Halloween Charades

What is Halloween charades?

Halloween charades is the classic acting game with a holiday theme: one player acts out a word or phrase without speaking, and the team guesses it. This page gives you 134 original Halloween charades ideas about pumpkins, costumes and candy, trick-or-treating, fall outings like corn mazes and hayrides, and the spooky cast of ghosts, witches and monsters.

The generator above is the Charades Generator, opened on its Halloween set. Every idea was written for it, and none of them is a film, book or song title, so a seven-year-old and a grandparent can guess the same card.

How to play Halloween charades

1. Split into two or more teams and agree on the time per turn and the number of rounds.
2. One player from the first team, the actor, taps Next word, reads the card in secret and taps Hide.
3. The actor acts it out in silence: no talking, no mouthing words, no writing letters in the air and no pointing at things in the room.
4. The actor’s team calls out guesses. Each correct guess is a point, and the actor takes the next card.
5. When the time is up, the next team plays. After the last round, the team with the most points wins.

To let the phone keep the time and the score, open Team game: name 2 to 6 teams and pick 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds per turn. A game of 2 teams and 3 rounds is 6 turns, so about 6 minutes at 60 seconds a turn. The usual silent signals (number of words, sounds like) are in the table of charades hand signals.

Halloween charades ideas

Here is the full list of all 134 Halloween charades words and phrases, sorted by level. Use it as it is, or let the generator pick for you.

Halloween charades for kids

Kids mode keeps 73 cards about pumpkins, candy and costumes, and leaves out the spooky ones (ghosts, witches, haunted houses), so nobody goes to bed scared. Turn it on with the Kids mode switch under the card. For children who cannot read yet, an adult whispers the card. These 18 are good ones to start with:

• Carving a pumpkin
• Trick-or-treating
• Putting on a costume
• A black cat
• A bat
• A spider spinning a web
• Bobbing for apples
• Sorting your candy
• Eating too much candy
• A scarecrow
• Handing out candy
• Wearing a mask
• A pumpkin
• Carrying a candy bucket
• Unwrapping a piece of candy
• Dressing up as a pirate
• Dressing up as a princess
• Dressing up as a superhero

Printable Halloween charades cards

A sheet of 36 Halloween charades cards for the whole family (15 easy and 21 medium). Download the picture, print it and cut along the dashed lines, then fold the cards into a bowl or a hat. To print the whole set instead, open Print cards in the generator: all 134 ideas as cut-out cards on 6 pages, or as a plain list.

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Hard Halloween charades for adults

For teens and adults, set the level to hard: 28 cards that are abstract or need several steps, such as Getting spooked by your own shadow, a jump scare, Things that go bump in the night. They are clean, and they are hard to act. This second sheet has 36 of the tougher cards (12 medium and 24 hard).

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Tips for Halloween charades

• Act the costume, not the person. For a pirate with a treasure map, show the map and the digging. The eye patch alone could be anything.
• Monsters have walks. A zombie drags a leg, a mummy holds its arms out, a vampire hides behind a cape. Start with the walk.
• Play it in costume. Charades in full costume is twice as funny, and a cape or a mask makes a good prop for the next card.
• Use it between houses. A few easy cards keep small trick-or-treaters busy while the group waits for the slow ones.

Ways to play

• At a costume party: two teams, 60 seconds a turn. Every correct guess earns the team a piece of candy from the bowl.
• In class on the last school day of October: switch on Kids mode, and let whoever guesses act next.
• For teens and adults: play only the hard level, with cards like a jump scare or a costume nobody can guess.
• As a relay: print two copies of the list, send two teams to different rooms, and see which one finishes first.

More holiday charades and games

More sets of the same game: Christmas Charades (227 ideas) and Thanksgiving Charades (124 ideas). The full Charades Generator has 16 categories, from animals and jobs to idioms. For a quiet game at the same party, try the Halloween Word Scramble, or a round of Would You Rather.