Halloween Party Ideas For Tweens
Are you planning to throw a Halloween party for your tween? This is your ultimate guide to having the perfect Halloween party for your tweens.
It’s an in-between age being a tween, an awkward stage just before adolescence, and actually becoming a teenager.
Having a party for a tween during Halloween is a great way to show you understand as a parent that they are growing up, and the unique party you are throwing them will reflect that.
You can be creative, show your DIY flair, plan the party even if you are on a budget, and throw an amazing Halloween party they will remember – for the right reasons!
If you are time poor or not so much a DIY-er, that’s ok too as you don’t need mad skills to make this party a super success. You just need a plan.
Struggling with what games to include and looking for some inspiration to ensure your tween Halloween party is the best one yet?
Not sure what theme to decide on?
Wondering what movies to stock up on for Halloween party night?
I’ve got it all covered in this guide so you can throw an amazingly successful party.
There are plenty of options for you to throw a successful Halloween party for your tween as well as capturing the spirit of Halloween (without it being too gruesome)
Table of Contents
Top Ideas To Add When Halloween Party Planning With Your Tween:
- Halloween Decorations
- Halloween Food
- Halloween Themes
- Halloween games and activities
- Halloween Costumes
- Halloween Movies
- Halloween Music
- Halloween Party timings – will it be during the day or night?
- Halloween traditions – will you be trick or treating?
- Halloween Family – Are you going to include younger siblings or teenage siblings?
When Is Halloween?
We celebrate Halloween on October 31st every year. Traditionally it’s when we celebrate and remember the dead. And it has become a custom to dress-up, throw themed spooky parties, and mark the unofficial October holiday by trick or treating.
What Time Do Tween Halloween Parties Start?
If you decide to take your tween Halloween party trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, perhaps top of their list (after collecting all that candy) will be keeping the atmosphere creepy by starting the party at night, so it’s dark enough to be scary.
8 pm is a great time to kick-off the ghoulish festivities and begin the nights fun with a tween trick-or-treat.
10 Halloween Costume Ideas For Tween Girls
- Hocus Pocus Witches (for a trio of friends) – Winifred, Sarah, and Mary
- Catwoman Costume
- Creepy Mummy Costume
- Disney Descendants Character
- 80’s Retro Costume
- Alice In Wonderland Costume or the Red Queen Costume
- Disney’s Maleficent Costume
- Vampire Costume
- Bride of Frankenstein Costume
- Katniss Everdeen Costume
10 Halloween Costume Ideas For Tween Boys
- Ghostbusters Costume
- Vampire Costume
- Skeleton Costume
- Where’s Waldo Costume
- Frankenstein Costume
- Superman Costume
- Spiderman Costume
- Marty McFly or Doc Brown Costume
- Creepy Pirate Costume
- Cobra Kai Costume
What Are Some Cool Halloween Party Themes For Tweens?
- Stranger Things themed Halloween party
- Black and Orange theme Halloween Party
- Murder Mystery Theme Halloween Party (assign a specific character to each guest on the invitations))
- Witches & Wizards-Themed Halloween Party
- Zombie Themed Halloween Party
- Haunted House Theme Halloween Party
- Ghosts and Ghouls Theme Halloween Party
- Vampire Theme Halloween Party
- Gothic Theme Halloween Party
- Steampunk Theme Halloween Party
- Day of the Dead Die de la Muertos Theme Halloween Party
- Harry Potter Theme Halloween Party
- Horror Movie Theme Halloween Party
- Disney Characters Theme Halloween Party
- Creepy Circus Theme Halloween Party
- Superhero Theme Halloween Party
- Egyptian Mummy’s Theme Halloween Party
- Creepy Clowns Theme Halloween Party
What games can you play at a Tween Halloween party?
Keeping tweens entertained at your Halloween party is usually a number one priority. Games and activities don’t need to be boring; you can have a lot of fun creating them, setting them up, and watching everyone have a fun time playing them.
Sit down and plan out what games and activities your tween wants to include and either tailor it to your Halloween party theme or pick a color theme yourselves to stick to. This will make it stand out as the decor will look uniform.
It’s so fun to prepare all the games beforehand; remember to give yourself enough time to get all the preparation finished on time. Getting all the family to provide a helping hand is a great idea and will save so much time.
10 Easy Tween Halloween Party Games to Play
#1. Scavenger hunt
Set up a spooky scavenger hunt for the tweens to follow. Make it as creepy as possible, with plenty of skeletons, spider webs, and ghoulish decorations. This is a fun opener for a tween party, and everyone gets a yummy treat too.
