Kids Halloween Party Ideas: Cheap, Easy & Seriously Spooky Fun 🎃
Want to throw a Halloween party for kids without spending a small fortune or turning your house into a full-time craft workshop?
Good. You’ve come to the right place.
A children’s Halloween party doesn’t need expensive decorations, elaborate costumes or a buffet that looks like it belongs on Bake Off. With a few simple ideas, some spooky snacks and a handful of games, you can put together a Halloween party that kids will actually enjoy — and that won’t leave you hiding in the kitchen wondering why you agreed to this in the first place.
We’ve rounded up cheap Halloween party ideas for kids, including decorations, games, food, crafts, costumes and party bags, plus a few things you can buy if you’d rather save yourself the faff.
So grab your pumpkins, summon your inner witch and let’s get spooky…
🎃 First Things First: Pick a Halloween Party Theme
You don’t have to have a theme. It’s perfectly acceptable to throw a general Halloween party with pumpkins, spiders, ghosts and lots of orange and black.
But choosing a theme can make everything else much easier.
Here are a few ideas:
👻 Classic Halloween
Think pumpkins, ghosts, bats, spiders, witches and plenty of cobwebs.
This is probably the easiest option because practically every Halloween decoration in existence will fit.
🧙 Witches & Wizards
Black cats, broomsticks, cauldrons, magic potions and pointy hats.
You could even give the children a little “potions class” using coloured drinks or a simple Halloween science experiment.
🧟 Monster Party
Go wild with googly eyes, monster faces and silly creatures.
The best thing about monsters? They don’t have to be scary. In fact, the sillier they look, the better.
🐈⬛ Spooky Cat Party
For children who think cats are more important than pretty much everything else — obviously a sensible position.
Black cats, paw prints, pumpkins and cat-themed Halloween crafts can make a really fun party theme.
If you’re planning a cat-loving child’s birthday rather than a Halloween party, you might also like our Cat-Themed Kids’ Party Ideas.
🎃 Pumpkin Patch Party
Keep things cheerful rather than terrifying with pumpkins, autumn leaves, orange decorations and pumpkin-themed games.
This works particularly well for younger children who aren’t quite ready for full-on ghosts-and-goblins territory.
🕷️ Halloween Party Invitations
Once you’ve chosen your theme, you’ll need to let the little monsters know where the party is.
You could make your own invitations using coloured card, stickers and a black marker. Or, if you’d rather spend your time doing literally anything else, there are plenty of ready-made Halloween invitations available online.
Shopping idea: Look for Halloween invitations that match your chosen theme rather than buying completely different designs for every child.
👉 See our Halloween party invitations and printable party ideas
Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.
You could skip the expensive shop-bought invites. You can:
Make your own with black card and a silver pen.
Send a free digital invite via WhatsApp or email.
Or, if you want to be extra, print out a free Halloween party invite template
What should you put on a Halloween party invitation?
Make sure you include:
The child’s name
Date
Start and finish time
Party address
Whether fancy dress is expected
RSVP details
Any useful information parents need to know
And perhaps a warning that there may be spiders.
There probably won’t be.
But it sounds good.
DIY INVITES
I like these cut out bats, they come with a white pen and envelopes, and are a good price too, check them out.
🎃 Cheap Halloween Decorations for Kids’ Parties
You don’t need to spend £100 transforming your living room into a haunted mansion.
In fact, some of the easiest Halloween decorations cost very little.
🦇 Paper Bats
Cut bat shapes from black card and stick them to the wall in a flying swarm. (Or use the ones you got from Amazon – see above!)
You can make them different sizes and arrange them so they appear to be flying around the room.
Don’t worry about making every bat perfect. They’re bats. They are not being graded.
Budget tip: Search for printable bat templates or Halloween craft packs if you don’t fancy drawing 47 bats yourself.
Craft paper
It’s probably more efficient to buy a roll of paper than lots of card. You can get rolls of craft paper in all sorts of colours from here.
👻 Hanging Ghosts
A few white balloons, tissue paper or white fabric can quickly become spooky little ghosts.
Add eyes with a marker and hang them around the party room.
🕸️ Fake Spider Webs
A little fake cobweb material goes a surprisingly long way.
