HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Or… as the case may be, ZOOM-OWEEN! Look, we know that this year is not ideal. 2020 is like the bad candy you have in the bottom of your bag after a night of trick or treating that you try to pawn off on someone else. But! 2020 or not, it is still the season of pumpkins and crisp breezes and full moons (we get two this October, thank you 2020) and most importantly…Halloween parties! And especially Office Halloween parties.
“But!” You say, “I’m working remotely! And with social distancing, how can we have Halloween parties?” Never fear! You can have a virtual Halloween party that’s just as fun as ever before. Promise!
A virtual or online Halloween party (Zoom-oween) is a party held on any video conferencing software like Zoom, Webex, or Skype. Zoom Halloween is probably going to be the reality for a lot of us this year.
So listen up: if you’re a part of a virtual office at the moment and you want to throw a virtual Halloween party but don’t know how, we’ve got you covered! Or if you’re actually physically in an office and need some tips on how to make the spooky event happen, we’re here for you as well! Whatever your Halloween office situation is and whatever your needs are, we’re going to help you throw a great one.
This guide includes:
- Office Halloween Party Names and Themes
- Invitations and Flyer ideas (+ wording/templates)
- Halloween Party Decoration Ideas (both virtual and in person)
- Halloween party games and activities for adults (both virtual and in person)
Party Name and Theme Ideas
All the best Halloween parties have a theme and a name attached to them! Not only does it get people excited about the event, but it helps you the party planner better come up with ideas and make them flow cohesively.
When you’re planning, maybe it makes sense for you to name your party first and then come up with a theme or maybe the other way around. Either works! We’ve come up with some ideas for both, so see what inspires you and go from there!
Check out this page for an incredibly comprehensive list of awesome Halloween party names! Here are some of our favorite Halloween office party ideas, some pulled from that list and some of our own!
Names
- Heebee Jeebee Jamboree
- A Ghastly Affair
- A Spooky Soiree
- Eat, Drink, and Be Scary
- Halloween Hootenanny
- Till Death Do Us Party
- “Bring Your Own Boos” Party
- 2020 (that’s scary enough, right?)
If one of those names sparked your creativity, or if you want to come up with your party theme first, try out one of these Halloween office party theme ideas!
Themes
- Classic Halloween
- This one’s tried and true! Pretty much any of the above names would work for a classic halloween theme…all you need are some pumpkins and a cute ghost or two!
- Scary Movies
- Poltergeist, The Shining, The Exorcist…just draw from these classic scares to inspire your spooky shindig!
- Murder Mystery
- Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery party? Check out this page for great tips and tricks about hosting a successful murder mystery party. Our Halloween post from last year also has some amazing resources for murder mysteries!
- Monsters
- Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman have all the inspiration you need! Dig into the classic monster movies for a great party theme that’s sure to scare!
- Witches and Wizards
- Whether it’s the general idea of Halloween wizards or a certain spectacled boy wizard we all love (hello, copyright) the theme of witches and wizards is rich with possibility and perfect for halloween.
Invitations/Flyers
Coming up with the wording and design for an office Halloween party invitation can be frightening. But all you need is a little creativity to make your invite spooktacular. Try out some of these fun Halloween party invitation wording ideas for your invitation or flyer.
- Join us for this year’s Halloween Party for a scary good time!
- If you don’t join us for our Halloween Party, it will haunt you forever!
- Trick or treat, smell my feet, we’ve got drinks and food to eat!
- Join us for Halloween food, fun, and frights!
- 2020 not terrifying enough for you? Come to this year’s Halloween party for a frightfully good time!
Obviously, you’ll want to make it clear on the invitation whether this party is in person or virtual and if virtual, give the details for how to join. Here are some other things to consider: make sure to clearly state your party’s policy on costumes! Most adults want to know if they are expected to dress up, whether it’s for an in-person party or a Zoom party. If it’s an in person party, make sure to tell your invitees if your plan to provide food and drinks (hint: more people will show up if you do.) And definitely use fun images and fonts that relate to your theme!
Need some Halloween party flyer templates? Check out this Smilebox page for a great way to customize and send invitation templates!
Decorations
Ok, so the party is named and themed and the invitations are sent out…time to get decorating!