Get creative with the decorations, and don’t forget the prize needn’t be expensive; check out budget supermarkets and stores for bulk deals so that you can make some incredible edible goodie bags.
#2. Piñatas
Either buy in-store or make your own from balloons and papier mâché. Having a piñata for your tweens to get plenty of candy/sweets out of is always a winner. You can match the themed party colors too.
Although this guide is specifically for tweens, this is such a fun activity for you to get stuck into with younger siblings before the party. It’s worth making several so everyone can get a chance to have a good bash at the piñata. Keep it easy to make, colorful and fun.
#3. Pumpkin Carving
Every year we have a family tradition of pumpkin carving. Not that we are truly skilled at creating incredible designs. But, it’s such a fun activity to do together and can get very competitive too!
My top tip here is, gather your supplies and make sure you have extra in case of any mishaps or accidents (dropped pumpkins!) Taking a trip to your local discount or craft store before the party is a good idea when you are in the planning phase. You can gather all your pumpkin carving supplies (and extras), so everyone is equipped.
#4. Find The Eyeballs
A fun slimy game that while it sounds like a messy, terrible Halloween game. Is just the perfect game for your tweens to enjoy at the party.
Take cold cooked spaghetti (it works well with tinned spaghetti too, but don’t add as much water), a large deep bowl, 2-3 cups of water, 15 plastic toy eyeballs (discount stores are ideal for these) when you are ready for the party to add all the ingredients together. Each tween then takes it in turns to ‘Find The Eyeballs‘ while blindfolded. It’s fun, gross, slimy, and injects some silliness into the party.
The top tip here is either play this game in the backyard or have a plastic wipe-clean tablecloth – it will get messy!
# 5. Making Eyeball Slime
Ok, next up is a great messy game. Making eyeball slime! Gross out your tweens by including this into your Halloween party.
Either make it ahead of time so the tween party can take out the eyeballs, or get your Halloween party to make the slime from scratch. Color it, scent it – but don’t forget to add the eyeballs! Stock up on borax, white glue, food coloring, glitter, and plastic eyeballs to add.
# 6. Bobbing For Apples
An oldie but a goodie. Bobbing for apples is a fun game your party can play indoors or outdoors. And the beauty is all you need is a bucket or tub, water, and apples. this timeless Halloween party game can be enjoyed at any age, so your tweens won’s think it’s too juvenile to include
#7. Wrap Up the Mummy
Set a timer, put all the Halloween tweens in pairs and blow the whistle! Wrap up the Mummy is a fun, interactive game that everyone can get involved in. All you need in the way of supplies for this game is plenty of toilet paper.
Blow the whistle to start, play some haunting music while the party gets timed to wrap up their “mummy,” and see who designs the best mummy! Swap after the first wrap, so all the tweens at the party get a go.
# 8. Bob for Worms
It is not just for a tween party as this game of ‘bob for worms‘ is a huge success at younger kids and adults Halloween parties. Not as gross as it sounds either!
All you need is paper plates, whipped cream, and gummy worms. The aim of the game is to find the ‘worm,’ but the trick is you have your hands behind your back. So you have to ‘bob’ and not use their hands to search for the ‘worms.’ the first player to find all the worms is the winner.
Top tip – give each player a bowl next to their plate to place the worms on. Make sure you add at least 5 worms to each plate hidden in the whipped cream before beginning. Tweens will want to wear a bib to protect their costumes.
How do you make Halloween fun at home?
Having plenty of choices for your tween guests means they won’t get bored or give the Halloween party a rating of Meh! Let’s take a look at seven top games to play at your Halloween party that tweens and teens will love.
#1. Halloween Murder Mystery
Have a murder mystery game – add some drama, and your tweens can act out a murder mystery for the night and let them guess who the murderer is; you can even have extra costumes or props to use for their new personas to add to the creativity.
If you are planning a murder mystery game, why not chose this as their unique theme so you can create a cast of characters and give them specific names on their Halloween party invitations.
Be elaborate and make each persona spectacular and unusual with special instructions on how their character should act.
#2. Spooky Halloween Charades
It’s such a fun game to play in a group, and with the creepy Halloween theme, you can have a creative time coming up with a list of titles for the tweens to act out and guess.
Play spooky charades ghoul and ghost style, and get all the guests to take turns guessing, and acting out pre-written charades with a Halloween theme on each card.