Drape it over shelves, doorways and furniture and add a few plastic spiders.
Just remember where you’ve put them.
Stepping on a plastic spider at 11pm is not a relaxing way to end Halloween.
🎃 Balloons
Orange, black, purple and white balloons are an easy way to fill a room without spending a fortune.
Add drawn-on faces to orange balloons to turn them into mini pumpkins.
👻 Halloween Party Games for Kids
This is the bit that can make or break a children’s party.
You don’t need twelve organised activities. Have a few games ready and let the children burn off some energy.
🎃 Pumpkin Treasure Hunt
Hide small Halloween-themed items around the house or garden.
Give each child a list of things to find:
🎃 Pumpkin
🕷️ Spider
👻 Ghost
🦇 Bat
🧙 Witch
🐈⬛ Black cat
For younger children, use pictures instead of words.
For older children, make it a little harder by writing clues.
🕷️ Pin the Spider on the Web
A Halloween version of the classic party game.
Draw or print a giant spider web and make a spider for each child.
Blindfold them, spin them around and see who can get their spider closest to the centre.
No actual spiders required.
Thankfully.
If you really can’t draw a spider there are plenty that you can download for a resonable price on Etsy Here->
🧙 Halloween Charades
Write Halloween-themed words on pieces of paper.
Try:
Witch
Ghost
Zombie
Vampire
Bat
Cat
Monster
Skeleton
Pumpkin
Werewolf
One child acts while everyone else guesses.
The resulting performance may be considerably more entertaining than anything you could have planned.
🎵 Halloween Freeze Dance
Put on some suitably spooky music.
Everyone dances.
Stop the music.
Everyone freezes.
Anyone who moves is out — although with younger children, you may want to abandon the competitive bit and simply keep dancing.
Because they’re having fun.
And that’s the point.
🕸️Halloween music
If you’re not great at playing the violin, you could get a Cd or download some spooky music.
🎃 Halloween Bingo
Halloween bingo is another easy option and works particularly well if you want a calmer activity after everyone has consumed enough sugar to power a small village.
👻 Halloween Paper Plates
Turn paper plates into:
Ghosts
Pumpkins
Monsters
Spiders
Black cats
Add googly eyes, pipe cleaners, coloured paper and stickers.
The less precise, the better.
A slightly wonky monster is still a monster.
🎃 Plate craft set
Buy some craft sets to make your life easier.
Classic party games with a spooky twist:
Wrap the Mummy: teams race to wrap someone in loo roll.
Apple bobbing: an oldie but goodie.
Pin the hat on the witch: DIY with cardboard and a bit of blu tack.
🎃 Decorate a Mini Pumpkin
If you’re feeling brave, let the children decorate mini pumpkins.
For younger children, use stickers, pens and washable paint rather than anything sharp.
If you’re using real candles or carving pumpkins, that’s definitely an adult job.
Ghost Bowling: Set up “pins” made from white cups decorated like ghosts and let kids knock them down with a small pumpkin.
DIY Halloween Witches' Potions Kit for Kids
Halloween Crafts: Set up a station with supplies for making paper plate ghosts, bat hats, or spooky masks.
PrintableHalloween Scavenger Hunt Game for Kids and Families
Scavenger Hunt: Hide Halloween-themed items (plastic spiders, mini pumpkins) around the party area and give the kids clues to find them.
Make Your Own Pumpkin Halloween Playdough Sensory Kit
Pumpkin Decorating: Provide small pumpkins, markers, stickers, and paint for decorating without the need for carving. Or make your own pumpkin from playdough!
🧙 Halloween Costumes for Kids
Halloween is one of those occasions when children can turn up dressed as absolutely anything.
Witch? Obviously.
Skeleton? Classic.
Dinosaur? Why not.
Princess vampire? Perfectly acceptable.
Cat? Always.
You don’t need to buy a completely new costume every year either.
A black outfit can become a witch, cat, vampire or skeleton with a few inexpensive accessories.
Easy last-minute costume ideas
Black clothes + cat ears = cat
Black clothes + witch hat = witch
White clothes + face paint = ghost
Old clothes + a little fake blood = zombie
Pyjamas + dinosaur mask = dinosaur who has wandered into the wrong Halloween party
Honestly, we’re not here to judge.
