10 Pumpkin Games for Themed Parties

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Pumpkin carving is a tradition that is often the main event of autumn parties. Kids and adults can participate in this activity together, working as teams to create the winning carvings for categories such as funniest, spookiest, and most beautiful pumpkin.

If you have young kids without adult participation, hold a pumpkin painting contest instead.

Pumpkin Patch Relay

Divide guests into two teams and give each team a wheelbarrow. Place two hula hoops on the ground to represent pumpkin patches.

Pile enough pumpkins to fill each hula hoop in a spot several feet away from the hula hoops. Have the members of each team line up behind a hula hoop. On the start signal, the first players in line must push their wheelbarrows to the pumpkins, place one inside, and then wheel it back and place it inside of the hula hoop. If a pumpkin spills out of the wheelbarrow along the way, the player pushing it must go back and start again. The first team to fill their pumpkin patch wins.

Musical Pumpkin Pass

Hollow out and fill a pumpkin with small treats. Have players sit on the floor in a circle and pass the pumpkin as the music plays. Each time the music stops, the player holding the pumpkin puts her hand in and scoops out a prize. Continue until everyone has won a trinket.

Jack-o-Lantern Dice Game

Have guests gather and sit around a table. Give each player a piece of paper and some crayons. Have the players take turns rolling a set of dice and drawing parts of a jack-o-lantern that correspond with the number rolled. For instance, a player who rolls a number one may draw the outline of the pumpkin, number two may draw the eyes, and number three may draw a nose (write down the numbers and the drawing tasks that correspond to them prior to the game).

When you run out of parts of a jack-o-lantern but still have remaining number combinations for a pair of dice, make up silly tasks like “draw a nose on someone else’s pumpkin” or “switch your drawing with the person sitting to your left.”

The first player to complete drawing a whole jack-o-lantern wins the game.

Pumpkin Walk

Cut the shapes of several large pumpkins out of orange cardstock. Place a number on each pumpkin and tape them to the floor so that they form a large circle (or a pumpkin shape).

Put on some music and have guests step from pumpkin to pumpkin as the song plays. Stop the music at random intervals. When the music is stopped, pull a number out of a pumpkin bucket and call it out. The person standing on that number is out.

Continue playing like this until only one player remains. They are the winner.

Another variation of this game is to have each player win a prize when their number is called.

Pumpkin Coin Toss

Hollow out two pumpkins and place them on a table. Divide guests into two teams. Have the team members line up behind a line that is drawn three feet away from the pumpkins. Give each team a bucket of pennies. Set a timer for two minutes and have players take turns tossing the coins into the pumpkins. The team with the most coins inside of their pumpkin when the timer ends wins the game.

Pumpkin Feet

Place several large pumpkin cutouts on the floor. Instruct guests to wander around and mingle as the music plays. When the music stops, tell guests to stand with both of their feet on one of the pumpkins.

Once everyone has found their places on a pumpkin, start the music and mingling again. Remove one of the pumpkins from the floor and stop the music. Keep repeating this process and removing pumpkins, eliminating any players who don't have both feet on a pumpkin when the music stops.

The players who are left standing on the final pumpkin are the winners.

Jack-o-Lantern Face Race

Draw two large pumpkins, one each on a piece of poster board. Hang them next to each other on a wall. Cut out two identical sets of the shapes needed to make the face of a jack-o-lantern. Hide them around the party space. Divide guests into teams and have players race to find the shapes and tape them onto the pumpkin poster. The first team to complete the jack-o-lantern’s face wins the race.

Pumpkin and Broom Race

Divide players into two teams. Set up starting and finish lines for a relay race. Give each team a broom and a pile of small pumpkins. Players take turns using the broom to push all of the pumpkins over the finish line. The first team to do this wins.

Pumpkin Bowling

Paint some empty plastic soda or juice bottles with orange paint. Line them up like bowling pins and have kids roll a small pumpkin (you may have to remove the stem) like a bowling ball to knock them down.