What it is: It’s more of an activity or tradition than a game, but it’s a great Halloween tradition that I remember from throughout my childhood.
Best for: A whole neighborhood or community of some sort! The only requirement is everyone needs a front door. You can play with a neighborhood, a city, a church community…you could even play with dorm rooms in a college dorm.
What you need:
- Several copies of a Boo! printable, like the one I made below
- Two plates of treats or bags of candy to get the tradition started
How to play: To start, print out two copies of the Boo! printable below. Then prepare two plates of Halloween goodies, like cookies or cupcakes that look like spiders or something cute like that. (Bags of candy work, too). Then choose two neighbors or friends to Boo first.
This is a ding dong ditch activity, or a knock and run. If you don’t know how those works, you might want to read this post to get an idea.
At night, drive to your chosen friends’ houses one at a time. Carefully sneak out to the doorstep, leave the cookies and a copy of the Boo! printable, ring the doorbell, and RUN! Hurry back to the car and drive away before they see you! When they answer their door, they’ll find a plate of treats and the papers. One page is a sign with a ghost that says “WE’VE BEEN BOO’D!” The other is a paper with some instructions that starts out with this:
Halloween is drawing near,
But don’t let this spook bring you fear.
We’ve left these treats just for you.
Enjoy them please; we hope you do!
Then before two days have come and passed
Spread the fun to make it last.
Choose two friends to give treats to,
Then they’ll be BOO’D just like you!
So when your friends get the paper, they hang the “WE’VE BEEN BOO’D” sign on their door or in their front window, choose two of their friends, and leave treats on their doors within two days. That way, the Boo sign spreads throughout the neighborhood or community exponentially until Halloween arrives! Then it’s fun to trick or treat or drive through the neighborhood and see how many people you spread the Boo to.
It’s not too late in the year if you want to start this! To give it a jump start, you might want to start out with five families or so, just to help get the ball rolling.
Printables: Here’s the printable. It has two pages: one with the instructions, and one with a ghost that says “WE’VE BEEN BOO’D!” This is the sign that people will hang in their front windows or on their doors after they’ve been Boo’d.
Enjoy, and happy Halloween!
We do this in our neighborhood too.
Fun!