37 Fantastic & Fun Church Fall Festival Games

Colder weather is fast approaching, so it’s time to start planning your church’s Fall Festival! Think carnival games meet yummy fall food. This is a great time to bring the community together and have some fun. We’re here to help with all of your great party ideas to help get you started! Church Fall Festival games such as a classic sack race, paint-a-pumpkin, or a dunk tank are always hits.

We’ve gathered together a list of 37 super-fun Fall Festival ideas that you can incorporate into yours! Bring out the pumpkin treats, and make this a Fall Festival no one forgets!

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

What is a Fall Festival?

If the name isn’t enough of a clue, the Fall Festival is typically an American festivity that is celebrated in this beautiful season and gives you plenty of opportunities to pull together an event that will get your community talking.

A Fall Festival is an event that typically lands before Thanksgiving and celebrates all things Fall or Autumn – the changing of the leaves, the pumpkin spice lattes, the cooling temperatures, and the range of exciting calendar dates that we can all look forward to. The Fall festival is dedicated to celebrating the season, and as such can feature any number of activities that work for you and your local community.

Fall Festival Food Ideas

What’s a Fall Festival without yummy food? Think funnel cakes, warm apple cider, and gooey pumpkin treats!

Caramel Apple Bar

This sounds just as yummy as it is! Set up a station for everyone to come and decorate their own caramel apple. You’ll need someone experienced and that can handle caramel to dip each apple. Then hand them to the guest and have them put any kind of topping they want, from candy to marshmallows to chocolate!

Apple Cider & Hot Chocolate

What’s a Fall Festival without apple cider? Pair this with hot chocolate and let everyone warm up as they walk around. These drinks are the perfect fall sip and will bring all the nostalgic feelings back.

Apple/Pumpkin Pie

Of course, pies are a must! Perhaps you want to increase the fun and have a pie-baking contest? This way all the pies can be eaten and nothing will go to waste! I for one would love to sample a bunch of yummy pies!

Games for a Fall Festival

Fall Festival Passport

Fill a book with stamps/stickers of each thing fun activity that a guest participates in! This is a super creative and fun idea to get everyone walking around and interacting. They’ll also get a cute take-home of all the fun things they did that day!

1. Hayride Obstacle Course

The Hayride Obstacle is an outdoor activity that combines the thrill of a scenic hayride with a series of fun challenges. Participants navigate through a set course, solving riddles or puzzles at each stop. The course also includes engaging tasks such as the Apple Relay Race, where participants compete in teams to complete various Apple-related tasks. So, hop on for a hayride and get ready for an exciting adventure at your fall festival!

2. Corn Maze Quest

The Corn Maze Quest is a fun activity that adds an element of mystery and adventure to your fall festival. In this quest, participants navigate through a maze made of corn, searching for symbols or colored flags that mark checkpoints throughout the labyrinth. To add a modern twist to the traditional corn maze experience, consider integrating QR codes to provide digital clues. As participants uncover parts of a story at each checkpoint, they are led to a final clue that resolves the tale and leads to the hidden treasure.

3. Pony Rides Around The Pumpkin Patch

What child can resist the charm of a pony ride? At your fall festival, offer Pony Rides Around the Pumpkin Patch, providing a memorable experience for the little ones. As children explore the pumpkin patch on pony rides, they can also participate in a ‘Pumpkin Passport’ activity where they receive stamps at various points of interest. This activity not only adds an element of exploration to the ride but also ensures that children have a fun and engaging experience.

4. Pumpkin Bowling

Set up regular plastic bowling pins or fall-themed items like mini scarecrows and use the roundest pumpkins you can find as bowling balls. You can even drill three-finger holes to make it more like the real thing.

5. Candy Corn Counting Game

This game is super simple and only requires two things. A big jar (as large as you want), and candy corn! Make sure you count the candy corn and write down the number. Throughout the night, have people guess how many pieces of candy corn are in the jar. The person with the accurate number, or closest, wins the jar and the candy inside!

