103 Halloween ideas

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Go as a spider

Classic costume · You need: black clothes and four extra legs made from stuffed black stockings, strung to your arms.

My list: 24 of 103 Halloween ideas on the wheel

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All 103 Halloween ideas

Pair and group costumes 13

Go as a bee and a beekeeper Costume for two or more · You need: yellow and black stripes with wings; white clothes and a hat draped in net curtain.
Go as a coven of witches Costume for two or more · You need: a pointed hat each, every hat band a different color, and one shared broom.
Go as a deck of cards Costume for two or more · You need: a white T-shirt each with a different card drawn on the front. Four people make the aces.
Go as a mad scientist and a monster Costume for two or more · You need: a lab coat and goggles for one; green face paint and a jacket a size too small for the other.
Go as a pumpkin patch Costume for two or more · You need: everyone in orange with a different felt face, plus one farmer to look after the patch.
Go as a skeleton family Costume for two or more · You need: matching black clothes with white tape bones, in every size the group comes in.

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Pair and group costumes, continued

Go as a spider and a fly Costume for two or more · You need: eight-legged black clothes for one; cellophane wings and big sunglasses for the other.
Go as a traffic light Costume for two or more · You need: three people in red, amber and green tops. Stand in order for every photo.
Go as a vampire and a bat Costume for two or more · You need: a cape and fangs for one, cloth wings and paper ears for the other.
Go as a witch and her black cat Costume for two or more · You need: one witch outfit and one set of black clothes with ears and a tail. The cat follows the witch.
Go as rock, paper, scissors Costume for two or more · You need: three people: grey clothes stuffed round, a white sheet of card worn as a tabard, and giant foil scissors.
Go as salt and pepper Costume for two or more · You need: one person all in white with a big S, one all in black with a big P, and grey hats for lids.
Go as three mice and the cheese Costume for two or more · You need: four people. Three wear grey ears on a headband and a string tail; the fourth wears a yellow box with holes drawn on it.

Closet costumes 16

Go as a bookworm Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: green clothes, big glasses and an armful of books. Read between spins.
Go as a bunch of grapes Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: purple or green balloons pinned to matching clothes and a paper leaf on your hat. One for teens and adults: balloons are a choking risk for children under 8, so pick up every popped piece.
Go as a cat burglar Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a striped top, a black hat, an eye mask, a sack and a pair of cat ears.
Go as a ceiling fan Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a T-shirt with Go Ceiling written on it and two pom-poms. It is a pun; explain it all night.
Go as a detective Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a long coat with the collar up, a hat, a notebook and a magnifying glass.
Go as a farmer Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: overalls, a checked shirt, boots and a straw hat. Carry a toy chicken if you own one.
Go as a lost tourist Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a loud shirt, a sun hat, a camera round your neck, a paper map and a stripe of sunscreen on your nose.
Go as a painter Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a shirt you can splash with paint, a beret and a palette cut from a cardboard box.
Go as a referee Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a black and white striped top, a whistle, and a yellow card and a red card in your pocket.
Go as a self-portrait Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: an empty picture frame held in front of your face and your best serious expression.
Go as a sleepwalker Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: pyjamas, a dressing gown, slippers and a pillow. Walk with your arms out.
Go as a stick figure Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: all-white clothes and black tape run down each arm, each leg and your body.
Go as a wrapped present Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a big box with holes for your head and arms, wrapping paper and a bow on your head.
Go as Error 404: Costume Not Found Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: a plain white T-shirt and a marker pen. Write the message across the chest.
Go as raining cats and dogs Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: an umbrella with small toy cats and dogs hung from the spokes on thread.
Go as static cling Closet costume, made from things at home · You need: odd socks and dryer sheets safety-pinned all over your clothes, and hair teased upright.

