Throwing a bash for all your friends on Halloween isn’t a novel idea. In the olden times, All Hallows’ Eve was a time for matchmaking and divination, especially for young adults. Many believed November Eve to be the night where the veil between our world and the Great Beyond is at its thinnest. Because of this, activities such as fortune telling and dreaming were thought to be especially auspicious on this night. These days, many of us understand the intense level of stress that comes along with party planning. Keeping your guests entertained enough to keep them off their phones is a struggle in of itself. So, where the heck did you find Halloween party ideas before Pinterest?
In the early 20th century, we saw a few manuals published on the subject. Two of the most notable are Mary E. Blaine’s Games for Hallowe’en (1912) and the highly sought-after The Book of Hallowe’en (1919), by Ruth Edna Kelley. It’s worth noting that none of these games were invented by the authors. Most of the contests described here were practiced for at least a hundred years before either publication. Party planning was—and still is—typically left up to women, so it’s understandable most of the following games involve romance. Let us take a look at ten antiquated games to try at your own spooky shindig.
1. Pass the Apple
Let’s start off the list with a classic relay game. Have your guests line up in two rows with an equal number of players in each line, making two teams. Beginning on one end, participants race the other team by passing an apple to the next person in line with only their chins. No one is allowed to use their hands to guide the apple! If someone in line drops the apple, they must restart from the beginning. The first team to chin-pass the apple all the way down to the last person wins.
A quick note to readers: some of you may not be aware apples have long been used as a tool of divination and during neo-pagan rituals. Even the number of seeds counted in a halved apple has prognostic value, based on numerology. The humble apple was also considered sacred by a myriad of love and fertility goddesses.
2. Bowls of Fate
In this game, participants try to predict their life’s fate. Set out four bowls upon a table, neatly in a row and containing each of the following: water, wine, vinegar, and one left empty. Each participant is then blindfolded and turned around thrice before being led to the table to intuitively select one of the bowls. The prophecy is made when the hand touches the bowl. To explain, touching a bowl of water denotes a peaceful life. The bowl of wine suggests a rewarding career, as vinegar represents misery and poverty. Lastly, touching the empty bowl points to a bachelor/spinsterhood.
3. Flour Test
This is the equal-opportunity version of catching the wedding bouquet. Pack a bowl with flour and insert a wedding ring vertically somewhere in the middle. (This is trickier than it sounds, and using regular flour is advised.) After packing everything in tightly, flip the bowl upside down and you should have a solid mound. Guests will then take turns cutting though the mound in thin slices with a large cleaver. Whoever finds the ring will be the first one to be married.
Several variations of this “find the ring” trick exist. Most involve placing the ring in a cake before baking, leaving it up to hungry partygoers to discover the ring before accidentally swallowing it.
4. Ring, Thimble, and Penny
Here’s another test of fate. Hide these three items somewhere in a single room and unleash all your guests to search for them. The seeker who finds the ring will be married sooner than later, whereas finding the thimble denotes—get this—a “life of single blessedness.” The lucky guy or gal who find the penny will become wealthy.
5. Apple Paring Divination
Here’s one for any number of players, including a solitary one. In this game, participants must pare an apple clockwise, creating a long ribbon of apple peel. Then, they have to fling their peel up in the air and watch it drop to the floor. Hopefully, the peel will land in a sort of way that resembles a single letter of the alphabet; the revealed letter will be the initial of a future lover or spouse. The person who couldn’t pare an apple without messing up gets to clean up the mess.
6. Raisin Race
Thread a single raisin onto a yard or meter of string for this two-player game. Players take the opposite end of string into their mouths and begin chowing down to see who can reach the raisin first. The two contestants’ hands should be tied behind their backs. Whoever wins this game is the first to be married.
7. The Apple Seed Test
This one isn’t so much as a game than a simple trick, again using the ever-auspicious apple. Guests who are already in a relationship are to take two freshly dug apple seeds, and name both after the names of the couple in question. Individuals will then stick a seed to both eyelids. The christened seed that falls off first will point to the partner who will be the one who strays from the relationship.
8. Pumpkin Alphabet
Carve the entire alphabet into a large pumpkin. (Doing this the night before will save you time and stress the day of the party. Also, remember that spraying carved pumpkins with bleach water will keep them fresher, longer.) Blindfolded guests will then take turns stabbing the pumpkin with a hat pin. These days, something like a toothpick or a kebab skewer might be more readily available. The letter the participant lands on indicates the initial of her or his future life partner.
These endearing, wholesome activities ought to be basic enough to understand and should remind you of a much simpler time. The last two, however, should only be attempted by individuals with strong health insurance and without lawyers eager to sue indie writers.
9. Jumping the Lighted Candle
Balance a lighted, tapered candle on the floor without any sort of stand or holder. (Most candles today have a rounded bottom and must be cut.) Guests will then take turns jumping over the candle in an attempt to predict how the next twelve months will turn out. If they clear the candle, they will have a happy year free of troubles. If they knock it down or set themselves on fire in the process, their next year will miserable.
10. Cellar Stairs
The author prescribed this particular game to females, but fools come in all genders and thus should be open to everyone. In this game, a “girl boldly goes downstairs backwards,” while holding a mirror. The basement should be darkened or else the trick will not work. Within the mirror, players attempt to scry an image of their future mate. Falling down the stairs is optional, but someone should be present in the event of an injury.
Extra Credit: Halloween Mirror Scrying
Not into the party scene? Here’s one last bit of amusement for folks who find themselves alone on All Hallows’ Eve, as recorded in The Book of Hallowe’en:
A mirror illuminated by the moon's rays is used to create a Hallowe'en looking glass. On the last day of October, a girl (or boy; I don't know your life) secretly approaches her mirror at the stroke of midnight. S/he is to look down at the mirror, and slice an apple into nine pieces. While holding each slice on the tip of a knife before she eats it, she might catch a glimpse of her lover asking for the last piece of apple in the moonlit glass.
This mirror-gazing on Halloween has a few versions and appears to have Celtic roots. In fact, there is a similar divination method for men, which involves scrying the space between rows of hemp (cannabis) plants for the face of one's future spouse. Feel free to tell your single cousin about that one.
© Ashley Treadwell / Stranger Cabbage
Photo by Richard on Flickr (Public Domain)