Amazon has a wide selection of fancy dress outfits.
Set Up a Costume Parade
Have the kids show off their costumes in a fun parade. Provide small prizes for categories like “Most Creative,” “Funniest,” or “Best Homemade Costume.”
Food & Drink – Ghoulish but Budget Friendly
You don’t need themed caterers for kids to be impressed. Some easy wins:
Monster fingers: hot dogs with a slice at the end for a nail.
Witches’ brew: blackcurrant squash with lemonade. (Here’s some free Witches brew labels)
Eyeball grapes: peeled grapes in a bowl for a gross lucky dip.
- Monster Munch: A mix of popcorn, pretzels, candy corn, and chocolate drizzles.
- Witch’s Brew Punch: Serve green or orange punch with gummy worms.
- Mummy Hot Dogs: Hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough to look like mummies.
- Ghostly Fruit Cups: Fill cups with fruit salad and top with whipped cream ghosts.
- Pumpkin Cookies: Decorate sugar cookies with orange icing and jack-o’-lantern faces.
Halloween recipe books
I do recommend getting a Halloween recipe book, they are full of inspiring ideas.
Gourmet Halloween chocolates
I was going to show some kids Halloween food you can buy, but then I saw these and thought why not treat yourself to a box of Gourmet Halloween chocolates.
🍕 Easy Halloween Party Food
You don’t need to make everything look like a severed body part.
Although if that’s your thing, carry on.
For a children’s Halloween party, simple food usually works best.
🎃 Pumpkin Pizza
Use mini pizzas and add toppings to make pumpkin faces.
Easy.
Popular.
And considerably less terrifying than trying to make a cake shaped like a haunted castle.
👻 Ghost Sandwiches
Use a cookie cutter to cut sandwiches into ghost shapes.
You can do the same with:
Cheese
Fruit
Toast
Biscuits
Brownies
🕷️ Spider Crackers
Use crackers, cheese and vegetable strips to make little spiders.
Olives can make surprisingly convincing spiders too.
🍓 Spooky Fruit
Strawberries, grapes, blueberries and melon can all become part of a Halloween fruit platter.
Add edible eyes if you want to make it look extra silly.
And don’t forget the drinks
Orange squash suddenly looks much more exciting when you call it Witch’s Potion.
Green juice?
Monster Slime.
Red fruit drink?
Vampire Juice.
Same drink.
Much better name.
Halloween Photo Booth PropsReady made
20 photo booth props, each completely assembled and attached to 12″ wooden dowels.
Bat Wallpaper
How dedicated are you to this party? If you fancy going over the top, here’s some bat wallpaper.
📸 Make a Halloween Photo Booth
A Halloween photo booth gives the children something else to do and gives parents plenty of opportunities to embarrass them with photographs.
You don’t need a fancy backdrop.
A plain wall decorated with:
Paper bats
Balloons
Fake cobwebs
Halloween bunting
will do.
Add some silly props:
Witch hats
Vampire teeth
Monster masks
Skeleton glasses
Cat ears
Fake moustaches
Put everything in a box and let the children choose their own combinations.
The sillier, the better.
🎃 Halloween Party Bags
You don’t need to spend a fortune filling party bags.
A few inexpensive treats and something they can play with or make at home is plenty.
Ideas include:
Halloween stickers
Mini colouring books
Pencils
Glow sticks
Bouncy balls
Small Halloween toys
Sweets or chocolate
A mini craft kit
You could also put one of my free printable Halloween activities into each child’s bag.
It’s cheap, useful and doesn’t involve buying another plastic toy that will disappear underneath a sofa approximately six minutes after the party ends.
This Halloween Treat Bags from Amazon are perfect for filling up with little treats, they are pretty inexpensive too.
💷 How to Throw a Cheap Halloween Party
The easiest way to keep the cost down is to decide what you actually need before you start shopping.
Halloween has a remarkable ability to convince us that we desperately need:
seventeen types of fake spider
a giant inflatable pumpkin
Halloween plates
Halloween cups
Halloween napkins
Halloween straws
Halloween table decorations
Halloween-shaped everything
You probably don’t.
Here is a free coloring in sheet of a cute witch cat and ghost, print and and color in.
