Halloween Party Games for Tweens: Eight They Actually Play

Tweens are in between. They want the rules of a real contest, and they do not want a game with a cartoon on it. So the eight games below are built around the same three things: teams, a clock and a score. Each one says how many minutes it takes, what you need and how to run it. Every game is free of scary content and of anything grown-up.

1. Pumpkin pass, a one-minute game

Pumpkin pass is the minute to win it game for a Halloween party that needs the least setup. Two teams stand in lines. The first player tucks a mini pumpkin under the chin and passes it to the next player with no hands. A dropped pumpkin goes back to the start of the line. When 60 seconds are up, count how many players the pumpkin reached.

Two rounds and a rematch fill 10 minutes. Gather two mini pumpkins and a timer on a phone. Use mini pumpkins that are about the size of a softball, on a flat floor with the furniture pushed back.

2. Ghost cup tower, a one-minute game

Each player gets 10 plastic cups. They have 60 seconds to stack them into a pyramid and then take it down into one neat stack. A tower that falls over has to be rebuilt. Run it as a relay, with each team member adding one round.

Allow 10 to 15 minutes. Each player or team needs 10 cups. Draw a ghost face on the top cup with a marker if you want it to look the part. It is quick, loud and easy to judge.

3. Eyeball spoon race, a one-minute game

Set two bowls on a table, one full of 15 ping-pong balls (the eyeballs) and one empty. Players move the balls one at a time with a spoon, with one hand behind the back. The most balls in the empty bowl after 60 seconds wins.

The game takes about 10 minutes with two spoons, two bowls and 30 ping-pong balls. Dropped balls roll everywhere, so set the bowls on a table.

4. Team trivia with a scoreboard

Quizzes work with this age group when the questions are not babyish and the scoring is public. Make two to four teams. Read a question, give each team 15 seconds, and let the other team steal if the first one misses. One point each, with a tie-breaker question at the end.

Twenty questions take 15 to 20 minutes. Halloween Trivia for Kids has 40 question cards in two levels. The 20 "Big Bats" cards are written for ages 8 to 12. The answer is printed small and upside down on every card. A score sheet covers up to 6 teams. A 13-year-old may find them easy, so keep the tie-breaker hard. The Party Games Bundle includes it with seven other games.

If you write your own, pick facts you can check, and give the host an answer sheet so no one argues about the answer.

5. Would You Rather with sides

Read a "would you rather" question and have players move to one side of the room. Ask a few players on each side to defend their choice in 20 seconds. Tweens love a debate, and nobody needs to be good at anything to join in.

Ten minutes is enough, and the only supply is open floor, or "hands on head or hands on hips" if the room is small. Finish the Phrase has 24 "Would you rather" cards, 24 orange phrase cards and two extra ways to play, including a quiet writing table. Choose funny questions, such as "Would you rather have a pet bat or a pet spider?" Skip the scary ones.

6. Word-search race

Hand each team the same puzzle face down. On "go," they flip it and race to circle every word. The first team with every word found wins the round. Hard puzzles slow the race down and make it a team effort, because they hide words backwards and on diagonals.

The race lasts 5 to 10 minutes. Halloween Word Search has two hard puzzles that are 15 × 15 with 15 words in all 8 directions, plus answer keys. Print one copy per team, and ask each team to pick a different color of pen so you can check the answers fast.

7. Photo scavenger hunt

Give each team a list of 12 photo targets and 20 minutes, with a phone for the photographs. Items can be silly: a team in a pyramid pose, a "mummy" made from toilet paper, something orange, a dramatic ghost leap. Judges give one point per photo and a bonus for the funniest.

Allow 20 to 30 minutes, with one phone per team and a clear boundary, such as the house and the yard. Tell the teams up front where they may not go. For a hunt that uses written clues, see our guide to clues for a Halloween treasure hunt.

8. Mystery bag, three guesses

Put an object in a paper bag, with no peeking, and let one player feel it for 20 seconds. They get three guesses to name it. Use ordinary things, like a pinecone, a sponge, a measuring spoon or a rubber glove, and say they are "monster parts" for the story. It works best with a team captain who keeps score.

Eight to ten bags fill 10 minutes. Do not put food in the bags, and do not use anything wet or sharp.

How to choose Halloween party games for tweens by group size and minutes

Start with the number of kids. Two teams of four work for every game on this list. The one-minute games scale up to 12 players if you run them in relays. Then pick the mix. Tweens tire on seated games and on loud games alike, so alternate: one physical game, one seated game, one physical game.

Child development guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that children aged 9 to 11 form stronger friendships. It says it becomes more emotionally important to have friends. That is why team games land better than solo ones at this age. It also says that peer pressure can become strong. Keep every dare and challenge optional, and let a player pass without a penalty.

The minutes in the table are our own estimates for a group of about eight tweens. Adjust them for your room.

Match the game to the mood of the room with the guide below.

A game that every player can lose without feeling small is the one they ask to play again.

Give each game a one-sentence rule and say it once. If the group argues about a rule, the judge decides and the game goes on.

Tweens who act too cool usually want a job, not a lecture. Make the coolest ones the judge, the scorekeeper or the timer, and let each team choose its own name. Ask for phones in a basket at the door, and say they come out only for the photo hunt. A game that needs both hands and a clock leaves little room for scrolling.

Prizes work best when they go to a team, not to one child. Give every member of the winning team a small prize, such as glow sticks, stickers or a bag of wrapped candy. Add a silly award for the whole group, like the loudest team. Mix boys and girls on every team by drawing names, and make every dare optional. Shy kids do well in the seated games (4, 6 and 8), where they can help without performing.

After dark, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that wearing a brightly colored costume and carrying a flashlight or glow stick can help brighten the walkways. Hand out glow sticks if the photo hunt takes the teams into the yard after sunset.

The Party Games Bundle is $13.99 for eight printable games. It fits a tween party when you want trivia cards, a would-you-rather deck and hard word searches printed in a few minutes. It is the wrong choice when you want a physical, one-minute game night. Games 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 above need no printing at all. Halloween Picture Bingo and Halloween Memory Game in the bundle are made for younger children. Halloween Scavenger Hunt is for ages 3 to 9. Buy it only if the trivia, the phrase cards and the puzzles are what you are missing. Free printables exist and can be good enough for one game. The paid files give you a matching set in one design, both paper sizes, and nothing to redraw. The files are PDFs that open in any PDF reader, so you do not need any other app. The PDF comes by email after checkout, so you can print it the same day. Print at home at actual size, as often as you need for your own party.