I really need to know what you think !!!!

[Sym]

About indoor Halloween party games.

Any suggestions ? Some of my outside plans might be nixed if it is rainy. This is for ages 8 - 11 yrs.

I am looking for ideas, I know I can google it, too, and I will later, but I wanted to see some things that went over well for posters here.

Because I need the approval of Strangers On A Message Board.

[still_me]

If it doesn't rain, you can tie strings off of a clothesline and hang powdered donuts at the end of the strings. Have the kids keep their hands behind their backs and whoever can get their donut off the string first without it falling on the ground wins.


Indoor:

Put the hat on the witch (play like pin the tail on the donkey)
Hide a ghost somewhere and whoever finds it first wins
Have all the adults except one be a "vampire" They don't have to do anything different. You just make them be "it". Give hints to the kids, and then tell them to try and figure out who isn't a vampire. If they guess wrong, they are turned into a vampire too. Give them wax vampire teeth when they are turned. **I just made this up now, so it might have some glitches in it, but it would be fun to perfect and do, IMO.

You can do a boo hunt too. Set up different spots in the house for a treasure hunt and let them follow the trails. You can tell them that they are ghost hunters or something like that.

[JudyJudyJudy]

I have no suggestions, but you have my approval.

[janie]

Because I need the approval of Strangers On A Message Board. :) I always knew I would like you!

Anyway, how about a game called Pass the Parcel. I googled it for you:

Pass the parcel is a popular British children's party game in which a parcel is passed from person to person around a circle, somewhat similar in its logistics to musical chairs.

In preparation for the game, a prize (or "gift") is wrapped in a large number of layers of wrapping paper. Usually, each layer is of a different design so they can be easily distinguished. Smaller prizes or mottos may be placed between some or all other layers of wrapping.

During the game, music is played as the parcel is passed around. Whoever is holding the parcel when the music is stopped removes one layer of wrapping and claims any prize found under that layer. The music is then restarted and the game continues until every layer is removed and the main prize claimed.

The stopping and starting of the music is usually done by an adult who is not taking part in the game. While in order for the game to be fair, they should not observe the game, in practice they often do, to ensure that every participant has a turn, that prizes are well distributed and perhaps that the child whose party it is claims the main prize (or to ensure that a guest claims the prize). A fairer alternative is to prepare recordings of short snatches of music.

Variations on the game include allowing participants to remove as many layers of paper as possible (rather than just one) before the music restarts, and including challenges or forfeits on slips of paper in place of mottos.


Instead of a prize between each layer, you could have a challenge or something like a truth or dare on a slip of paper. For Halloween, you might have them reach into a bag of goo, tell a scary story, paint a picture with their eyes closed, have a race to carve a pumpkin, anything really.

Each opening of a layer brings on a new activity. The prize in the middle could be a Halloween pinata and that will also bring one final challenge to the group to break the candy.

This way, you've got several aspects to the game going on at once. Kids that age love surprises and fast paced stuff.

[Sym]

Thanks, guys. I feel so fullfilled with approval.

Janie, I like that idea with some kind of silly truth or dare thing in each layer, or maybe a fortune, too.

Gotta work on that one....great idea. We do have a halloween pinata.

I might skip on the "race to carve a pumpkin" concept, I have gruesome images of sliced fingers.

[janie]

I was just thinking of the gooey aspect of it. Kids love that. Maybe you could have the top already cut open and they would have to dig the seeds and mush out with their hands. You could carve them yourself later.

You'll have fun regardless. Kids that age haven't quite reached the "this is so boring" level yet.

And I am glad to help in your fulfillment.

[leosmommy]

Teenage Werewolf Hearts: Peeled, roasted chestnuts ("good to eat—feel the ridges on your tongue")
Bat's Toenails: Whole caraway or cumin seeds; "crush them in your teeth."
Batwings: Smoked turkey wings (without the drumstick); beef jerky lightly soaked to soften.
Bloody Nuns' Hearts: poached eggs in chunky salsa.
Breaking Fingers: Wieners pierced with a thin breadstick; snap in half. (use a skewer to make a hole through the length of the wiener first).
Burned Rats & Rattails: Long green anaheim chiles (fresh, with stem), charred until blackened.
Coagulated Bat's Blood: chunky fruit purée with granola.
Cockroach Carcasses: Rice crackers—the ones shaped like little logs.
Dead Baby Brains: A bowl of overcooked, mushy cauliflower and eggplant, with large, round capers; can also be anyone's brains.
Dead Baby Fat: Tofu, preferably silken soft but any variety will do.
Dead Ears: Dried apricots, apples or pears.
Dead Witch Veins: Cooked buccatini (hollow spaghetti), chilled.
Decaying Flesh 1: dried phyllo dough sheets.
Decaying Flesh 2: baked puff pastry.
Decaying Flesh 3: mashed potatoes topped with flakes of the above.
Decaying Flesh 4: Corn meal mush, or polenta, dried and in chunks.
Decaying Flesh 5: Toasted dried seaweed sheets (Japanese nori); crush them.
Dried Lizard Legs: fried La Choy Noodles.
Dried Worm Exo-Skeletons: fried La Choy Noodles.
Ectoplasm: Applesauce.
Eyeballs 1: Popping: Cherry tomatoes set in gelatin (Jello) in an ice cube tray—stick one in the victim's mouth and tell them to bite down.
Eyeballs 2: Peeled grapes in a bowl; stick the victim's hand in.
Eyeballs 3: Olives stuffed with cream cheese and a squid tentacle.
Eyeballs 4: Fish eyeballs: martini pearl onions in a bowl of honey; raisins plumped in oil.

Fresh Vomit: Chunky Salsa & Canned Corn, mixed.
Missing Toe or Finger: Piece of carrot, cut to proper size, peeled and dried for 2 days.
Pus Soup: Mayonnaise and green salsa.
Rotted teeth: Unpopped (or partially popped) popcorn kernels; Cornnuts; pine nuts.
Skeleton hair: Corn silks.
Vampire's Earwax: Fudge.
Worms: Spaghetti in a bowl; spiral-shaped rotini make good locust larvae; stick victim's hand in.
Zombie hair: scraped, cooked spaghetti squash.

Taken from http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg1097/bodyshop.html#

[Sym]

Some of those are really gruesome ! thanks !

[Candi]

bobbing for apples?

[still_me]

bobbing for apples?


Not to sound like a germaphobe, but *shudder* I won't do that with the amount of flu going around. Just the thought of diving in for an apple mixed with everyone else's spit makes my skin crawl.

[Candi]

Not to sound like a germaphobe, but *shudder* I won't do that with the amount of flu going around. Just the thought of diving in for an apple mixed with everyone else's spit makes my skin crawl.


mmm, didn't think of that. Maybe if you bob into alcohol - Oh wait, that would be an adult game, LOL!