Classic costumes 19

Go as a bat Classic costume · You need: a black hoodie with black cloth wings pinned from sleeve to side seam, and paper ears.
Go as a black cat Classic costume · You need: black clothes, ears on a headband and a tail made from a stuffed black stocking.
Go as a ghost Classic costume · You need: a white sheet with eye holes cut where your eyes really are. Pin the hem up so it clears the floor.
Go as a haunted doll Classic costume · You need: a party dress, round painted cheeks, ribbon in your hair and crack lines drawn in eyeliner.
Go as a mad scientist Classic costume · You need: a white lab coat, goggles, rubber gloves and hair brushed straight up.
Go as a mummy Classic costume · You need: strips torn from an old white sheet, wrapped and pinned over pale clothes.
Go as a pirate Classic costume · You need: a striped top, a bandana, an eye patch, a sash and a cardboard cutlass.
Go as a pumpkin Classic costume · You need: an orange top with a black felt face and a green hat for the stalk.
Go as a robot Classic costume · You need: two cardboard boxes, kitchen foil, bottle-top dials and a marker pen.
Go as a scarecrow Classic costume · You need: a plaid shirt, patched jeans, a floppy hat and raffia or straw poking out of the cuffs.
Go as a skeleton Classic costume · You need: black clothes with bones cut from white tape, felt or paper, plus white face paint.
Go as a spider Classic costume · You need: black clothes and four extra legs made from stuffed black stockings, strung to your arms.
Go as a vampire Classic costume · You need: a black cape, a white shirt, slicked-back hair and plastic fangs.
Go as a werewolf Classic costume · You need: a flannel shirt, fake fur at the collar and cuffs, and a drawn-on nose and whiskers.
Go as a witch Classic costume · You need: a black dress or cloak, a pointed hat, striped socks and a broom.
Go as a wizard Classic costume · You need: a long robe, a cone hat covered in paper stars and a stick for a wand.
Go as a zombie Classic costume · You need: old clothes you can tear, grey face paint and dark circles round the eyes.
Go as an alien Classic costume · You need: green face paint, an antenna headband and anything silver you can find.
Go as the grim reaper Classic costume · You need: a long black hooded robe and a scythe cut from cardboard and foil.

Spooky challenges 26

Act out a monster for the room to guess Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. No words and no sounds. If nobody gets it in 30 seconds, you may add one sound.
Ask the crystal ball: yes or no? Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Cup your hands round an upturned bowl, ask it out loud, and let another player answer in a spooky voice.
Count down from 13 in a ghostly voice Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Slow and wobbly, and the last number has to be a whisper.
Creep like a spider, hands and feet only Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Belly down, knees off the floor, to the far wall and back.
Describe your costume as a monster would Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Thirty seconds, in the monster's voice, on why it chose this outfit tonight.
Do a skeleton dance for 15 seconds Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Loose knees, loose elbows, as if nothing is holding you together. Someone else hums the tune.
Do the mummy walk Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Stiff arms, stiff knees, slow turn of the whole body to look at anything.
Do your best witch cackle Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Head back, three full seconds at least. The room scores it out of ten with their fingers.
Draw a haunted house in 60 seconds Spooky challenge · One player · You need: paper and a pencil. It needs a crooked door, one lit window and something on the roof. The room guesses what the something is.
Draw a pumpkin face with eyes closed Spooky challenge · One player · You need: paper and a pencil. Eyes, nose, mouth and a stalk. Sign it before you look.
Float across the room like a ghost Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Tiny steps so your feet seem not to move, arms drifting, one long quiet ooooh.
Give a tour of your haunted house Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Name the house, then describe three rooms and what lives in each one. Thirty seconds.
Howl like a werewolf at the moon Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Pick a ceiling light to be the moon. One long howl, and everyone who joins in gets a point.
Make three spooky sound effects Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. A creaking door, wind round a chimney and an owl. The room must name all three.
Make up a spell that rhymes Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Two lines, and it has to say what the spell does. Wave something as a wand.
Name 5 monsters in 10 seconds Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Someone else counts down out loud. Repeats do not count, and neither does the family dog.
Name a costume for each letter of BAT Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. One starting with B, one with A, one with T, inside 15 seconds. No repeats from anyone before you.
Pull your scariest face for 10 seconds Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Hold it without blinking or laughing while the room counts down slowly.
Say the witch tongue twister 3 times Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Which witch wished which wicked wish? Three times, fast, with no stumbles. Start again if you trip.
Spell skeleton backwards Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Out loud, no writing. The answer is N, O, T, E, L, E, K, S.
Stand like a scarecrow for 30 seconds Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Arms straight out, no moving and no laughing while everyone else tries to make you crack.
Talk like a vampire until your next turn Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Every W becomes a V. Anyone who catches you talking normally takes your next spin.
Tell a Halloween joke Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Your own, or this one: Why did the skeleton skip the party? He had no body to go with.
Tell a two-sentence scary story Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. The first sentence sets the scene and the second one turns it. Example: I heard my sister humming upstairs. She was standing next to me.
Tiptoe past the sleeping monster Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. One player sits with eyes shut. Cross the room behind them. If they point straight at you, you swap places.
Walk like a zombie across the room Spooky challenge · One player · No supplies. Arms out, one foot dragging, groaning all the way there and all the way back.

