Planning a party for Halloween? While you're bound to remember the pumpkin, food and fancy dress outfit, don't forget to plan a few games for little (and big!) people.
Here are a few of favourites.
Did we miss yours? Please share your games and the rules below for other readers...
Happy Halloween!
Apple Bobbing
Fill the washing up bowl or bath tub with water and pour in food colouring (red, green, black or orange suit the theme best).
Arrange a towel around the bath/ washing up bowl to keep the floor dry.
Pop a load of apples into the water and line everyone up ready to play.
Depending on the size of your bowl or bath, either have players do it one at a time and time their go, or have a few playing at once. The winner is the quickest to lift their apple out of the water using just their teeth.
Musical zombies
Get everyone to walk around the living room doing their best zombie impression (arms out, wailing, you know the kind of thing). Play music and stop it at random times, making everyone stop dead. A little spooky twist on traditional musical statues, it's more tricky as the players (hopefully) stop in awkward positions. First to move in each round is out.
Mummy costumes
'Our favourite is to wrap everyone up as mummies with lots of toilet roll to make people look like scary mummies.'
Laura Seaton who blogs at Tired-mummy.blogspot.com.
Halloween treasure hunt
'We set up a spooky treasure hunt. All you need to do is write age appropriate clues and hide spooky prizes and sweets around the house.'
Twitter follower Ella Saye who blogs at Notesfromhome.com.
Flour cutters
Pack a jelly or cake mould tight with flour (you can mix the flour with food colouring to give it a Halloween twist). Pop a plate under the mould and quickly turn it upside down to, hopefully, reveal the flour cake. Carefully balance a coin on top and get each child to cut a slither of the flour cake with a plastic knife. The first one to knock the coin off or make the cake collapse loses.
Play-Doh prints
Buy or print off from online the outline of a witch. Get everyone to colour in the scene using different coloured Play-Doh. One do the hat, another the broomstick and so on...
Doughnut brooms
'We play a fun one which everyone loves. Try tying jam donuts to a broom handle and get two adults to hold it in the air while the little ones try and eat them without using their hands.'
Tina Crick, Twitter follower.
Pass the pumpkin
Hollow out a pumpkin and fill it with lots of treats like small bags of sweets, mini chocolate bars and the odd cheap toy. Get everyone to sit around in a circle, play some music and stop it at random times. When the music stops, the child holding the pumpkin closes their eyes and picks a treat without looking.
Pin the hat on the witch
Get a large cut out of a witch (or cat, vampire etc) and cut off bits (her nose, hat, broomstick etc). Give a piece of the witch to each child and get them, blindfolded, to pin the bits onto her.
Broomstick race
Divide everyone into equal teams and give each one a broomstick. Line them up outside in the garden and have a relay race with each child 'riding' the broomstick up the course by running with it between their legs.
We hope we've given you lots of inspiration!