6. Putt a Pumpkin

In keeping with the pumpkin theme, this next game involves just a bit of craftiness in preparation. Find a medium to large-sized box. With the open flapped size down, you’ll create a large painted pumpkin on one side of the box. When that’s done, cut out an opening around four inches wide at the bottom of the picture. This hole at the base of the box will be the right size for gamers to hit a golf ball through. The only other things you need are a putter (a few different sizes if available) and an orange golf ball. Designate a starting point and line guests up for a chance to get a hole-in-one through the pumpkin.

7. Fall Photo Booths

It is a great idea to set up around the area so that people can have fun and post pictures. This will provide a way to have great engagement with the event and create moments that people can share.

8. Poke a Pumpkin Game

Construct a pumpkin shape made up of cups covered with thin orange tissue. Write numbers in no specific order all over each cup. You’ll have each participant poke a cup and see what prize they win! Fill it with stickers, candy, or other small toys.

9. Bingo

For those who like a more tame activity, print out fun fall bingo cards! You can purchase bingo sets that come with the ball spinner online. For extra fun, play bingo black out, where the first person to fill up the whole card wins!

10. Pumpkin Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is a game everyone knows how to play. To make it fall festival-friendly, create a larger area on the floor where you can tape off these classic lines. Then use mini orange and white pumpkins for the Xs and O’s. A great thing about this game is that no one has to manage it. It’s always good to have some low-key activities families can do that are self-sufficient. A simple sign can point to what they’re supposed to do in this area. You might even plan for several tic tac toe boards so many people can play at once.

11. Face Painting

Set up a fall-themed face painting station for the kiddos (and adults!) to enjoy. You can also include temporary tattoos, hair paint, glitter tattoos, and more. This is a great chance for those with creative abilities to show off their talents.

12. Scavenger Hunt

Hide fall items around the party area for the guests to find. You can have different prize levels for those who find all the items, the most items, or items in the shortest amount of time.

13. Dunk Tank

Have a fall-themed dunk tank for guests to take turns trying to dunk a friend! Get your pastors in on the fun, and have them sit in the tank. The youth will especially love this if their youth pastors get involved.

14. Apple Bobbing

Fill a tub or large vessel with water and add apples. Let the guests take turns trying to bite into an apple while their hands are behind their backs. The first person to grab the most apples wins! If this doesn’t feel very sanitary, you can try to get the apples out with nets – just be sure to make it challenging.

15. Donut (or Pie) Eating Contest

Another festival favorite! See who can eat the most donuts (or pie) in a certain time.

16. “Dress a Scarecrow” Relay

Have teams fully dress a scarecrow as quickly as possible. Set up the scarecrows at a distance. Each team member can take one piece of clothing, run down and put it on the scarecrow, then run back and tag their teammate. For some extra fun, have each waiting team member place their forehead on a plastic bat and spin around until the other team member gets back.

17. Petting Zoo

You can hire a local farm or petting zoo company to bring goats, bunnies, mini donkeys or ponies, and other animals.

18. Obstacle Course

Combined with the corn maze or standalone, set up a fall-themed obstacle course with bales of hay, apple crates, and more. The fastest time wins!

19. Flag Football Game

Get a group of teens together for a dress-up (or not) flag football game. This can keep the older kids (and adults) occupied if they don’t want to join in on the smaller games.

20. Fall Festival Game Show

Set up a fall-themed Minute to Win It, Price is Right, or Family Feud showdown.

21. Video Game Tournament

Set up a gaming system with a multi-player family-friendly game; Mario Kart or EA Sports have good options. Fall Festivals are typically hosted outside, but depending on the weather, you might want to have good back up options for inside games and this is a great one!

22. Build a Scarecrow or Fall Wreath

Have all the materials on hand for guests to build a scarecrow or Fall wreath to take home (you could let the moms jump in on this too).

