Kid Halloween Party Ideas
We had a blast with a one-hour zero-white-sugar Halloween party in a second-grade with this plan, and I’ve tweaked and reused it a few times since then too, for kindergarten and fourth graders!RELATED: Non-Food Birthday Celebration Ideas for SchoolNo White Sugar Halloween Party Food
A few parents thanked me for planning food that didn’t include a bunch of candy, and I didn’t hear any kids say, “Hey! Where’s the cupcake with inch-thick frosting and a sugar cookie as big as my face?!??”I’m thinking the food went over well.Here’s a real food menu for a Halloween party, complete with some dramatic presentation – because I love to show kids (and adults) that healthy food can still be FUN and we don’t need to drown ourselves (and our kids) in sugar!!Jack O’Lantern (Pumpkin) Muffins
Jack O’Lantern Cookies
Carrot Witches’ Fingers & Slimy Eyeball Grapes
Buttered Popcorn (Skeleton Vertebrae)
Cheesy Ghosts & Pumpkins
Beverage: 100% White Grape Juice with a Gummy Worm…
Here’s where the only white sugar at our party entered. I apologized to the kids and said that I had been gardening before coming to the party, so “I’m terribly sorry if anything out of the ordinary got in your cups from the garden…”It was fun. But if I really had my druthers, I’d just serve water. In general, I’m not a fan of juice, and I’ve since gone to only water when I help plan parties, usually with something fun about it like the Christmas ice cubes we made for that party. Here are some Halloween themed ice cube trays if you want to make a glass of ice water extra fun! Skip the gummy worm and you also have a party without any artificial colors, another amazing feat worth celebrating.Simple Halloween Kids’ Party Games
Landfill Monsters
Supplies needed:
- trash and recycling (everyone contributes)
- duct, masking and packing tape
- string and yarn
- scissors
- permanent markers (if kids are old enough, to draw faces)
- optional: embellishments like pipe cleaners or foam stickers
Apples on a String
Supplies needed:
Note: Tie the strings tightly enough to make a dent in the apple or you’ll end up with many on the ground. This game can also be done with pretzel rods, but that’s decidedly less healthy. - apples sliced in eights (enough for one for each student plus extras for a championship round and the ill effects of gravity)
- 3-foot lengths of string tied around the middle of the apple
- prizes (or not…)
Mummy Wrap
Divide the class into groups of four kids. Each team will wrap “mummies” using a roll of toilet paper. They can have a child hold the end and spin around, or the kids can walk around the “mummy” to wrap him or her. Any time the mummy gets dizzy or wants to switch, they can just tear the paper and start a new mummy on another child. In this way, all the kids can really participate and be silly, and there’s some decision making about how to be fastest. Also, hopefully no one gets toooooo dizzy. (I recommend doing this game before food, not after!) The first team to use all their toilet paper wins!Supplies needed:
We didn’t actually have time for this game, but we’ve decided to make it a Christmas game of “putting garland on a spinning Christmas tree” like in a department store. We’ll put a bow on their heads as they play to keep it festive!- rolls of toilet paper, enough for each group of 4 to have one
- prizes
Backup Activity: Halloween Word Play
This is a good 5-minute game that takes zero prep and can be inserted if you don’t have enough time at the end of the party for the Mummy Wrap or have a bit of extra time to kill. Simply write “HAPPY HALLOWEEN” on the board and set a timer for 3, 4 or 5 minutes. The kids work independently or in groups to make as many words as they can using the letters in Happy Halloween. They may use letters more than once, but not in the same word. For example, having both “low” and “wall” on a list is fine, even though there’s only one “w” available. The word “wool” would not work, because there’s only one “o” to use in each word. Make sense? I recommend this game for 2nd grade and up, maybe first grade if it’s a pretty bright class. Award prizes to the top 3 (or more) with the most words; bonus prizes for the longest word.Supplies needed:
- paper and pencils
- prizes
Backup activity: Holiday Word Ball
This is a little twist on “quiet ball,” that rainy day school game where kids sit on their desks and toss a ball around. Anyone who misses or is not quiet has to sit down on their chair. In this version, the leader chooses a category related to the holiday. For Halloween, I had prepared:- orange things
- things made of pumpkin
- scary costumes
- Halloween TV specials
- Halloween decorations
- Halloween animals
Supplies needed:
- ball or holiday something to throw – I had a stuffed pumpkin
- list of categories
Halloween Crafts for School Parties
For younger children preschool through first grade or so, a craft is just as good as a game. Try these two if you have younger children at your school party.Candy Name Mosaics
Free-hand or print out each child’s name on a regular sheet of printer paper, and make sure the letters are nice and thick so that some candies can fit in the middle to fill them up. Give each child a small paper cup of glue and a craft stick, and another small paper cup with Halloween candies inside such as candy corn, M&Ms, or Reese’s Pieces. The children get to make their name out of candy which is, of course, the very best purpose for all that sugar on Halloween anyway.Bonus: challenge them to make patterns or do counting for extra academic practice.The Painting of the Gourd
Looking back, I actually can’t believe I did this without painting smocks, and I hope the parents weren’t too upset with me because their child’s costume got paint on them. Here’s what you need for this craft:- white potatoes
- small gourds
- tempera paint
- styrofoam trays or another way to hold the paint
- white printer paper
- painting smocks
I hope this helps some last-minute planners out there make their child’s school Halloween party a festive, fun, and healthy experience!
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Great, Fun ideas! The children will still have fun and won’t miss all the sugar. You could do the muffins for breakfast and the carrots with supper for other ideas, or if you couldn’t use them in the classroom. Bless You!
I applaud you. I hope we, as a society, begin to realize the impact sugar has. Thank you for the ideas.
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Did you use black grapes for the pupil on the grapes? And a HUGE thank you for posting this!
Kerri,
Good question! The one with the pupil is actually a sticky-gooey toy eyeball, but leaving a bit of black skin would be awesome!
🙂 Katie
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For the popcorn, I’m assuming you meant a stick of butter per cup of kernels? Because I think a cup of popped popcorn would be drowning in a whole stick of butter, LOL!
Jen,
Yes! Kernels would have been a much better word than “dry,” duh on me. I was contemplating how to say that, too…sometimes words don’t come easily to a brain that talks in 1-year-old-speak all day, you know? 😉 Thanks for the correction! 🙂 Katie
This is a wonderful idea. The only problem at my sons school is everthing has to be in factory sealed packaging. Nothing can be homemade. I would rather my children have a white sugar/white flour homemade cupcake than a store bought one full of chemicals!
Oh, I feel so badly for those of you who have to rely on the stores to make your food, and I feel fortunate we’re still allowed to bring in some homemade stuff. I just know eventually all schools will be “factory-sealed-only,” and I’m scared! I might be home-schooling my brood of 3! 😉 Well, maybe not just for store-made party food…
You could still do popcorn, although not with real butter I imagine – maybe organic bags at Costco? And let the kids cookie cutter (or plastic knife freehand) their own cheese… Build their own witches’ fingers…and skip all the baked goods!
🙂 Katie
This is incredible!
If my son didn’t go to a school where Halloween is officially not observed and where all snacks — including fresh fruit and vegetables — must be factory sealed by the manufacturer or grocery store, I would totally steal this party plan.
If I were homeschooling a big brood instead of only 2, I’d steal this plan too!