Halloween is the perfect time for businesses to engage with their customers and build loyalty through super fun and creative giveaways and contests. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the spooky season, win over potential customers, and make your brand memorable with its out-of-the-box marketing genius.
If you’re running short on Halloween contest ideas, we’ve got you covered. Here are seven engaging Halloween-themed ideas to help you run giveaways and contests that leave customers wishing Halloween came every month.
1. Product bundle giveaways
One tried and tested way to entice customers is by offering them Halloween-themed product bundles – at a discounted price of course. Curate a selection of your products into a boo-tiful little package that reflects the energy of the season. For example, if you run a beauty store, you could bundle together some makeup products or skincare items. You can then promote your Halloween bundle as a grand prize in your giveaway contest. Remember that Halloween giveaways for kids is also a priority, don’t make all the fun deals for the adults!
How to execute a giveaway, you ask? Create a Halloween-themed landing page or social media post announcing the giveaway. Then ask your customers to enter by following your social media accounts, sharing the post, and tagging friends in the comments section. Once the duration of the contest is over, randomly select a winner and send them your Halloween product bundle as their prize.
2. Host a pumpkin carving contest
A pumpkin carving contest is a classic Halloween activity that can bring Halloween enthusiasts bursting through your doors (or DMs). Encourage your customers to carve or decorate pumpkins and submit pictures of their creations. This is a wonderful way to showcase creativity and offer a fun activity for families and friends.
Here’s how you can go about the execution – First up, announce the contest on your website and social media platforms. You can use PosterMyWall’s template gallery to pick out the perfect pumpkin carving contest invitation and send it out to your customers. Set clear guidelines for submissions and a deadline, and offer exciting prizes like gift cards, product discounts, or Halloween-themed items. Feature the winning pumpkins on your social media accounts to keep your audience in the loop and drive online engagement.
3. A good ol’ costume competition
Halloween without a costume? Not on our watch! Hosting a costume contest can be a hit, especially if you have a physical store. Invite customers to show up dressed in their best Halloween costumes and offer prizes for the most creative, funny, or scary outfits. This creates a festive atmosphere and encourages more foot traffic on site. You could also have a mini employee costume contest so your team feels motivated and included as well.
Be sure to promote the contest through your marketing channels and in-store. Start by creating an landing page for to collect registrations for the contest. PosterMyWall Events is great for this purpose- you can easily create eye-catching, shareable landing pages to manage RSVPs, send reminder emails, and create social media content, emails, and flyers.
You can also go the extra mile and set up a photo booth or designated area for costume photos. Set up a spooky backdrop and ring light – nothing you can’t manage on your own. Have staff or customers vote on their favorite costumes and then give prizes to the top costumes. Be sure to share the photos on your social media so everyone knows who the winners are and how elaborate their costumes were.
4. Social media scavenger hunt
First time hearing of a social media scavenger hunt? Here’s what you have to do. Create a series of Halloween-themed clues and hide them all across your social media channels or website. Encourage participants to follow the rules and find the hidden answers for a chance to win exciting prizes. Anyone who successfully completes the task gets the chance to win exciting prizes!
This fun little activity can engage your online audience and drive more digital traffic to your socials. We all love a cute little interactive game, it could be a huge hit with your customers.
5. Spooky recipe competition
Let’s spice things up a little – quite literally. This Halloween contest idea is all about hosting a wickedly good recipe competition. This could be more fun than you imagine, so why not give customers the chance to tap into their inner master chef? Encourage them to get creative in the kitchen with a spooky recipe contest. Invite them to submit their best Halloween-themed recipes, we’re talking creepy cupcakes, batty brownies or even Dracula’s devilled eggs.
This not only lets you connect with your audience through shared interests, but you can boost engagement with a little healthy competition. Ask participants to submit their Halloween recipes with photos too, and select winners based on creativity, presentation, and taste. Share the winning recipes on your blog or social media and award them prizes like cooking gadgets or gift cards. If you want to be a little extra, use one of PosterMyWall’s menu templates to create the perfect Halloween menu for your followers and list all the winning dishes.
6. Quiz or trivia: Halloween edition
Hosting a Halloween-themed quiz or trivia contest can be another fun Halloween contest idea where you can connect with your audience. Come up with a set of questions related to Halloween history, movies, or pop culture and arrange prizes for those who score the highest.
You can use online quiz tools or social media polls to host the quiz. It doesn’t necessarily have to be big and bold – it just has to be engaging.
7. Photo contest with a Halloween twist
A photo contest with a Halloween twist can be both fun and engaging – plus super easy to participate in. Ask your customers to submit pictures of their Halloween decorations, pets in costumes, or spooky home decor. This type of contest can help establish a sense of community and get you some user-generated content as well. People will be taking photos on Halloween anyway, why not urge them to submit those for a competition while they’re at it?
Announce the photo contest on your social media and website but be sure to set specific categories or themes for the photos (e.g., horror house, cutest pet costume etc). Ask participants to use a designated hashtag when submitting their photos, so that it’s easy to find submissions. Once the deadline is up, select winners based on their creativity and originality, and don’t forget to feature their photos on your social media! Everyone would love to see a puppy in a cute little costume – don’t gate-keep that treasure!
Conclusion
Running Halloween giveaways and contests is a fantastic way to engage with your customers and have some fun while you’re at it. Whether you’re offering product bundles, hosting a pumpkin carving contest, or organizing a scavenger hunt, these activities give exciting opportunities to connect with your audience. Just remember to be as creative as you can be!
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