Not quite sure what activities to have or games to play with your senior residents at your Halloween party this year? Here are a few ideas from our friends at notjustbingo.com to get you started:

Pumpkin Games

Pumpkin Knock Down / Ring Toss

Set up several games that involve pumpkins, like a Pumpkin Knock-Down game in which residents use small pumpkins or gourds to knock down a stack of Halloween cups. In fact, turn the cups into pumpkin cups by using a black marker and drawing jack-o’-lantern faces on orange cups. You can also set up a game of Pumpkin Ring Toss. Divide residents into teams, and place a pumpkin in front of each team to see which team can toss the most rings around their pumpkin.

Guess the Pumpkin’s Weight

Another pumpkin game is Guess the Pumpkin’s Weight in which residents try to guess the exact weight of one of your largest pumpkins. Throughout the night, allow residents to get up close with the pumpkin in hopes of guessing its weight. Award one of your best prizes to the person who comes closest to the actual weight.

Hot Pumpkin

For residents that cannot be as active, consider playing a seated game of Hot Pumpkin – played just like Hot Potato but with residents tossing an orange bean bag to music until the music stops. Whoever is left holding the bean bag when the music stops is out of the game. Continue on until you have just one person left.

You can never go wrong with a fun balloon volleyball game. To continue with the Halloween theme, use orange balloons that are decorated as jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween Volleyball. Decorate the balloons by simply using a black marker to draw jack-o-lantern faces on the balloons and allowing them time to dry.

Monster Mash Happy Hour

Invite residents to dress up in fun attire (like mismatched clothes or lots of jewelry) to attend a festive happy hour in your Activity Room. For the activity, play upbeat Halloween music (like Monster Mash!) to get residents in the mood as you serve signature Halloween drinks with fun names, like Magic Potion Punch or Witch’s Brew. Continue with the theme by serving tasty Mummy Dogs (mini hot dogs wrapped in bread to look like mummies) as appetizers.

During your happy hour, divide residents into teams to play Mummy Wrap. For the game, recruit a volunteer or staff member for each team, and have them be the mummy, in which residents must try to wrap their mummy the fastest using a roll of toilet paper. For the game, have the mummy stand in the middle of a small circle of chairs where the residents sit. Then have the residents pass the toilet paper around the circle as they wrap their mummy.

Intergenerational Games

Trick or Treat

Invite the grandkids to stop by to go Trick-or-Treating in your Activity Room. For the activity, line the perimeter of your room with chairs for residents to sit in. Then provide each resident with a bag of candy to pass out to the little ones in their costumes who are walking around saying “trick-or-treat” to collect the candy.

Candy Corn Hunt

Another fun game for the little ones is a Candy Corn Hunt, using this foam candy corn set. Before the activity, assemble the candy corn using the kit’s foam pieces and wiggly eyes. Then hide the candy corn in the common areas of your facility. Next, pass out Halloween bags to the kids to collect the foam candy corn that they find. Be sure to pass out Halloween favors, like googly eye finger puppets to the children for participating.

Halloween Bingo

A third fun intergenerational game that your residents will love is Halloween Bingo. To play a Halloween bingo game, simply alter the top of your bingo cards by covering B-I-N-G-O with W-I-T-C-H. Ask your bingo caller to make note of the change and make the proper calls (e.g., W5 instead of B5). Pass out plastic bingo chips (residents can even pick out yellow and red for Hallween colors to work on fine motor skills)

Halloween Trivia

Have fun with residents while educating them with fun facts about Halloween. If you have many movie buffs in your facility, consider organizing a Halloween Movie Trivia Contest in which you describe a popular Alfred Hitchcock movie for residents to identify (e.g., this movie was set in a small coastal town where uninvited visitors flew in and ruined the outdoor birthday party; Answer: The Birds).

Food Games

Donuts on a String Contest

Take advantage of this pumpkin season by hosting a Donuts on a String Contest. Grab some pumpkin donuts (or have your facility’s Baking Club bake) for the contest where residents try to eat the donuts without using their hands. To play the game, tie a string around each donut and hang them from a long stick that you and other staff members hold up. Award a prize to the resident who can eat their donut without letting it fall to the ground as they have their hands behind their backs.

Candy Taste Test

Another fun food game involves Halloween candy. If you have lots of miniature chocolate bars you can host a Halloween Candy Taste Test in which residents sample a piece of each of the mini candy bars in hopes of identifying them by taste. Give a special prize to the resident who correctly guesses the identity of each of the candy bars.

Find more ideas from Notjustbingo on the S&S blog here.

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About Not Just Bingo:

Not Just Bingo is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Not Just Bingo feels privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a senior facility!

Want even more ideas each month? Visit www.notjustbingo.com for how-to activity ideas, monthly newsletters, and daily holiday ideas. You can also sign up for the Notjustbingo Membership to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!