23. Pumpkin Throw

Get the heaviest pumpkin you can find and have a pumpkin throw contest (think shot put). This one is especially fun for teenagers and parents!

24. Pumpkin Piñata

Fill a piñata with fall candy and let the kids get after it. If you have a longer event, you could do a piñata once an hour.

25. Pumpkin Weigh In

Gather a group of irregularly sized pumpkins and do a weigh-in to see which is the heaviest. You can have one grand weigh-in at the end of the event or have weigh-ins throughout the harvest festival where the closest guesser in each group gets a prize.

26. Pumpkin Guts Treasure Hunt

This one is for those folks (mainly kids) who love gooey pumpkin guts. Cut the top of a pumpkin and hide some small trinkets and treasures inside. Blindfold the kiddos and let them reach in and pick out a prize.

27. Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin

Just like the classic birthday “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” you can use a real pumpkin, poster, or cut out. Have laminated eyes, noses, and facial features with tape on the back, and let blindfolded kiddos attempt to make a pumpkin face.

28. Pumpkin Slime

Slime is always a hit! Make a big batch of pumpkin slime for them to play with during the fall festival or as a take-home prize.

29. Pumpkin Bake Off

From pumpkin pie to pumpkin brownies, there are tons of delicious fall recipes to choose from. Have a bake-off and let everyone vote on their favorite pumpkin recipe.

30. Sack Race

This requires a burlap sack and willing participants. You can set up obstacles to make it even more challenging! Have the kids (or adults) jump into a bag and hop down the race line, the first person across wins!

31. Bounce House

Kids have a lot of energy, and you may not have a lot of space for them to be running around your area freely and wild. A bounce house can help them get their wiggles out in a fun way. Different sizes for different ages are a great option. Be sure to set a time limit and follow the guidelines for maximum capacity, so everyone stays safe. If you have the money and storage space, you might want to invest in some of these pieces. If not, rentals are well worth the money for a bouncy time.

32. Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss

This is just like “corn hole”, but with a fun autumnal twist. Decorate the corn hole board to make a pumpkin face and toss in the “pumpkin seeds” onto the board.

33. Paint-a-Pumpkin

This is a super fun craft idea, and everyone can take their pumpkin home! Have a few optional sizes set out with paint. Have someone manning this station and guiding people along with helpful suggestions if they’re not sure what to paint.

34. Cake Walk “Walking With Jesus”

You need access to Christian music and some numbered squares of paper. Laminate cards so they will last through your event and be able to be stored for future use. For prizes, instead of having full-sized cakes, ask for donations of cupcakes or small snack cakes. To play the game, instead of the normal walk around the circle, have a variety of cards with different fun actions listed on them. For each new game, pull one out and have the walkers do this action as they move around the circle. You might have them hop like a bunny, walk backward, sidestep, or tiptoe.

35. Ring Toss

Play this game with bottles and small rings, or make it super festive and set out small pumpkins with long stems to toss the rings onto! Kids toss the small rings to see how many they can land on each bottle or pumpkin.

36. Tug of War

This is a good old-fashioned game that requires a strong rope, a flag in the middle and two teams on either side. Start by lining up in a row, and have everyone grab a part of the rope. When someone says “Go!” then both teams try and pull the flag to their side of the line. Whoever tugs the hardest and pulls the other team down, wins!

37. Beading Booth

This is a great idea for kids that are a bit older (middle school, high school) as it requires small pieces and patience. Set up a table with string and lots of cute beads for kids to make friendship bracelets and take home with them!

Related Links:

• 88 Fun and Creative Fall Festival Ideas For Your Church
• 25 Best Youth Group Games Your Students Will Love
• Church Icebreaker Games: 11 Ideas Guaranteed To Build Community
• Church Halloween Events Ideas: Bold Move or Blasphemy?
• 20 Fun and Exciting VBS Games to Try this Summer!

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