For decorating the general space in the office, you want to focus on what’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck. Think huge wads of creepy cobwebs and strings of festively colored lights to liven up your space. Black trash bags are super versatile and great for making easy props like giant black spiders. Photo backdrops are always a big hit and a good way to transform your space. Think back to your party’s theme and find one that fits in! Check out this spine-tingling cemetery backdrop on Amazon.
Don’t forget Halloween decorations for office cubicles! If you’re the one throwing the party, considering hosting a cubicle-decorating competition to help people get into the Halloween spirit. The more creative the better! Below are some cubicle decorating ideas we either came up with or saw online:
- Make your cube a crime scene, complete with caution tape, bloody handprints and maybe even a chalk outline!
- Decorate your cube based on your favorite scary movie or TV show. Try a hand-painted alphabet wall with Christmas lights as an homage to Stranger Things or balloons and clown paraphernalia for “It.”
- Spider infestation! Every store sells plastic spiders this time of year, so buy a whole swarm of them to cover your desk and freak out your arachnophobic cubemates.
Free Halloween party printables are really a lifesaver for office decorations. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Try these simple yet cute printable decorations to hang around your space or check out this page for printable masks, invitation templates, and even spooky signs for your food table! Our Halloween post from last year also has some great ideas for printable decorations.
But if you’re fully virtual this year, your decorating can be much easier…with virtual photo backgrounds!
Follow this video tutorial to learn how to change your background on Zoom!
Spooky Zoom background suggestions
Games and Activities
No Halloween party is complete without some fun games and activities. It might seem difficult to find Halloween party games for adults, but there are actually tons of great options for you to try! Below, we’ve collected some great ideas for your office bash and noted whether each is best suited for virtual parties, in person parties, or either!
Toilet Paper Mummy Game
This one is a classic - and for good reason! If you’re throwing an in-person party, divide into teams of 3-6 people and have each team pick someone to be the “mummy.” Set a timer for a few minutes (no more than 5) and give each team a few rolls of toilet paper. When the game starts, each team quickly wraps their mummy in toilet paper. When time’s up, the best mummy wins!
If you’re conducting this game over Zoom, everyone will be on their own for this one! And assuming everyone still has TP after the Great Toilet Paper Scare of ’20, have them wrap themselves up as mummies while the timer runs. Have a vote at the end for best self-wrapped mummy!
Scary Movie Screening
Your biggest challenge with this activity may be picking just one good Halloween movie to watch — there are so many to choose from! If you’re in person, set up a movie room in a conference room or other communal space and pop the popcorn! If you’re party is virtual, use a program like Metastream or Netflix Party so that you can all watch a movie at the same time from your own spaces.
Pumpkin Carving/Decorating Contest
Break out the carving tools! Pumpkin carving is a fun, festive activity if you don’t mind a little mess in the workspace. And if the mess spooks you too much, just decorate the pumpkins with paint, glue and other craft supplies instead!
For a Zoom-oween party, people will obviously be carving/decorating on their own, you can encourage everyone to show off their pumpkin creations through the webcam. Vote on your favorite!
Halloween Scavenger Hunt
There are a couple of different ways you can approach a scavenger hunt. Some have guests following clues or riddles from location to location until they find the final destination and (hopefully) a nice prize for their trouble!
But an easier way to handle a scavenger hunt, especially for a larger group, is a “seek and find” hunt. Essentially, you have a list of things to find, either online or in person, and the first persons to find everything wins! Usually, this brand of hunt has players take pictures of the items they find to prove their success at the end. Follow this link to a great free Halloween Scavenger Hunt list, or create your own!
If your party is on Zoom, you may need to modify the list a bit, but it’s definitely still a game that your guests can play around their own homes.
Virtual Escape Room
Escape rooms are always a fun team building activity and can be a great addition to your Halloween party, virtual or in person, with virtual escape rooms. These web-based adventures challenge your teammates to work together to find clues and solve puzzles. Since there are so many to pick from these days, you should have no problem finding a spooky one to fit your theme. Try The Grim Escape by Puzzle Break or The Hogwarts Digital Escape Room.
So whether you’re throwing a traditional office Halloween party or getting into the spirit this year with Zoom-oween, there’s nothing stopping you from throwing an absolutely incredible bash! We’re sure that you’ll be able to throw an epic Halloween event, full of fun and frights, that everyone will remember for years to come!
Are you throwing an office Halloween party this year, either online or in person? How are you planning to make your bash unforgettable? Did any of our ideas get you inspired? Let us know in the comments below!
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