Halloween Traditions | Family Games

Each year when the air starts getting crisp and those old Savannah brownstones start placing perfectly shaped pumpkins on their stoops I know Halloween is right around the corner. 

This makes me smile.

It makes me smile because I know it's time to start preparing for our annual tradition of Halloween fun at my sisters home. Each year, I host a ton of games at her house, even a scavenger hunt, then we eat dinner and go trick-or-treating. It's funny how something so simple has turned into something that everyone looks forward to each year. 

Just the other day she asked if we were still on for Halloween, I said of course! 

Yesterday while eating dinner Tarl asked if we were still doing it, well of course!

Cadence even said the other day knowing we have a parade that morning, "since we have the parade, it doesn't mean we're not going to Aunt Angie's, does it?" Of course not, we'll have this tradition as long as possible!

I love how a few games with my nephews long before Cadence was even a thought, has turned into something magical for us to do every October.

With all of this being said I wanted to share with you all the games that we play each year because if you have the opportunity to do something like this with your family. I highly suggest it!

I try and incorporate something new each year. Sometimes we'll add it to the tradition if it's super fun, other times it's just a one time thing, but each year the following are must-dos...

Halloween Candy Guessing Game

About a week before I'll go out and buy an assortment of Halloween candy. From snickers to kit-kats to m&ms to smarties. I'll cut them up into bite size pieces and then place them in a ziploc bag. Come Halloween day I blind fold each person, hand them a toothpick stuck with the piece of candy and then they have to try and guess what type of candy this is. Things like butterfingers and Reese's cups are easy to guess, but when you get into candies that are similar in taste like milky ways and almond joys it can get a bit tricky and quite hilarious when you see someone knowing they have the correct answer when in all actuality they don't have a clue. The one with the most correct guesses gets a treat.

I always stick to 10 different options. Five is too little of a span and after about 12 pieces the chocolate just kind of runs together. I have found that 10 is the winning number.


Munchy Mix Up Madness

This has become an all time favorite. Tarl will sometimes ask if I get bored since I don't get to participate in eating these items (that would obviously be cheating since I know what they are). My response is always, "heck no!" because I get so much pleasure watching the kids, my husband and my family dreading eating what I have planned for them, granted it's never anything horrible, it just may sound horrible.

Again, 10 is the lucky number. I'll choose 10 edible items. These can be of your choosing, whether sweet or savory. Give them a coordinating Halloween name and see if your family can guess what it is. You'll need blindfolds again so they can't sneak a peek!

Pumpkin Poop - Cheese Puff Balls
Mummy Muck - Chocolate Pudding

Get the idea?

A tip for items that you can't stick on a toothpick, such as chocolate pudding is to buy throw away cups. You can these at the Dollar store for $1, along with throw away spoons. Prepare the pudding in the cup, stick the spoon in and have them eat it quickly. They know where their mouth is so they won't miss and the fact that they have the thought of poo in their head while eating something soft and gooey like pudding is so funny! I cannot wait to take pics!


Scavenger Hunt

There are teams of two and each team is a color. Team Purple. Team Green. Team Orange. The reason for the colors is simple, each item I hide is color coordinated to go with that team. Let's say Team Purple finds an orange skeleton, well that's not theirs so it has to go back and they have to keep looking until they find the purple one. Each  year we've added a more difficult factor to the game. The older the kids get, the more difficult they want it to be. At first it started out with just a few items hidden throughout Angela's house, as the years have passed we've turned it into an indoor/outdoor scavenger hunt with tons of items associated with that teams colors. This year, the newest difficult factor are for the teams themselves to decide. Let's say Team Green finds the orange worm. They can hide that worm in another place if they want too. I cannot wait to see who wins this year.


This year the new game I'm adding is called Trick or Treat? Note the question mark :)

Basically you fill cups with a piece of candy or a dare written down on a piece of paper. Each person takes a turn poking the pumpkin and they either receive a trick or treat.

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So whose ready for Halloween?