If you’re anything like me, you’re going to try to make the best of the pandemic and have some festive fun this October. Since I won’t be gathering with people in person, I’ve had to get extra creative with how I’m going to celebrate the spooky season. So, here are some safe, CDC-approved ways to make your Halloween Zoom party memorable!
- Murder Mystery
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What better way to kick off your Halloween party than with a murder mystery? If you can afford it, there are plenty of companies offering services to help you host your own virtual party, but personally, I’m going to be writing mine from scratch.
Choose a theme, assign each of your friends a character, and show up to the call in costumes and an appropriate Zoom background photo. Your friendships will be tested as you share clues, spread lies, and point fingers.
- Jackbox TV
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If you haven’t played Jackbox TV, you are missing out on perhaps the best party game ever. When you buy the game on Steam, it comes in a “party pack” with a bunch of mini-games to play with your friends. In it, you can play fun social deduction games, comedy contests, and murder trivia.
Each party pack costs $29.99, but only one person needs to own it for everyone to play. If 10 people pitch in, it’s only $3.00 per person. I recommend buying Party Pack 6 and Quiplash separately for an additional $9.99. Once you’ve bought it, screen share your game on Zoom and have everybody else open their web browser to jackbox.tv. I guarantee you will laugh until your stomach hurts.
- Arts and Crafts
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For those of you looking to have a more relaxing night, arts and crafts are a classic go-to for Halloween festivities. Grab a bottle of wine (if you’re of legal drinking age, of course) and catch up with your friends over Zoom while carving pumpkins or painting.
Having a Halloween card making session over Zoom is another awesome way to show off your creativity and make something special you can send to your friends. The next morning, be sure to mail your cards out to everyone who came so that you each have something to remember the night by.
- Movie Night
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Who doesn’t like to watch movies with their friends? Compile a list of spooky flicks, order some pizza, and screenshare a movie over Zoom. I recommend something not very plot-heavy, because having a lot of people stay silent for an hour and a half can be frustrating to manage.
If you’re having connection issues while streaming, you can always create a room on the video-sharing site Watch2Gether. You can send the link for your room out to your friends and paste the URL of a YouTube video once everyone has arrived. It will stream on each person’s computer at the same time as an awesome alternative to screen sharing. Just make sure everyone either wears headphones or mutes themselves while watching to avoid echoing.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to virtual party planning, but these are a few ideas to get the gears turning as you organize your perfect virtual Halloween event.
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