Place all the card charades into a black cauldron for each tween to select – you could even add some gummy worms and candy eyeballs for an added fright!
#3. Tasty Halloween Food Ideas
Make Halloween sweet treats, savory treats cakes, or Halloween bark.
Invite the tween Halloween group into the kitchen so they can whip up some tasty treats for everyone.
Get all the ingredients ready, so everyone can dive in and get started straight away when they are ready. Do all the food prep work beforehand, so they just have to put the recipes together and have a fun time making and then eating their creations.
Why not try some spider web Halloween brownies, mummy hotdogs, spooky spider pizzas, Halloween candy bark, or some blood-red Halloween cupcakes.
Everyone can make and then eat all the yummy treats they create and share with the family (if there are any left!) It is a great idea to have younger children as they can make extra dishes to share with them.
If you need some more Halloween party food inspiration. Take a look at the incredible tasty Halloween delights over at Big Bears Wife Blog, where Angie has a spooky selection of treats ideal for your tween Halloween party. We have already tried out the Peanut Butter Spider Cookies, and they were delicious and a big hit in our house!
#4. Spooky Halloween Stories
Get your tweens to take turns to go around in a circle and tell spooky stories.
Everyone likes a fright on Halloween night, so what better way than to tell some scary stories to each other.
For an added scare, start when it’s dark and equip the tweens with a torch each so they can light themselves up when they tell their tale.
Ensure you have some story ideas if they get stuck or can’t think of a scary enough story.
#5. Escape Room
Make a cool escape room, spooky, and Halloween themed. Escape rooms are so popular, and rightly so, as they test your analytical skills and help you to work well as a team.
So why not DIY your very own creepy Escape Room for your tweens to enjoy on Halloween night.
Top Tips for creating the perfect spooky Escape Room
- Add bike locks with combination locks for the doors
- Use plenty of vintage decor and signs
- Create corkboards with clues and messages to decipher
- Include a money box with the key in
- Don’t forget to set a timer for half an hour
- Ensure you turn off the lights and give each tween a torch to add to the atmosphere
- Make it fun!
- Test it out before your guests arrive to make sure it all works
It’s an entertaining activity for Halloween and one that both tweens and teenagers (and many adults!) will find fun and challenging to solve. You can make some fun Halloween party bag prizes when they crack the code too.
# 6. Halloween Makeup
If you have picked out a theme for your party that your tweens love, why not become their very own Halloween makeup artist for the night.
Take a look online for tips and tricks to perfect the Halloween makeup and create some cool looks for each tween based on their creative, creepy characters. The beauty of Halloween make-up techniques is that they are not always gender-specific, so you will find plenty of inspiration suitable for boys and girls alike.
Top 10 Halloween Movies For Tweens
Halloween movies are a perfect addition to your tween Halloween party night.
How many Halloween movies are there? There are so many great non-scary movies to choose from, and below I have made a list of the top ten for your tween party. Grab some popcorn, turn down the lights, and enjoy!
- #1. Adams Family (1991)
- #2. The Addams Family (2019)
- #3. Hocus Pocus (1993)
- #4. Scoob (2020)
- #5. Casper (1995)
- #6. Goosebumps (2015)
- #7. Monster House (2006)
- #8. The Haunted Mansion (2003)
- #9. The House With the Clock in its Walls (2018)
- #10. Paranorman (2012)
Conclusion
Throwing a successful Halloween party for your tween doesn’t need to cost a fortune or take months to plan. If you can sit down with your tween and talk over what Halloween theme, party games, party food, and music they would like, it’s a great start. Adding on any extras as you get nearer to the day.
Naturally, tweens and teens would prefer to have an unsupervised Halloween party. As a responsible parent, it’s important to set boundaries and let your child know that you will be present. Ensure you let them know that this is because you want to keep them safe and be on hand to keep the party entertaining too.
No matter what you decide to include in your tweens Halloween party, I hope this guide has helped you. Make sure your party stays safe and has a fantastic Halloween party!
After the party, you may want a plan for the family and clear up all the mess. I have written a post on How to Declutter Your Home When you Feel Overwhelmed to get you started and help you, I have a FREE printable checklist. Read all about it and download my FREE 30-Day Decluttering Challenge -Free Printable – no more clutter in only 30 days!
If you have any tips or additions to a great Halloween party, let me know below. I would love to add some fun ideas for my kids to enjoy.