Key takeaways
A well-planned halloween office party boosts employee engagement and company culture without requiring a big budget.
Costume contests, office decorating, and party games work for in-person, hybrid, and fully remote teams alike.
Virtual halloween trivia and a virtual murder mystery keep remote employees just as involved as everyone in the office.
DoorDash for Business makes it simple to add food, snacks, and prizes to any celebration, no matter the team size.
Halloween gives teams a reason to step away from the inbox and have some fun together. According to a survey by Zippia, just over half of workplaces celebrate the holiday in some way, yet more than three-quarters of employees say they'd enjoy an office Halloween celebration if their company hosted one. That gap is an opportunity. Whether your team works from a shared office, a hybrid schedule, or fully remote, there's a halloween office party format that fits.
This guide covers costume ideas, decorating tips, games, virtual options, and snacks, along with a few contest ideas for work that keep things fair and fun for everyone.
Halloween costume ideas for the office
A costume contest is the easiest way to kick off a halloween office party, and it works whether your team is in the building or scattered across time zones for a video call.
Keep it opt-in
Costumes work best when they're optional. Offer a low-effort alternative, like a themed accessory or a Halloween-colored outfit, so nobody feels put on the spot or left out if they'd rather not dress up.
Set simple categories
Judging gets a lot easier with a few clear categories. Funniest, most creative, and scariest costume are simple to score and give more people across the office a real chance to win something.
Suggest a few themes
A few suggested themes take the guesswork out of getting dressed up. Superheroes, classic movie characters, and a deck of cards suit-themed group costume (with a few employees dressed as hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds) are all easy DIY costumes that don't require a shopping trip.
Run a costume parade
Give the contest a clear moment with a short parade. A quick walkthrough of the office, or a few minutes of everyone showing off their look on a video call, works well and makes for good photos.
For prizes, small and thoughtful beats expensive. A gift card employees can spend on their own time is one of the simplest options to manage, and DoorDash for Business's employee gift cards let you send them individually or in bulk without any extra paperwork.
Halloween office decorating ideas
Decorating is one of the fastest ways to build a festive atmosphere, and it doesn't require much money or time.
Desk-level touches
Small details go a long way. Fake spider webs stretched across a monitor, a scattering of plastic spiders, or a mini pumpkin on the desk cost very little and instantly make a workspace feel festive.
Shared spaces
Set the mood before anyone reaches their desk. String a few candelabras (battery-operated ones are safest for an office) near the entrance or in the break room so people feel the atmosphere as soon as they walk in.
A carving station
Give the office something to do together over lunch. Set out a few jack-o-lantern pumpkins near the break room, and pumpkin-carving kits with kid-safe tools make it easy to run without anyone needing their own knife.
A group decorating hour
Turn decorating itself into a team activity. Ask employees to bring one item from home and spend 20 minutes together decorating a shared space. It costs nothing and doubles as a quick bonding moment.
Whoever manages the office can keep this simple by picking one or two of these instead of trying to do all of them. A well-decorated entryway and one carving station usually create more buzz than an office covered top to bottom.
Halloween games and activities for the office
Pumpkin painting contest
Split the office into small teams for a friendly competition. Hand out pumpkins and simple tools, give everyone 20 to 30 minutes, and vote on categories like scariest, funniest, and most creative.
Halloween scavenger hunt
Get people moving with a list of seasonal finds. Hide items around the office, or send teams out into the neighborhood to snap photos of specific things, like a black cat or a jack-o-lantern on a porch.
Murder mystery
Give people roles to play and a puzzle to solve together. A murder mystery game is one of the stronger options for team bonding, and pre-built scripts are available online if you'd rather not hire a facilitator to run the whole thing.
Office trick-or-treating
Turn the office into a mini scavenger hunt. Set up small treat stations at a few desks or offices and let employees walk around collecting candy throughout the day.
Desk decorating competition
Turn individual decorating into a bit of friendly competition. Let employees decorate their own desk or cubicle over a set period, then vote on categories like spookiest, funniest, and most creative. It costs next to nothing since everyone brings their own touches, and it gives people who don't want to dress up in costume another way to get involved. A small prize, like a gift card, is enough to make it feel worth entering.
Photo booth
Give the day a moment worth capturing. A simple backdrop with a few props (masks, hats, a deck of cards for a card-suit theme) works especially well right after a costume parade.
Horror films
Close out the day together if time allows. A short screening of a lighter horror film, or a classic like a Halloween-themed comedy, is a low-effort way to end the celebration.
Virtual Halloween ideas for remote and hybrid teams
Remote and hybrid employees can get just as much out of the day. These options are built to work over video, so nobody has to feel like they're watching from the sidelines.
Virtual Halloween trivia
Give remote breakout groups something to compete over. Put together a short quiz on Halloween history, horror films, or pop culture, and run it live over a video call with a small prize for the winning team.
Ghost stories
Keep it simple and let personalities carry the moment. Set a time limit and a few required plot points, then have each person tell a short ghost story on camera. It's an easy icebreaker that works for almost any group size, and it doesn't require any prep from participants.