Party games 29

Bob for apples Party game · 3 or more, one at a time · You need: a tub of water, an apple per player and an adult who stays at the tub. Hands behind your back, take an apple using only your teeth. Change the water between rounds.
Build a ghost story one line each Party game · 3 or more · You need: a flashlight to pass, if you have one. Lights low. Each player adds one sentence and passes it on. The tenth sentence must end the story.
Cross the spider web hallway Party game · 2 or more · You need: a ball of wool or crepe streamers taped across a hallway at all heights. Get through without touching a strand. Touch one and go back to the start. Time each crossing.
Do the broomstick limbo Party game · 4 or more · You need: a broom held level by two people. Go under leaning back, never forward. Lower it a hand's width each round.
Eat a doughnut off a string Party game · 2 or more · You need: ring doughnuts tied to a line. Ask about allergies first. No hands, and the doughnut must not hit the floor. It is the modern stand-in for the Scottish custom of treacle scones hung on strings.
Go pumpkin bowling Party game · 2 or more · You need: a small round pumpkin and 10 toilet rolls with ghost faces drawn on. Stack the rolls 4, 3, 2, 1 and roll the pumpkin from ten steps back. Two rolls per turn.
Guess the candy count in the jar Party game · Any number · You need: a clear jar of wrapped candy, counted in advance, and slips of paper. Closest guess without going over takes the jar home. Ask about allergies before it is opened.
Guess the weight of the pumpkin Party game · Any number · You need: the biggest pumpkin at the party and bathroom scales. Everyone lifts it once and writes a guess. Weigh it at the end of the night.
Guess what is in the feel boxes Party game · 3 or more · You need: shoe boxes with a hand hole, peeled grapes, cold cooked spaghetti, a peeled tomato. Label them eyeballs, worms and a heart. Players feel, guess the real food and write it down. Nobody eats what is in the boxes.
Hold a costume parade with awards Party game · Any number · You need: nothing. Everyone walks one lap of the room. Vote by applause for funniest, spookiest and best homemade.
Hold a pumpkin decorating contest Party game · 2 or more · You need: a small pumpkin each, markers, stickers and wool for hair. Ten minutes and no knives. Judge by applause.
Hunt for 13 hidden spiders Party game · 2 or more · You need: 13 plastic spiders or paper bats hidden round one room. Set a five minute timer. Most found wins, and whoever finds number 13 hides them for the next round.
Pass the pumpkin Party game · 5 or more, in a circle · You need: a mini pumpkin and spooky music. Pass it round while the music plays. Holding it when the music stops means you leave the circle and work the music.
Pin the nose on the pumpkin Party game · 3 or more · You need: a paper pumpkin on the wall, paper noses, tape and a blindfold. Spin the player three times and point them at the wall. Closest nose wins.
Play ghost in the graveyard Party game · 5 or more · You need: a garden or a hall and a home base. One ghost hides. The rest search, and whoever spots the ghost shouts the game's name and everyone runs for base. Anyone tagged is the next ghost.
Play guess the ghost Party game · 6 or more · You need: one bed sheet. Guessers close their eyes while one player hides under the sheet and the rest swap seats. Who is missing?
Play Halloween charades Party game · 4 or more · You need: nothing. Act out a Halloween word without a sound: carving a pumpkin, a bat asleep, a creaking coffin lid. One minute a turn.
Play Halloween sketch and guess Party game · 4 or more, two teams · You need: paper, a marker and a one minute timer. Draw a Halloween word for your team with no letters and no talking. Cauldron is easy; cobweb is not.
Play monster freeze dance Party game · 4 or more · You need: music someone can pause. Dance like a monster. When the music stops, freeze in a monster pose. Anyone who wobbles names the next monster.
Play pumpkin tic-tac-toe Party game · 2 · You need: five mini pumpkins, five gourds and a grid taped on the floor. Pumpkins against gourds, three in a row. Winner stays on.
Play roll a monster Party game · 2 or more · You need: paper, pencils and one die. Roll six times for heads, eyes, arms, legs, horns and teeth, then draw the monster you rolled. Most alarming monster wins.
Play snap apple Party game · 2 or more · You need: an apple per player hung on string at mouth height. No hands. The first to take a clean bite wins. The old Irish name for the night is Snap Apple Night.
Play the trick-or-treat memory chain Party game · 3 or more · You need: nothing. I went trick-or-treating and got an apple. The next player repeats the list and adds one. Miss an item and you are out.
Play vampire wink Party game · 6 or more, in a circle · You need: nothing. One secret vampire winks at players, who count to three and swoon. One detective in the middle gets three guesses.
Read your fortune in an apple peel Party game · Any number · You need: an apple each and an adult with a peeler. Peel the apple in one strip and toss the peel over your shoulder. The old divination game reads its shape as a letter.
Run a build a skeleton relay Party game · Two teams · You need: two sets of paper bones hidden at the far end of the room. One runner at a time fetches one bone. First team to lay out a whole skeleton, skull to toes, wins.
Run a mummy wrap race Party game · Teams of 2 or 3 · You need: one toilet roll per team. One player stands still while the team wraps them head to toe. First roll used up wins, and torn paper may be tucked back in.
Run an eyeball and spoon race Party game · 2 or more · You need: ping-pong balls drawn as eyeballs and a spoon each. There and back without dropping it. Drop it and you restart from the line.
Toss rings onto witch hats Party game · 2 or more · You need: three cone party hats painted black and three hoops or glow bracelets. Three throws per turn from a line on the floor. Far hat scores 3, middle 2, near 1.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for this site on 2026-09-18 and corrected on 2026-09-19 after review: 48 costume ideas, 29 party games and 26 spooky challenges. Costumes are generic figures only (the Wikipedia Halloween article says costumes were traditionally modeled after vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches and scarecrows); no film, show or game characters, no real people, no culture worn as a costume and no disability worn as a costume. The traditional games were checked again on 2026-09-19 against en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_bobbing: apple bobbing with teeth only and hands behind the back, called dooking in Scotland; snap apple with apples hung on strings; Snap Apple Night as a name for Halloween in Ireland and in Newfoundland and Labrador; the Scottish custom of treacle scones hung on strings; and the apple peeled in one strip and tossed over the shoulder as a divination game (that last one is in the Halloween article, not the Apple bobbing one). The balloon note follows the American Academy of Pediatrics choking prevention page (healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx, last updated 2/27/2026, checked 2026-09-19), which says balloons are a choking risk for children up to 8 years of age. Player counts, timings and scoring are this site's own suggestions. The tongue twister and the skeleton joke are traditional and have no known author. Licence: own work

