Halloween Activities, Party Ideas, and Games

Are you organising Halloween this year? Whether your friend group volunteered you or you just love the spooky season, throwing a proper Halloween party takes more than a couple of pumpkins and a bag of candy. The best parties have a theme, a plan for activities, and a way to cover the cost of drinks, decorations and snacks without draining your own bank account.

Instead of paying for everything yourself and chasing people for cash afterwards, you can collect money from your friends with Collctiv. The whole night gets funded before a single pumpkin gets carved.

Below, we've pulled together the best Halloween activities, party ideas, themes and games this year, plus a few ways Collctiv can take the admin off your plate.

Types of Halloween Parties to Host

Before you get into decorations and games, decide on the overall format of the night. Six ideas to get you started.

Haunted house

Turn your home into a walk-through scare experience. You can use fog machines, black lights, jump scares from friends in costume, and eerie sound effects. This is a good option if your group loves a bit of drama and doesn't mind spending a little on props (the kind of cost a shared pot handles).

Movie night with Halloween snacks

One of the best things about Halloween are Halloween movies. Some of my favourites are Hocus Pocus, Hotel Transylvania, Coraline, E.T., and, of course, Harry Potter (if that counts). You can get creative with some themed snacks like Hocus Pocus popcorn buckets, witch-finger pretzels or mummy hot dogs.

Murder mystery party

Assign characters, hand out clue cards, and let the group work out who committed the crime. Kits are widely available online and this is one of the easiest formats to pull off with minimal setup.

Traitors party

Inspired by the TV show, secretly assign a couple of "traitors" among your friends and have everyone else try to figure out who they are through challenges and a banishment vote.

Scavenger hunt

Send guests around the house, garden or neighbourhood hunting for spooky clues and hidden treats. An easy way to keep a large group entertained, and it works for mixed ages.

Costume competition

Everyone loves an excuse to go all out on an outfit. Set up a pot where every guest chips in a small entry fee, and the winner takes the whole thing home.

Halloween Activities for your Party

If you want a simpler party with just a few activities to do during the evening, below are some ideas.

Tarot reading

Tarot reading is really simple if you use a beginner’s deck and the guidebook. It is sometimes spooky how accurate the answers are but, in any case, tarot cards are a powerful tool for reflection, intuition, and psychological insight.

Pumpkin carving

A Halloween tradition for a reason. Set up a station with pumpkins, carving tools, newspaper for the mess, and maybe a small prize for the best design. Works well as an opener while people are still arriving.

Bonfire

If you've got outdoor space, a bonfire is perfect for (ghost) storytelling, marshmallow roasting, and keeping guests warm as the night goes on.

Halloween cocktail workshop ("potion mixing")

Turn cocktail-making into a Halloween activity by framing it as potion mixing. Dry ice, colour-changing syrups and spooky glassware turn a simple drinks table into a proper experience. This is worth funding through a group pot, since ingredients and equipment add up fast.

Pie-making workshop

Prepare the pie crusts (about 5 ingredients) or buy them already-made and lay out sweet and savoury ingredients for everyone. Pair it with cider or hot chocolate for a proper autumn feel.

Ouija board

If you feel like waking the spirits and ghosts in your house. For groups who like leaning into the spookier side of the night, playing adds some theatre and ghost-story energy to the evening.

Apple bobbing

An old-school Halloween game that still gets laughs. Fill a large basin with water and apples, and let guests take turns grabbing one using only their teeth.

Guess Who with Halloween characters

Print pictures of classic Halloween costumes and characters, stick one on each guest's forehead, and have them guess who they are by asking yes-or-no questions.

Halloween Party Themes

If you want to do something a bit different this year, you can pick an original theme and build your decorations, snacks, drinks and activities around it.

Movie-inspired themes

There are so many movies you could choose from but the best themes are the ones with  recognisable characters, colours and details. Alice in Wonderland suits pastel colours mixed with unsettling touches and oversized props. Harry Potter is easy to pull off with house-sorting at the door and a butterbeer bar. Stranger Things can transform any living room with Upside Down decor, red string lights and a Demogorgon centrepiece.

Midnight masquerade

Elegant masks, dim lighting, candles, and a dress code of black, gold or deep jewel tones. One of the more sophisticated options if your group prefers spooky-elegant over spooky-gory.

Haunted carnival

Creepy clowns, striped tents, carnival games with a dark twist, and a popcorn machine. Works particularly well if you've got outdoor or garden space to play with.

Zodiac signs

Let guests pick a costume based on their star sign. It naturally creates variety in the room, since every guest ends up looking completely different. Read horoscopes during the party to add an interactive element.

First-letter costumes

Everyone dresses as a halloween character starting with the first letter of their name. A simple twist that sparks conversation the moment people walk in.

Día de los Muertos

A beautiful theme based on the Mexican holiday where families honour deceased loved ones, believing their spirits return to visit the living. You can build this around sugar skulls, skeletons with floral patterns, marigolds, candles and altars, and bright colours. Leans more toward celebration than scares, and it photographs beautifully.

Criminals theme

Print "wanted posters" of your friends and pin them up as decor, and set up a mugshot backdrop with a height chart and prop signs for photos throughout the night.

How to Collect Money for Your Halloween Party

Whether you go for a haunted house, a masquerade, or a Día de los Muertos celebration, nearly every option above comes with some shared cost for decorations, drinks, pumpkins, cocktail ingredients or a competition prize.

This is exactly what Collctiv is built for. Instead of paying for everything upfront and reminding people to pay you back, set up a pot in a few minutes, share the link in your group chat, and let everyone pay their share directly. The host doesn't end up out of pocket, and there's no awkward chasing afterwards.

A few ways to put it to use:

• Decorations and drinks. Set a target per guest, share the pot, and once everyone's paid you know exactly what your budget is.
• Costume competition pot. Everyone pays a small entry fee through the pot, and you can buy a present with the total or send it directly to the winner.
• Workshops and activities. If you’re running a cocktail-making session or a pie workshop,  collect the cost of ingredients and equipment upfront so nothing comes out of your own pocket.
• Scavenger hunt prizes or bonfire supplies. Firewood, marshmallows, prize money and anything that benefits the whole group can be collected in one place instead of chased individually.

Because everyone can see who's paid into the pot, there's no confusion and no follow-up messages the week after the party. It turns the admin side of hosting into something that takes minutes, so you can spend your time on the parts that actually matter.

Pick a couple of ideas from the list above, choose a theme that fits your space and your friend group, and set up a Collctiv pot early so the money side is sorted before the night even starts.