Halloween Office Games

If Halloween is a part of the culture in your office, it may be a great day to get dressed up in a Halloween costume and have fun with co-workers. Deck out the office with Halloween-themed decor, such as putting a jack-o'-lantern and a bowl of Halloween candy, such as candy corn, on the front desk.

Hang spiderwebs and other Halloween decorations to invite the spirit of the holiday into your office.

Trick or treat, a haunted house and pumpkin carving may not be appropriate for the workplace, but a few office Halloween party games are a fun way for team members to celebrate the holiday as long as the boss doesn't mind. They can even be set up as team-building activities to boost morale and improve the cohesiveness of the department.

It may be best to schedule Halloween activities for the last couple of hours of a workday instead of distracting employees in the morning or disrupting workflow during the day. Games may be restricted to departments or open to all employees depending on the size of the company.

A costume contest is a classic Halloween activity for in-person office parties. Encourage the group to wear professional and appropriate costumes. Distribute guidelines in advance to prevent issues.

You might suggest employees dress like their favorite bosses or in costumes related to your profession. For example:

• ​Doctors.​ If you work at a health insurance company, employees might dress as doctors and patients for the day.
• ​Lawyers.​ If you work at a law firm, ask employees to dress as their favorite lawyer characters from film and television.

At some point in the day, get everyone together to show off their costumes. Invite those who want to participate in a contest to stand before the group.

Judge best or spookiest outfits based on applause. Award the winner with gift cards to a nearby coffee shop or favorite neighborhood lunch place.

A fun Halloween costume contest doesn't require an actual office party; it may be held at the end of the day after all the costumes have been seen. You can also use this activity if you are holding a virtual Halloween party over Zoom.

Pumpkin popping is one of the Halloween party ideas that brings out a fun, competitive spirit in employees.

Buy a package of orange balloons to make DIY pumpkins. Before completely inflating each balloon, insert a little slip of paper that contains an office-related prize or penalty.

• ​Prizes​. Examples of prizes include vouchers for a pastry from a nearby cafe or a coupon for an extra-long lunch break.
• ​Penalties​. For those who don't win, penalties might include regular daily tasks, such as refilling the printer paper or making the morning coffee.

Put all of the "pumpkins" in an enclosed room and bring in your co-workers. Have everybody stand in a circle and choose someone to go first. Moving around the circle, each person has to pick a balloon to pop. Keep an even balance between possible prizes and penalties.

Make a Halloween version of a classic guessing game. Write down scary characters from popular culture on sticky notes. Get inspiration from a scary movie and consider people such as Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein or the headless horseman.

As each person arrives to play the game, put a sticky note on their forehead. Then, they walk around the room and ask "yes" or "no" questions until they can correctly guess who they are supposed to be. Everyone plays until all the characters have been correctly identified.

For an office twist, replace the famous figures with the names of co-workers.

A classic mummy-wrapping game uses rolling office chairs. Everyone in the group chooses a partner. Each pair gets a roll of toilet paper. One person is the mummy, and the other performs the "mummification."

The game is a race to see which mummy is wrapped the quickest with the entire roll of toilet paper. You can set the game to a fun or spooky playlist. The mummy should be seated in an office chair while being spun around and wrapped.

This is both a competitive and fun Halloween team-building activity. Once the team finishes, it should call out and hold up the empty roll to declare itself the winner of the race.