Last year, my Jingle Bell Toss was a total holiday kids party games hit – both at home with my kids, with their friends at school, and overwhelmingly by all of you! With just 5 minutes, a few dollars worth of supplies and a glue gun, you can make simple party games for children, and vary the theme to fit just about any preschool party or children’s birthday party. For Halloween, we’ve changed it up with candy pumpkins and cauldrons!

Simple Party Game for Halloween

Whether you are planning a Fall carnival, a Halloween party for preschool, or hosting a children’s birthday party in October, simple party games for children are an easy (and affordable) entertainment option. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on live entertainment, you can DIY party games that will keep the kids just as occupied, and even work on some gross and fine motor skills too!

Pumpkin Toss

Full confession – my original version of this game was totally inspired by my college days of Beer Pong. Jingle Bell Toss used mini red cups in a pyramid formation, and we swapped the ping pong balls for jingle bells, adding a fun sound element to the holiday party game. It was a hit with my kids, and with grown ups too!

Last week, while cruising through the Target Dollar Spot, I found these amazing miniature black cauldrons – 6 for $1! If you don’t find them there, you can find a set of a dozen for just a little more on Amazon, and make two playing boards. As soon as I spotted them, I knew they would be the perfect Halloween variation for this simple party game.

Sorting Pumpkins

This time our ping pong ball replacement is candy pumpkins. We already had a bag of Brach’s Autumn Mix candy, featuring candy corn and candy pumpkins, so I set my 3 year old to sorting using our favorite fine motor sorting set-up.

You can find the plastic appetizer tray I use as sorting compartments in many of our activities at your local Dollar Store. The tweezers and pinchers are part of the Learning Resources Fine Motor set, and we use them almost daily!

Simple Party Game Set-Up

While she was busy sorting, I built the playing field. It literally takes longer to heat up the glue gun, than it does to make. I used a 9×12″ canvas, but you could recycle a piece of cardboard too. Glue two mini red cups to the top two corners of the board – these will serve as feet to prop the board at a slight angle.

Next, hot glue 6 cauldrons in a triangle formation – a row of three, then two, then one. And that’s it! Time to toss pumpkins.

Halloween Party Fun for All Ages

Have children line up opposite the board game and take turns tossing candy pumpkins, trying to get them into the cauldrons. This is great gross motor skill practice for younger children. Guide them to work on tossing underhand, as their natural inclination will be to throw overhand.

It is fun to watch them learn to control the force and direction they throw. If you prefer not to play with food, I also spotted these ping pong eye balls in the Halloween party aisle this week, which would also be a fun option!

More Kids Halloween Party Fun

Want some more fun ideas for a kids Halloween party? Check out our Great Pumpkin Watch party – featuring festive food, crafts and photo ops! Or our Jumbled Jack O’ Lantern Halloween Sensory Play bags.

Related Post: Jumbled Jack O’ Lantern – Halloween Sensory Play

More Simple Party Games for Children

If you love this simple game, be sure to check out all our Kids Party Games here. You should definitely check out Jingle Bell Toss for the holiday season (it’s been pinned over 50,000 times!!!), the inspiration behind this Halloween edition.

You might also love Cupid’s Arrow Toss for Valentine’s Day, our Bunny Hop Board Game and Easter Egg Games for Spring, and these 5 Hula Hoop Games for Kids for fun outdoors. You can find all of these, and even more, on our Games for Kids board on Pinterest!

Love it? PIN THIS!