Here are some old Halloween games that used to be played at Halloween parties back in 1912. Some of the games are charming, but some of them can be dangerous – such as playing with a candle and baking objects into a pie. Because of the danger factor, I am placing this article up here for research purposes only.
Suggestions for Halloween Games
OF all nights in the year Halloween is the one when supernatural influences are said to prevail. It is the time for spirits to walk abroad and the time to seek one’s fortune. Formerly this season of fantastic shapes and deeds was called “nut crack night,” on account of the usual refreshments of the evening and from the custom of using nuts in seeking fortunes. If you are an inquisitive maiden who wishes to know which of your loves is most ardent in his affections you may ease your mind of all doubt by placing three chestnuts upon the bars of a grate or upon an iron bar heated on a gas stove. Name each nut after an admirer. If one of the chestnuts cracks or jumps it is a sign that the one after whom it is named is indifferent. If one nut blazes the person it represents has a high regard for you, but if a third chestnut burns, then you will surely be married to the man whose name you gave to the nut.
In olden times a damsel who was impatient to know her fate would wet a shirtsleeve and hang it up by the fireplace and lie in bed watching it until midnight. At that hour an apparition of her future husband would come in and turn the sleeve. Although time has passed for fireplaces in our sleeping rooms, radiators or heaters might be substituted by those who wish to try this experiment.
Entertainment
The hostess who gives a Halloween party usually finds that the most difficult part of the evening is in getting her guests to throw off all stiffness and enter into the spirit of the fun in the early part of the evening. If she is wise she will arrange for some form of entertainment to include every one present right from the start, and nothing answers this purpose better than the “witch’s decree.” Of course, for this game there must be a witch dressed in a long black cape and a high, pointed hat made of two pieces of wrapping paper, one for the high cornucopia like crown and the other for the wide round brim, both blackened with shoe polish. When the guests are all seated the lame old creature, carrying an iron pot, in imitation of a caldron, hobbles in with her stick, muttering:
This Halloween’s a witch’s night.
But I’ll be gone by morning’s light.
Come see your fate, and a great deal more.
Fortune does not come unbidden,
But I’ll tell you where your fate lies hidden.
Then the witch walks around among the guests carrying her cauldron in which there are as many cards, face down, as there are persons present. Each guest choses a card, not knowing what directions are written on it. When these “directions,” which tell where the real fortunes lie hidden, are all drawn, each person in turn reads his aloud, and then, following the hint given on the card, finds his fortune and reads it to the entertainment of all others present. The following directions may be used or they suggest others which an ingenious hostess may originate:
Pinned upon a curtain of lace
Tells who will win in a matrimonial race.
Upon the rail that’s made for plates
Your fortune rests, twas sealed by the fates.
The black umbrella out in the hall
Tells the secret after the inaugural ball.
Where music issues forth its charm
You’ll find the muse predicts no harm.
Under the sugar bowl beneath the sweet,
Tell the kind of fate you soon will meet.
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
Look behind the cuckoo clock.
When the real fortunes are found in the places suggested by the “directions” they may resemble any of the couplets given below, and they may be written with white ink on black cardboard cut in the shape of a witch’s cap:
If you’d only quit wearing such enormous hats
You might keep a beau and avoid many spats.
If you wish to be a happy bride,
Smile to your right on your next car ride.
She paints her cheeks, she blonds her hair,
But her disposition’s sweet, so what do you care?
You would not have James, you would not have Willie,
So it’s old maid for you, willy-nilly.
A life of ease and luxury, and girls’ picture on the wall,
But not a wife for you, boy — your friends have taken them all.
She has a little doggie that growls at you each night;
When you elope to Baltimore ’twill serve that dog just right.
By a little care the hostess may easily avert having a lad draw the fortune which a lassie should have.
Games Of Fortune
Another game of fortune which should be tries by every unmarried man on Halloween is fortune’s glass. Provide three glasses, one empty, one filled with clear water and another containing water colored with vinegar. One by one as each person’s turn comes blindfold him and turn him around three times before letting the player seek his fortune by endeavoring to place his finger in one of the three glasses. If a youth is successful in putting his finger in the glass of clear water he will marry a maiden. If his finger dips into the colored water he may expect that his matrimonial choice will be a widow. But is he chooses the empty glass he will remain a bachelor all the days of his life.
The candle of fortune affords another sure way of determining one’s fate. A number of players stand in a circle around a lighted candle suspended by a fine water. Each person in the game takes a turn in lighting the taper, swinging it and calling another person to blow out the flame while the candle is in motion. Each person who lights the wick also gives the candle the name of some friend of the person upon whom he calls to extinguish the light, but he does not reveal the name until after the other player has made his or her trial at the blowing. A successful extinguisher will marry the person after whom the candle was named. To add interest and mystery each fortune hunter must repeat the following before attempting to blow out the candle:
Burn high, burn low, swing, candle, swing;
Out you must go, if I give a gold ring.
When a girl’s turn comes she substitutes “If I wish a gold ring” for “If I give a gold ring.”
Apple Bob
The old able bob cannot be improved upon for real fun, but splashy tubs of water are no longer welcome at evening gatherings where guests appear in best bib and tucker. As a substitute the game of apple throw may be entered into with just as much enthusiasm and a little less wear and tear on those participating in the evening’s frolic.
If you are to be the hostess, use apples for heads of doll babies dressed in crepe paper. As these dolls are to be hung up in a row at different heights across the upper part of the doorway they need be nothing but heads and dresses, no arms or bodies being necessary. Provide each player with an arrow made of a meat skewer with a needle stuck in the end. Then, when all of the players are assembled in one room, let each take his turn in aiming at the back of the dolls’ heads in trying to capture one for his own. The girls, of course, aim at the boy dolls and the men at the young lady dolls. As every apple doll has a slip of paper in a tiny envelope pinned to it, each must read his fortune as he gets it.
When this game is over and each person has enjoyed her own fortune as well as those of her friends, all take partners for the dining room, carrying their apple fortunes. At supper the pie of fate is served first. This small, deep pie is cut into slices and passed around while the guests have their eyes closed. Each person helps himself to one piece. When all have been served the guests open their eyes to enjoy eating the pastry, but their chief concern is in locating the ring or thimble baked between the crusts. She who finds the ring in her pie will be married before any of the other guests present, but the thimble foretells that its finder will be the last to marry.
Source: Evening Star. Newspaper. October 27, 1912.
