Halloween bingo cards
Forty squares that work indoors at a party and outdoors on the doorstep round. 40 squares are loaded below — enough for more different cards than anybody will ever print — and you can replace any of them with your own.
The cards
Halloween bingo
Card 1 of 2 B I N G O Scarecrow Bat Doorbell that plays a tune Mummy Nobody knows whose turn it is Fun-size chocolate Two people in the same costume Broomstick House with no lights on Jack-o’-lantern Mask Someone jumps FREE Skeleton Vampire teeth A dog in a costume Wand Bucket of sweets Cobweb Trick instead of treat Someone in a bin bag costume Cauldron Tombstone Zombie Cape Halloween bingo
Card 2 of 2 B I N G O Zombie Jack-o’-lantern Broomstick House with no lights on Fake blood Someone jumps Spooky playlist Cobweb Mask Fog machine Pumpkin Toffee apple FREE Face paint Costume abandoned by nine Doorbell that plays a tune Nobody knows whose turn it is Tombstone Someone in a bin bag costume Bat Candle Sweets swapped on the walk home Bucket of sweets House that goes all out Wand
Call sheet
Already shuffled — call them in this order, top to bottom, and tick as you go.
- Black cat
- Nobody knows whose turn it is
- Fog machine
- Ghost
- Someone in a bin bag costume
- Cape
- Cauldron
- Two people in the same costume
- Witch hat
- Fake blood
- Skeleton
- Bat
- Mask
- Doorbell that plays a tune
- Spider
- Cobweb
- Sweets swapped on the walk home
- House with no lights on
- Costume abandoned by nine
- Candle
- Zombie
- Pumpkin already collapsing
- Wand
- Trick instead of treat
- Mummy
- Full moon
- Face paint
- Fun-size chocolate
- Broomstick
- Bucket of sweets
- Toffee apple
- Someone jumps
- A dog in a costume
- Pumpkin
- Scarecrow
- Jack-o’-lantern
- Vampire teeth
- House that goes all out
- Tombstone
- Spooky playlist
A list that survives the doorstep round
A Halloween card made only of decorations is finished before you leave the street. This one is half things to see and half things that happen: two people in the same costume, a house with the lights deliberately off, the moment somebody actually jumps. Those squares are what keep a card alive for the whole walk.
It also means the same cards work indoors. At a party the decorations do most of the work; on the pavement the events do. Neither half is dead weight.
The costume squares are deliberately generic. "Someone in a bin bag costume" gets marked most years; "someone dressed as a specific character from this year" does not, and a square that depends on the year is a square that expires.
Printing for a party or for a group of children
For a party, five by five and a free centre square, printed on ordinary paper. Children mark with a pen and nobody minds if a card comes back damp.
For trick-or-treating, print smaller: four by four fits a card that goes in a coat pocket, and a smaller grid finishes at about the point children stop wanting to hold a piece of paper. Two cards to a page by default, with a dashed line to cut along; one or four are a click away.
Whatever the size, print before the evening. A printer is the one thing in the house guaranteed to fail at seven o’clock on the thirty-first of October.
Printing halloween bingo for a group
A five by five card takes 24 of the 40 squares here, so no two cards draw the same set — more different cards than anybody will ever print in all. Set the number to the number of players and print once, and "Pumpkin" will land in a different square on every card, or not appear on it at all.
Every card is checked against the ones already made, so thirty halloween cards means thirty different ones. If the list were ever too short for the number requested, the generator would say so and name both figures rather than quietly repeat itself.
The print stylesheet drops the page furniture entirely, so what comes out of the printer is halloween bingo cards and nothing else — no header, no navigation, no advertisement — two cards to a sheet unless you ask for one or four, and the call sheet last.
Common questions
Is this Halloween bingo suitable for children?
Yes. The list is spooky rather than frightening — pumpkins, costumes, sweets and the small comedies of the evening. There is nothing gory on it, and you can edit any square you would rather not have on a five-year-old’s card.
Can I print Halloween bingo cards two to a page?
Choose a four by four grid and your browser’s print dialogue will fit two cards on a sheet at most paper sizes. The print stylesheet drops everything except the cards themselves, so nothing is wasted on headers or navigation.
How many squares does a Halloween bingo card need?
Twenty-four for a standard five by five with a free centre, or twenty-five without one. The list here has forty, which is what makes every card different rather than a rearrangement of the same squares.