11 Halloween Party Games For Adults

You've already picked out the coolest costume, planned the perfect pumpkin carvings, and started stocking up on spooky decorations. That's right, it's almost Halloween again, and this year, you're totally prepared. So prepared, in fact, that you even started thinking about what Halloween party games for adults you'll want to have at your holiday get-together, because whether you're organizing your employee celebration or throwing a shindig of your own, you're going to need some appropriately themed entertainment. Games (and Halloween) aren't just for children anymore.

Throwing a Halloween party isn't like throwing any old party. It requires a lot of planning, plenty of attention to detail, and full blown commitment. From the invitations to the decorations, the food to the music, you want everything at a Halloween party to be spooky and scary, yet fun and entertaining. Most importantly, you want everything to be totally on theme.

That's where party games come in. We all have fond memories of going to Halloween parties as a kid. Everyone was dressed in costumes, there was more candy than you could ever dream of, and there were plenty of spooky games to keep you laughing (and possibly screaming) all night long. We bobbed for apples and pinned the face on the Jack O'Lantern, guessed how many pieces of candy were in the jar, and even blindly stuck our hands into bowls of mysterious "body parts." Now, just because we're adults, it doesn't mean we don't want fun and games at our parties anymore, we just need something a little more grown up than ghost pinatas.

If you're planning the perfect party for grown-ups, here are 11 Halloween games for adults that everyone will love.

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1. Pumpkin Carving Contest

Can it even be considered Halloween without a little pumpkin carving? For your party, stock up on small-sized pumpkins (think something guests won't hate having to lug home after), carving knives, and tea lights, and set them up on a large covered table ready with bowls for dumping pumpkin guts in. Have your guests create their own carvings, and at the end of the night, give out prizes for the best one. Like dyeing Easter eggs or decorating Christmas cookies, making Jack O'Lanterns is an all-ages holiday activity, and a tradition you can't ignore at your own party.

2. Costume Contest

Like carving pumpkins, wearing costumes is a tradition on Halloween, so why not make it part of your party? When you invite your guests, instruct them to come all dressed up — it can be whatever they like, or you can pick a party theme — and let them know that you'll be having a costume contest. When people arrive, give them scorecards so that throughout the night, they can keep track of whose costumes they like the best in different categories. Before everyone goes home, collect all the votes and give out prizes for the winners. Great categories include scariest costume, most creative costume, best couples costume, and so much more.

3. Host A Murder Mystery Dinner

Though it will take more planning than your average party game, a murder mystery dinner is the perfect entertainment for a Halloween party. The basic setup is this: everyone gets assigned a role when they arrive at the party, and throughout the dinner, guests must guess who is the murderer, and who is the next victim. From the traditional, Clue type set up to a Pretty Little Liars theme, your options are endless, so have fun with it!

4. Exchange Scary Stories

Do you remember sitting around your friend's basement as a kid, passing around the flashlight and swapping scary stories? Of course you do, and you probably remember the stories that gave you nightmares all those years ago, so why not break them out at your adult Halloween party? A tradition at celebrations tracing far back in history, story swapping is a great way to keep guests entertained, involved, and getting to know each other even better.

5. Fortune Telling

Fortune telling is a unique form of entertainment perfect for Halloween parties. To pull it off, you can either hire a professional to come and read your guests' futures, or, if you want to save money and get a little more creative with it, you can have yourself or a friend dress up to look the part and make up funny fortunes of your own. If you want to take it a little more seriously, you can learn to read tarot cards or the basics of palm reading. Either way, your guests will get a kick out of this party trick.

6. Scavenger Hunt

What could be a better Halloween activity than creeping through the dark looking for spooky clues? Nothing, that's what. If you and your party guests like a little adventure with your entertainment, then a scavenger hunt is the perfect party game for you. You can hide creepy objects (like fake body parts or mini pumpkins) around your property, and give guests clues to find them. Whoever finds the most items at the end of the night wins a prize. Alternatively, you and your guests can break into teams and hit the streets with a list of Halloween-related items to find and document (a pumpkin carved into a cat, a person dressed as a Pokemon character, etc.). Whichever team has the most pictures of what they found wins!

7. Karaoke

Still remember the words to "Monster Mash"? Do you hum "Thriller" all year long? Then Halloween-themed karaoke is the perfect party game for you and your guests this year. Just load up your computer or karaoke machine with Halloween-appropriate music — "This Is Halloween" from A Nightmare Before Christmas , Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" — and get ready to be serenaded by your spooky guests all night long.

8. Villain Trivia

If your friends are anything like mine, then they probably already belong to several after work trivia teams. Why not incorporate their interests into your Halloween party? During your gathering, have people break into trivia teams and ask them questions about famous villains and monsters from movies, books, history, and the news. Make sure to have a variety of questions so that everyone has a chance to win, and be sure to include cool prizes at the end.

9. Pumpkin Bocce

Planning a Halloween party is all about staying on theme. You don't serve fruit punch, you serve "vampire blood," the girls bathroom is transformed into the "ghouls-room," and instead of playing regular old bocce, you give it a holiday-appropriate twist. To make your own Halloween-themed bocce, you're going to need one small pumpkin or gourd to act as the pallina, and eight larger pumpkins painted two different colors — may I suggest leaving one orange and painting the other black — to use as the throwing balls. It's bocce played by the regular rules with a fun pumpkin twist.

10. Cauldron Toss

Speaking of staying on theme, bocce isn't the only game that can get a Halloween makeover. Next up: cornhole. Instead of playing cornhole (or Baggo or bean bag toss, whatever you call it) the traditional way, swap out the regular boards for large plastic cauldrons and trade in the plain bean bags for DIY holiday bean bags. The basic rules still apply, but now the game has a whole new spooky aspect to it

11. Doughnut On A String

I know what you're thinking — isn't this a game for kids? You may have memories of trying to eat a doughnut off of a string as a child, but that doesn't mean you can't relive your powder sugar glory days as an adult. A tradition that will give you all the nostalgic feels, doughnut eating contests are a simple and silly way of reminding your guests that Halloween is the perfect time of year to pretend to be a kid again.

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