How it works

This Halloween spin the wheel holds 103 ideas for 31 October: 48 costumes, 29 party games from snap apple to pumpkin bowling, and 26 spooky challenges done on the spot. Pick a group and spin. Each result says what you need and how many can play.

Read the full guide

Host the whole party from one wheel

Choose Party games the day before and read the list under the wheel: 22 of the 29 need something bought or made, such as apples, string or a pumpkin round enough to roll. On the night, switch to Elimination so no game comes up twice. Between games, give each guest one spin on Spooky challenges; 24 of the 26 need no props.

The old Halloween games on this wheel

Three results are old customs, not party shop inventions. Bobbing for apples is called dooking in Scotland, and the rule is teeth only, hands behind the back. Snap apple hangs the apples on strings, and in Ireland and Newfoundland Snap Apple Night is another name for Halloween. The apple peel game began as fortune telling: the peel was said to land as the first letter of a future spouse's name.

No costume at five o'clock on the 31st? Spin Closet costumes. All 16 are made from clothes, tape, cardboard and safety pins.
Open Pair and group costumes in Elimination and let each pair spin once. Two couples then never arrive as salt and pepper.
No supplies needed holds 31 ideas for an office or a hired hall where a tub of water is not welcome.

Questions and answers

Which costumes are on the Halloween wheel?

There are 19 classic figures such as a ghost, a scarecrow and a mad scientist, 16 closet costumes such as static cling and a sleepwalker, and 13 for pairs or groups. Every one is generic: no film, show or game characters, no real people and nobody's culture worn as a costume.

Which games need an adult in charge?

Four. Bob for apples needs an adult at the tub throughout, and Read your fortune in an apple peel needs an adult with the peeler. Eat a doughnut off a string and Guess the candy count in the jar need an allergy check first. One costume, Go as a bunch of grapes, uses balloons, a choking risk for children under 8.

Which games can I run tonight without going to the shops?

Seven need nothing at all, among them Play vampire wink and Play monster freeze dance. Four more use what most homes have: toilet rolls for Run a mummy wrap race, a broom for Do the broomstick limbo, a bed sheet for Play guess the ghost, and paper and a die for Play roll a monster.

Halloween Spin the Wheel

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On the wheel

Numbers on the wheel

All 103 Halloween ideas

Pair and group costumes 13

Pair and group costumes, continued

Closet costumes 16

Classic costumes 19

Spooky challenges 26

Party games 29

How it works

Host the whole party from one wheel

The old Halloween games on this wheel

Questions and answers

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