Here are our favourite budget tricks:
1. Pick one colour scheme.
Black and orange can make a room look Halloween-ready without buying loads of themed decorations.
2. Make some decorations yourself.
Paper bats, ghosts and bunting are inexpensive and can become part of the entertainment.
3. Use what you already own.
Black blankets, fairy lights, jars, bowls and cushions can all be repurposed.
4. Don’t buy individual items for every activity.
Choose games and crafts that use the same basic supplies.
5. Shop your own cupboards first.
You’ll be amazed what can become “Witch’s Potion” with the addition of a ridiculous name.
6. Don’t try to make everything Instagram-perfect.
The children will remember having fun.
They will not remember whether your Halloween table had matching napkins.
👻 A Simple Kids’ Halloween Party Plan
If all of this sounds like a lot, here’s an easy two-hour party plan:
0:00 – Arrivals
Put on some Halloween music and let everyone settle in.
0:15 – Halloween game
Try a treasure hunt, bingo or Pin the Spider on the Web.
0:40 – Craft
Give everyone a simple Halloween craft to make.
1:10 – Food
Serve your spooky snacks and drinks.
1:35 – Halloween dance
Put on some music and let them burn off some of the cake.
1:50 – Party bags
Hand out party bags and send your little monsters home.
2:00 – Silence
Beautiful, beautiful silence.
🕷️ Your Kids’ Halloween Party Checklist
Before the party, make sure you’ve got:
☐ Invitations sent
☐ Guest list confirmed
☐ Decorations
☐ Balloons
☐ Halloween music
☐ Party games
☐ Craft supplies
☐ Food
☐ Drinks
☐ Birthday/Halloween cake
☐ Party bags
☐ Costumes sorted
☐ Camera/phone charged
☐ Emergency supply of chocolate for the adults
That last one is optional.
It really isn’t.
🎃 More Halloween Ideas
If you’re planning Halloween, you might also like:
👉 Halloween party decorations
👉 Halloween party games
👉 Halloween crafts for kids
👉 Halloween party food ideas
👉 Halloween costume ideas
👉 Halloween party invitations
And if you’re planning a different sort of party, have a look at our kids’ party ideas for more inspiration.
👻 Frequently Asked Questions
How do you throw a cheap Halloween party for kids?
Choose a simple theme, make some decorations yourself, use inexpensive party games and don’t feel that everything needs to be Halloween-branded. Paper decorations, balloons and homemade food can create a fun Halloween atmosphere without a huge budget.
What are some good Halloween party games for kids?
Popular options include Halloween treasure hunts, Halloween bingo, Pin the Spider on the Web, Halloween charades and freeze dancing. Choose games based on the children’s ages and how much space you have available.
What food should I serve at a children’s Halloween party?
Keep it simple. Mini pizzas, sandwiches, fruit, crisps, cupcakes and biscuits can all be given a Halloween twist using cutters, decorations or silly names.
What are some easy Halloween decorations?
Paper bats, hanging ghosts, balloons, Halloween bunting and fake spider webs are all easy ways to decorate a children’s Halloween party without spending a fortune.
What is a good Halloween party theme for younger children?
Pumpkin, friendly monster, spooky cat and not-too-scary Halloween themes are good choices if you want something fun rather than frightening. Avoid making the decorations or games too scary if you know some of your guests are easily frightened.
How can I keep children entertained at a Halloween party?
Plan a mixture of active and quieter activities. A treasure hunt or dance game can get everyone moving, while crafts, bingo or colouring give children something calmer to do.
Do I need to buy Halloween party decorations?
Not at all. Some of the best decorations can be made from paper, card, balloons and things you already have at home. Buying a few ready-made decorations can save time, but you certainly don’t need to buy everything.
🎃 Final Thoughts
The best kids’ Halloween party isn’t necessarily the one with the most decorations, the biggest cake or the most impressive Pinterest board.
It’s the one where the children have fun.
So choose a few games, make some spooky food, put on some suitably ridiculous music and embrace the chaos.
And if a child arrives dressed as a dinosaur, a princess, a witch and Spider-Man all at once?
That’s Halloween.
Happy haunting! 👻
Some links on this page may be affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products and ideas we think may be useful for our readers.