Virtual murder mystery
Bring the same energy of an in-person game to a video call. The murder mystery game format works with a few adjustments: assign roles and clues ahead of time, let everyone investigate over chat or breakout rooms, and run the reveal live so the whole team is watching.
Costume contest on camera
Make sure remote employees get their moment too. Ask them to join the call in costume and run the same voting system used in the office, so the contest feels like one shared event instead of two separate ones.
Running the virtual and in-person pieces on the same day, at the same time, keeps hybrid teams feeling like one team instead of two.
Halloween snacks and treats for the office
Food is often what people remember most about a halloween office party.
A themed snack table
Cover the basics without much planning. Candy corn, caramel apples, and a few Halloween-shaped treats set out on a table give people something to snack on throughout the day, and it's easy to scale up or down depending on team size.
A Halloween-themed potluck
Turn snack time into a bit of friendly competition. Ask employees to bring one dish, sweet or savory, and give a small prize for the most creative entry. It's a low-cost way to get people involved and adds some variety beyond the usual store-bought treats.
Either option works well on its own, or you can combine them: a small themed snack table to start, with a potluck spread added in as the day goes on. Just keep dietary needs in mind when planning either one, so everyone on the team has something they can enjoy.
For larger teams, ordering instead of coordinating a potluck saves a lot of back-and-forth. DoorDash’s catering option lets one person handle the order for the whole group, with tray-style or individually boxed choices depending on how hands-off you want it. For more general food ideas beyond Halloween, this list of office party food ideas is a good starting point.
How DoorDash for Business makes Halloween easier to plan
Between costumes, decorations, games, and snacks, planning a halloween office party can turn into a lot of small logistics. DoorDash for Business takes the food and prize pieces off your plate. For smaller teams, group orders let everyone add their own items to one shared cart, so nobody has to guess what the office wants. For larger celebrations, Catering lets one organizer order trays or individually boxed meals for the group.
For remote or hybrid celebrations, Meal Vouchers give employees a one-time credit they can use during a specified window, while DoorDash Gift Cards offer a flexible prize for costume contest winners or scavenger hunt teams.
If your company already uses Meal Manager for recurring in-office lunches, you can also adjust that week’s meal calendar or restaurant options to complement the Halloween festivities.
If you're looking for more ways to build these moments into your team's routine year-round, this piece on fun ways to boost morale at work has more ideas beyond the Halloween season.
Three easy Halloween office party formats
Not every team has a full day to plan. These three formats work as a starting point, whether you're keeping it quick or building out a bigger celebration.
The 30-minute celebration
This format works well for busy teams or a quick midday break. Run a round of Halloween trivia, put out a few seasonal snacks, and wrap up with a gift-card prize for the winner.
The one-hour team lunch
This gives the day a bit more structure without turning into a full event. Set up a group order or catering spread for lunch, run a quick costume vote, and let people decorate a pumpkin or two while they eat.
The hybrid celebration
This keeps in-office and remote employees on equal footing. Order food for the team in the office, send meal vouchers to remote employees so they can order their own lunch, and run a shared virtual contest everyone can join from wherever they're working.
Halloween office party planning checklist
A short checklist keeps the planning simple, no matter which format you choose.
Confirm the budget and event format. Decide how much you want to spend and which format fits before you start booking anything.
Choose a date that works across time zones. This matters most for hybrid and remote teams joining virtual activities.
Keep participation optional. Nobody should feel pressured to dress up or join every activity.
Share costume guidelines in advance. A quick note on what's appropriate for the office avoids any surprises on the day.
Collect dietary restrictions. Ask ahead of time so food orders can accommodate everyone.
Decide how voting will work. Settle on a method for costume or decorating contests before the day starts.
Order food and prizes early. Halloween is a busy day for delivery, so placing orders ahead of time helps everything arrive on schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are good Halloween ideas for the office?
A costume contest, a pumpkin carving contest, and a simple decorating session cover the basics for most in-person teams. Adding a themed snack table or a Halloween-themed potluck rounds out the celebration without much extra planning.
How do you celebrate Halloween with a remote team?
Virtual Halloween trivia, a virtual murder mystery, and an on-camera costume contest all work well for remote and hybrid teams. Running these at the same time as any in-person activities keeps the whole team involved.
What food should you order for an office Halloween party?
It depends on team size. For smaller teams, a themed snack table with candy corn, caramel apples, and Halloween-shaped treats covers the basics with minimal planning. A Halloween-themed potluck works well too. For larger teams, or anyone who'd rather skip coordinating who brings what, ordering is usually easier: individually boxed lunches suit a spread-out office, while a full spooky-themed spread works better for a sit-down party.
If dietary needs are a factor, which they usually are once a team grows past a handful of people, ordering also makes it much easier to accommodate everyone without extra emails back and forth. DoorDash for Business's catering option lets one person place a single order for the whole group, with both tray-style and individually boxed choices depending on how hands-off you want the setup to be.
For smaller teams or a more flexible approach, group orders let everyone add their own items to one shared cart, so nobody has to guess what the office wants.
Should Halloween costumes be mandatory at work?
No. Keeping costumes optional, with a low-effort alternative like a Halloween-colored outfit, keeps the celebration inclusive and avoids putting anyone on the spot.
