Planning a Halloween party for little witches and wizards is incredibly fun and there are so many ways to make your celebration truly magical.
Whether you’re preparing party games, looking for Halloween activities to keep children out of mischief or getting ready for a birthday celebration, we’ve got tons of Halloween party ideas for kids for you to try.
Children will like different activities depending on their ages, so we’ve included some ideas for toddlers to teens – there’s something for everyone.
Ready to host your own ghostly gathering? Read on to discover a host of ideas for a kid’s Halloween party.
21 Halloween party ideas for kids
1. Spooky face painting
Transform little kids into frightening monsters, witches, superheroes or magical unicorns with the help of a little face paint.
You can create lots of impressive effects once you’ve mastered a few face painting techniques.
Find inspiration with Gathered’s Halloween face paint ideas.
2. Host a movie night
One of the easiest Halloween party ideas for kids is to arrange a movie night. You can choose a child-friendly Halloween film for them to watch (Hocus Pocus is one of our faves!) and make some tasty snacks for them to tuck into.
Bring out blankets for them to snuggle under for extra comfort.
3. Make a haunted house
Set the scene for a party by turning your home into a chilling haunted house! Fill your rooms with cheesecloth spectres, make magical floating candle lights and DIY ghost lights.
You can make your haunted house scarier for older kids, but it’s best to keep it cute for younger children so they don’t get overexcited.
Explore our haunted house ideas to make your own eerie mansion.
4. Get the party started
Burn off some energy by putting on a Halloween party playlist and let the kids dance. Make it feel like a real party by buying some disco lights and making the room as dark as possible.
You could also light the room with LED candles for a more atmospheric vibe.
5. Tell ghost stories
Come up with some age-appropriate ghostly yarns and settle down for story time!
For younger ones, read them a Halloween-themed book, such as Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. Older children may enjoy a chapter of Harry Potter or a scarier tale.
6. Set up a scavenger hunt
This game requires a little extra effort, but it’ll keep kids occupied as they try to figure out all the clues!
You can set up a scavenger trail indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather. Write rhyming clues or riddles to give kids a hint about where the next clue is hidden.
Kids can follow the trail to discover a hidden treasure or prize at the end. If you have a small group of children, they can work together as a team. For larger groups, you can split them up into teams or pairs to find all the clues.
Take a look at Gathered’s Halloween party games to keep the whole family entertained this October.
7. Cookie decorating
Cookie or biscuit decorating is a fantastic way to entertain kids of all ages. You can bake the biscuits before the party, so all the children need to do is add their choice of icing and sprinkles.
8. Set up a hot chocolate bar
If the weather’s cold or you’ve planned some outdoor games, help the kids warm up with some treats from the hot chocolate bar.
Allow them to choose from a selection of toppings to make their own magical elixir. Take a look at our hot chocolate bar ideas to set up your own.
9. Play apple bobbing
An oldie but a goodie! Apple bobbing is a classic Halloween party game for kids – all you need is a container filled with water and some apples!
The kids need to catch the floating apples using just their mouths (no hands!). Make sure you have some towels on hand to dry them off afterwards.
10. Carve pumpkins
This is a good one to do if you have plenty of adult helpers around.
Allow the children to design their own pumpkins, which can then be carved with a little grown-up support. The children can get stuck in and scrape out the pumpkin’s slimy guts! As darkness falls, you can put candles (real or LED) inside the freshly carved gourds to create a glowing pumpkin army.
Why not make this into a competition with a prize for the most inventive pumpkin design?
Want to carve amazing pumpkins? Check out our how to carve a pumpkin guide.
11. Choose a Halloween party theme
Picking an original theme for your party can make it a memorable occasion, especially if you ask kids to come dressed to match the theme!
For example, you could have an Addams Family or Barbie-themed party. Your theme doesn’t have to be scary, but choose one that doesn’t require elaborate or expensive costumes. Ask your kids for their suggestions.
A good theme will make your party planning much easier, as it’ll help you to pick your decorations, costumes and even the food you’ll serve.
12. Trunk or treat
If you don’t like the idea of letting your kids knock on strangers’ doors to ask for candy, a trunk or treat event is a fun alternative.
Ask friends and family to decorate the trunks of their cars and have candy ready to hand out. The children can then go from car to car to trick or treat in safety.
13. Pumpkin painting
For a creative Halloween activity, get some pumpkins for kids to paint however they like. You can use real pumpkins for this or buy ceramic ones, which are available to buy in craft stores and online.
You can make it a competition or just allow the children to enjoy decorating the pumpkins. They’ll love being able to take their finished pumpkins home with them.
Struggling to find inspiration? Check out these easy pumpkin painting ideas to try at the party.
14. Prank kids with funny skeletons
Poseable skeletons have become increasingly popular in recent years, and they provide an opportunity for all kinds of mischief!
You can make your skeletons engage in all kinds of hilarious activities – put them on the toilet, make them look as though they’re doing chores or decorate them with props like party hats and fake moustaches.
The idea is to make them silly rather than scary, so everyone can enjoy a good giggle.
15. Make magic potions
Choose a colourful fizzy drink and turn it into a frothy potion by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
If you’ve chosen a colourless drink like 7-Up, you can add a drop of food colouring to make it look monstrous (green food colouring is perfect for this!).
16. Creepy colouring
Keep little hands busy with some free Peppa Pig Halloween colouring sheets from penguin.co.uk. They’ll have a brilliant time colouring in Peppa and George!
Colouring is a good way to calm excited children before they eat their party food or to settle them down before they go home.
17. Play with slime
Slime is a fun sensory play activity for kids – and you can make it extra spooky by adding a scattering of googly eyes! Don’t use the eyes if you’re giving the slime to toddlers, as it’s a choking hazard.
You could put your slime in a cauldron to look like a mysterious green goo!
Learn how to make fluffy slime for your kid’s Halloween party.
18. Make creative party invites
Build anticipation for your party by making your own invites. You can make these as simple or as complicated as you like.
For a quick invite, cut out the shape of a pumpkin or bat and write the party information inside, then fold it in half and pop it in an envelope. Job done!
If you’d like something more imaginative, you could make your invite look like a Hogwarts letter or write the info on a square of paper before folding an origami pumpkin.
19. Play musical chairs
Musical chairs is a fun traditional party game – and it’s easy to make it Halloween-themed! Instead of using chairs, cut out paper pumpkins that children have to stand on when the music stops.
Remove a pumpkin each time until you have a winner!
20. Have a game of hide and seek
Dress as a monster or a witch and get the kids to hide from you! You can play this game in a garden or park, or inside the house if the weather’s bad.
21. Make party bags
Keep the celebration going by sending each child home with a party bag. You can put whatever you like in the bag, a few candies, some puzzles for them to do later or small Halloween toys – it’s up to you.
Plan a sinister celebration with Halloween party ideas for kids
Take the stress out of planning a Halloween party with these fun Halloween party ideas for kids of all ages.
Organising a Halloween party can be enjoyable and you can really let your imagination run wild. It doesn’t need to be expensive either – there are lots of affordable or free ways to amuse a horde of children.
Make decorations, arrange creative activities and games, cook some tasty treats and your Halloween party will be a thrilling experience for all of your little guests!
Prepare a fearsome feast
Feed your little monsters with a selection of delicious snacks and goodies – they’re all treats, no tricks!
Cook beastly bites for a party with Gathered’s Halloween food ideas.
