Updated: September 3, 2025
Oh man, am I excited to share these incredible halloween party activity ideas with you! All of these things to do at a Halloween party are adult-approved, budget-friendly, and easy to put together. No matter the type of ghouls and gals you’re inviting to this year’s celebration, I’ve got you covered. From silly, to spooky, to crafty and everything in between, here’s my round up of my favorite Halloween party activities for adults on a budget.
And, before you go, be sure to subscribe and grab the printable party planning checklist you can use over, and over again to be sure you’ve got everything covered.
10 Things to do at an Adult Halloween Party
Planning a Halloween house party this spooky season?! Here are 10 things to do at an adult Halloween Party that are guaranteed to entertain your guests, while keeping costs LOW. Because, that’s my specialty!
1 – DIY Costume Contest
Alright, a costume contest is obviously a no-brainer, but let’s up the ante a bit shall we? What if your guests can ONLY use what they can find in their homes? And… what if you created the most epic awards for the best creations?
Here’s what you need to do:
- Encourage guests to create their own costumes using what they have at home. Check out and share my Instagram Reel for some creative ideas!
- Host a costume fashion show, where each guest has an opportunity to flaunt what they came up with.
- Have everyone vote on their favorite in a few different categories (creative, funniest, scariest, best couple, etc.) using little cauldrons and slips of paper for voting.
- Award inexpensive prizes to the winners. I absolutely LOVE this DIY Halloween Costume award idea from Made It Ate It Loved It, using wooden blocks, posed skeletons, and spray paint.
Here are the supplies you’ll need to recreate these! (Don’t forget a hot glue gun!)
2 – Pumpkin Decorating Contest
Again, of all the halloween party activities on this page, this one probably isn’t a surprise, but here’s what you can do to make it budget friendly and highly entertaining.
- Buy craft pumpkins in bulk. Here are two options for your classic orange, or bright white on Amazon! Or, for a budget-friendly alternative, ask guests to BYOP (bring your own pumpkin).
- Head to the Dollar Tree to grab a variety of painting supplies and embellishments, such as googly eyes, ribbons, etc. Just steer clear of the sparkles (you’ll thank me later!).
- Give guests a time limit for decorating and let them know there will be a prize awarded for the BEST decorated pumpkin.This will make the pumpkin decorating way more competitive and more fun.
- Set a timer, and when that timer goes off, ask each guest to bring their pumpkin to a designated “viewing table.”
- At the viewing table, have mason jars in front of each pumpkin and give everyone a token (a scrap of paper, ticket, or even coins work for this). Each guest drops their token into the jar of their favorite pumpkin.
- After voting, award the winner their prize!
3 – Spooky Movie Marathon
This is a great budget-friendly background activity for any Halloween party, or if you’ve got yourself a bunch of cinematic enthusiasts, it could be the main event!
You can make it even more fun by incorporating a scary movie Bingo game! Make and print your own custom bingo cards for free at My Free Bingo Cards. Just type the words or phrases you want to use, select “halloween theme” and it generates it for you! Here are some ideas for your word bank to get you started:
- girl screaming, blood, knife, sadistic smile, running
- gun, tight shirt, creepy child, red car, dog
- dead person, jumping in fear, laughing, tripping, creepy music
- hiding, bad hair day, cliché, dark room, sexy scene
- surprise twist, scary phone call, graveyard, kissing, lights go out
Give prizes for first bingo, first to get all four corners, and first to fill their card completely.
Need inspiration for movie titles to include? Here’s 200 of Rotten Tomato’s best horror movies to peruse!
4 – Photo BOO-th
Everyone loves to snap some pics of themselves, especially when they are dressed for the occasion! Create a festive photo boo-th for your Halloween party using simple supplies like Dollar Tree table cloths. Check out these DIY photo backdrop ideas to get inspired, and use my list of Free photo booth apps to capture the night!
5 – Spooky Cocktail or Mocktail Making
I love when a party element can pull double duty! In this case, let your drink menu also become your halloween party entertainment!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Pick 2-3 festive Halloween themed cocktails or mocktails. Check out these “hauntingly” halloween cocktail ideas from The Spruce.
- Set up a station for guests to create their own Halloween-themed drinks with the boo-ze, mixers, ice and cocktail shakers they need to whip up their own concoctions.
- Grab some festive garnishes. Gummy worms or floating eyeballs, anyone?
Here’s some fun Halloween-themed cocktail glasses you can shop on Amazon!
6 – Trick-or-Treat Bar
Looking for Halloween party activities for adults that bring out the inner kid? This one is for you! Create a station where your guests can create their own mini Halloween treat bags.This is a great activity meets party favor idea (another halloween party activity for adults that kills two birds with one stone!) And actually, make that THREE, if you also make it a decor focal point!
Here’s what to do:
- Set up a candy station using varying sized glass jars or vases.
- Fill them with bulk candies (or homemade treats to keep costs down).
- Optional: For a true TRICK-or-treat bar, include some of these prank candies.
- Provide tongs, treat bags, and a candy bar sign.
Here’s some fun Halloween-themed supplies to create your treat bar!
7 – Scary-oke Contest
I love a good karaoke night. If you and your crew love to sing too, this is the perfect thing to do for an adult Halloween party. All you need to do to make karaoke festive is incorporate a halloween-themed playlist.
Here’s a Halloween karaoke playlist that’s ready-made! All you need are some mics!
8 – Jenga if you DARE
If you’re a game player, this Jenga game with a twist is the perfect thing to do for your adult Halloween party. On each of the Jenga blocks, write a Halloween-themed dare in sharpie. As your guests pull their block, they have to complete their dare before moving on to the next player.
Here’s what you need:
- A Jenga game
- Halloween themed Washi tape (to make it festive!)
- Sharpies
- Dare ideas
9 – Creepy Conversations
Looking for Halloween party activities for adults that are a bit more low-key? This one is the perfect creepy activity for a group, and great for starting conversations.
All you need is:
- A large jar or vase (grab one from around your house)
- A bunch of questions on slips of paper (written or typed and printed). You decide if you want to go more serious, silly, creepy, or just plain weird… maybe, a good mix of it all?!
An alternative to this is writing statements (sort of like a never have I ever game), and guests who have not done what is written have to take a drink. - Take turns having each guest pick a question from the jar for the group to answer.
Here are some question ideas to get you started:
“When were you most scared? What happened?”
“Do you believe in ghosts or the afterlife?”
“Have you, or someone you know, ever seen a ghost? If so, tell us the story.”
“What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?”
“Would you rather have spiders crawling all over you, or mice?”
“What is your biggest fear in life?”
“Would you rather spend the night alone in a morgue or a cemetery?”
“Would you rather have no fingers or no teeth?”
“What’s your favorite Halloween candy?”
10 – Witch Pitch
Of all the Halloween party activities for adults, please be sure your guests are all 21 and over for this one! Essentially, this idea is a Halloween-themed beer pong tournament. If you’re old like me, that might be bringing you wayyy back to your college party years.
Make your classic beer pong game festive using cauldrons in place of solo cups, and eyeballs in place of ping pong balls.
Which Halloween Party Activities Are You Planning?
Whichever halloween party activities you choose, you really can’t go wrong. Before you go though, you gotta check out these easy DIY decorations to help set the spooky scene!
- $5 Bat Lamp – Turn any lamp shade into an eerie decoration
- Wax Dripped Wine Bottle Candles – An easy upcycled Halloween party tablescape!
- DIY Pumpkin Wine Decanter – Boxed wine, but make it festive!
Happy Halloween party planning, friends!