Super Mom Hacks

The Busy Mom’s Guide to School Halloween Party Ideas

How to Throw a Kid-Friendly School Halloween Party:

Congratulations! You’re now a homeroom parent! For the first time! Which means you get to plan your kiddos’ school parties. Starting with the Halloween party (or Harvest Party, if that’s what your district prefers). Meaning you need to come up with a bunch of kid-friendly school Halloween party ideas ASAP.

I am right there with ya, Busy Mama. This is my first school year as Co-Homeroom Mama for Essie’s third-grade class. (Between work and our other volunteer commitments, my co-mama Cate and I both said we could do it if no one else volunteered. So here we are!)

Which means that a couple of weeks ago, Cate (who’s director of the preschool my girls attended) and I were both spending our work breaks hunting for school Halloween party ideas.

Fortunately, one of the advantages of blogging is that I have lots of other blogging mamas to reach out to in situations like this. So, I’m thrilled to share with you some of the fabulous school Halloween party ideas they’ve shared with Cate and me. We got tons of great ideas from their suggestions, and I hope you find some that will work for your next school party, too!

 

Whether it's your first or your 10th time as class parent, you NEED these school Halloween party ideas. Includes FREE Fall Bingo printable!

This is a collaboration post. However, please know I stand behind everything written here, and only include links to products/services/resources I’m willing to recommend personally.

Originally published Oct. 18, 2019; last updated March 2025.

But first, one quick note:

You’ll notice I have NOT included lots of snack ideas. How come?

Because in our public school district at least, homemade goodies aren’t allowed. Anything we bring for kids’ parties has to be store-bought and individually packaged, so everyone can see potential allergens in the ingredients list and avoid cross-contamination.

But don’t worry, I’ve tucked in a few ideas for “homemade” goodies at the end. Just in case your district is more lenient than ours on this front.

So let’s dive in to our

Busy Mom’s Guide to School Halloween Party Ideas

1. Crafts

There are Halloween crafts galore out there! From quick-n-easy to longer and more involved, from toddler/preschooler up through grade-school age, here are some of the cutest ones I’ve seen:

a) Easier crafts for younger kids

b) Craft ideas for the elementary-school set

2. Games/Activities

a) Printable Activities/Games

*From the annals of something-I-learned-the-hard-way:

The most important thing when you’re doing bingo at a kids’ party is to make sure you have DIFFERENT bingo cards for each kid. The poor class mama at Kimmie’s first-grade Harvest Party accidentally made 25 copies of the same page. The kids were all wondering why none of them was getting “bingo!” And meanwhile, the parent helpers were starting to laugh quietly amongst ourselves, once we realized what was happening. Needless to say, eventually the whole class got “BINGO!” all at once.

As I’ve learned from helping with LOTS of kids’ school parties, it’s also a good idea to have totally different pictures for each square. As in, only ONE monster picture, instead of six or twelve different-colored monsters. (Especially since not all schools or homeroom parents have budget for or access to a color printer!) This way, you can just say “Jack-o-lantern!” or “Turkey!” rather than “Blue monster – no, the one with only one eye. Make that the SMALL blue monster with only one eye.”

Along the same lines, pictures that work in color OR black-and-white is also a plus.

So since my co-mama and I couldn’t find any previous sets of bingo cards – and given our school’s insistence on its being a fall/”harvest” party versus a Halloween party – I put together a new 25-card bingo set.

Which you can get for FREE, by clicking right here.

(You’re welcome!)

b) Printable Worksheets

There are tons of super printable coloring pages, word searches, scrambles, and crossword puzzles out there too! Great for when you need a quiet activity, something for kids to take home with them, or something to keep kids busy for a few minutes while you set up the next activity:

c) Actual Games to Play (Non-Printables)

Games that involve tossing or rolling things are always a good, easy bet – especially for younger kids. For example:

3. (A Few) Snack Ideas

As I noted above, our district plays it extra-safe on food allergies, and doesn’t allow anything homemade or home-prepared for school parties. Even our apple slices have to come in individually pre-wrapped packages of pre-cut slices.

But I wanted to share a few cute ideas with you anyway. Some of them I rediscovered when going through old pictures from the girls’ preschool Halloween parties. Others are inspiration from other mama-bloggers I know.

So here goes:

Have you been a homeroom parent before? And/or helped plan a class party at your kids’ school? What games, activities, crafts, and/or snacks were the biggest hits with your crowd? Let us know in the comments!

And don’t forget to ✅grab your FREE pack of printable bingo cards! Perfect for your kids’ next Halloween, fall, harvest, or even Thanksgiving party, no matter their age!

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