Around Halloween, my sister and I plan a cousin Halloween carnival. It started during COVID. We weren’t comfortable with the kids going trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, and we both had small little babies at the time. But we wanted the kids to be able to celebrate and have something fun to do for Halloween. And thus, the Cousin Halloween Carnival was born. I think my sister and I look forward to it as much as the kids.

The games change as the kids get older, but it’s been a fun way for the kids to get another wear out of their costumes and celebrate the holiday together.

Here’s a look at their first Cousin Halloween carnival…

I mean….those littles are so dang cute.

I’m sharing some of the games that we’ve done in the past with the kids today!

Zombie’s Laboratory

One game that we added last year was lovingly referred to as “Spooky Feels” primarily because we couldn’t remember what it was called from our elementary school days when we remember it at the school carnival. You could call it a bit of a haunted laboratory of sorts.

Here are the items we used as the different body parts that the lab had dissected…

Guts/intestines: Cold cooked spaghetti with olive oil
Teeth: Candy corn or popcorn kernels
Ears: Dried apricots
Eyeballs: Peeled grapes

Heart: Boiled tomato peeled
Brains: Boiled cauliflower head
Fingers: Cocktail sausages

I vividly remember as a kid that the ‘eyeballs’ felt so darn realistic, that the mere thought of it sent me over the edge. The kids absolutely loved this game….although, they were a bunch of cheaters trying to see in the back what they were actually feeling.

Mummy Wrap

Each child picks an adult to be their wrapper. The adult is given a roll of toilet paper, and it’s a race to see who can wrap their kid the fastest and best. Other plus side is that breaking out of a roll of toilet paper is a ton of fun!

Gone Fishin’ for Treats

The kids get to “cast their lines” into the sea. When they feel a tug on the string, bring it back up to see what treat you got from the ocean!

Cake Walk

I remember so clearly in my mind doing the cake walk at our elementary school Halloween carnival as a kid.

We cut out pumpkins and tape them to the ground, and the cake walk is just a good old round of musical chairs until there is one winner that earns themselves…a cupcake. 🙂

Spooks Hunt

During the days of COVID when we weren’t comfortable trick-or-treating with the babies, the kids did a Halloween Easter egg hunt for candy. They loooooved it. I don’t know any kid that doesn’t love a good old fashioned egg hunt.

Happy hauntings, ghouls and boys!