. Pull a name from the hat and whoever is on that name is out. (Say you pull the bat name. The child on the bat is out. They must exit the circle taking the bat with them.) Continue until there is one player standing.

Sorry for the cruddy picture quality. It's the only one I had of this game though :( You still get the idea!

Pin The Nose On The Pumpkin

Either cut out a pumpkin face or find a pumpkin cutout at the dollar store or paper party store. Using construction paper, cut noses out that will fit on the pumpkin face. Have each child write his or her name on their nose, put tape on the back, blindfold the children and let them see where the nose lands.

Candy Necklaces

For those who want to add craftiness in their festivities, Walmart and Michael’s sell candy necklace kids. You get 8 necklaces in a kit for about $4.

Trick or Treat Punchout

Use old box and cut out cup sized circles on the front. Cover the holes with black and orange tissue paper. Next, fill plastic cups with tiny prizes, like mini candy bars, temporary tattoos, nail polish, stickers, ect. *This is called trick or treat punchout, so we made sure not every prize was something special. There had to be a few tricks too, so we filled a few of the cups with leaves, acorns or rocks. This might not go over well with little guests, so make sure you leave a few extra cups open so they can get another shot at a good prize.

Mummy Wrap

Divide children into 2 groups. Find 2 like size people who will stand in as the mummy. The other players use rolls of toilet paper to wrap around the mummies. The team who uses their rolls of toilet paper first win.

Who Doesn't like to Tee Pee Dad?

Happy Halloween!