90+ Halloween Charades Ideas for Parties and Classrooms

Halloween charades words for every age — monsters, costumes, horror films and spooky situations — with notes on which ones actually work for young kids.

3 min read

Halloween is the easiest theme to run charades on, because almost every word already comes with a movement attached. A zombie, a witch, a bat: the gesture is built in. That makes it the best theme for a classroom or a party where people are joining halfway through.

The lists below run from classroom-safe to genuinely spooky. To skip the reading, the Halloween pack and Halloween Act It Out both play in the browser.

Easy Halloween charades for kids

Nothing frightening here — these are the ones that work in a primary classroom.

Ghost, Witch, Black cat, Pumpkin, Bat, Spider, Skeleton, Owl, Broomstick, Cauldron, Candy, Trick or treating, Carving a pumpkin, Putting on a costume, Bobbing for apples, Spider web, Full moon, Scarecrow, Haunted house, Wizard, Fairy, Superhero costume, Mummy, Frankenstein, Werewolf, Vampire, Zombie, Monster, Alien, Dinosaur costume

Costumes

The strongest category for a party, because half the room is already dressed as one of them.

Vampire, Pirate, Zombie, Witch, Mummy, Werewolf, Skeleton, Devil, Angel, Nurse, Cowboy, Astronaut, Clown, Grim Reaper, Cat, Bunny, Superhero, Ghostbuster, Wednesday Addams, Beetlejuice, Mad scientist, Scarecrow, Cheerleader, Pumpkin, Bride of Frankenstein

Horror films

For adults and teenagers. Titles need mime rather than sound, so no humming on these.

Halloween, Scream, The Shining, It, Psycho, The Exorcist, Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Get Out, The Blair Witch Project, Coraline, Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Jaws, Alien, The Sixth Sense

Spooky actions and situations

Situations beat nouns for adults, because there is nothing to point at.

Being chased through a graveyard, Hearing a floorboard creak, Answering the door to trick-or-treaters, Running out of sweets, A costume that will not fit through the door, Getting scared by your own reflection, Walking home in the dark, A candle blowing out, Reading a scary story by torchlight, The lights going out mid-film, Someone jumping out from behind a door, Pretending you are not scared, Digging a grave, Casting a spell, A potion going wrong, Sleeping with the light on, A cat knocking something over at 3am, Checking under the bed, Losing the group in a haunted house, Convincing yourself it was the wind

Halloween food and treats

Candy corn, Toffee apple, Pumpkin pie, Gummy worms, Chocolate eyeballs, Popcorn, Cupcake with a spider on it, Punch bowl, Pumpkin soup, Roasted pumpkin seeds, Marshmallow ghost, Blood orange, Jelly brain, Caramel apple, Trick-or-treat bucket

Mythical and monstrous

Ghost, Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie, Mummy, Skeleton, Goblin, Troll, Banshee, Gargoyle, Poltergeist, Shapeshifter, Demon, Swamp monster, Headless horseman, Sea monster, Giant spider, Killer doll, Scarecrow that moves, Something under the stairs

Running a Halloween game

Match the words to the room. The difference between a classroom list and a party list is not rudeness, it is how frightening the images are. Keep the horror film titles away from under-tens; there is enough in the costume list to fill an hour.

Let people use sound. Halloween is the one theme where a howl or a hiss genuinely helps, and silent monsters are much harder than they sound. Agree on this before the first turn.

Play in the dark, if you can. A torch under the chin does more for a Halloween round than any rule change.

Sixty seconds, not ninety. Halloween words are more physical than most, so rounds land fast. A shorter timer keeps the energy up.

For the general setup, see how to play charades.