How to win Halloween competitions

by Di · Published 06/10/2023 · Updated 14/10/2026

Here we go again…. the Halloween competitions have started to creep onto social media! Here’s my tips on how to win prizes with your creative entries.

Be warned! Loads of Halloween competitions will close on 31st October – or even earlier – so you’ll need to either enter last year’s photos, or get organised early with your photoshoot so you’re not panicking about last minute photos on Halloween.

Tips for Halloween competitions

Search for #HalloweenCompetition or #PumpkinCompetition on Instagram to find competitions – make sure they’re open to UK entries! These Google search links will help too:
Check the Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram accounts of your favourite local attractions, restaurants and shops – lots of them will be running Halloween competitions, from pumpkin carving and costume competitions to guess the number of sweets in the jar.
Search on Pinterest, Instagram or Google for inspiration for your costumes, make up and decorations, using #HalloweenMakeup, #HalloweenCostume, etc (or try asking AI for ideas!)
Take multiple photos of your pumpkins, kids, makeup and costumes so you’re not entering exactly the same shot in every competition. You can also recycle the photos to use again next year.

Pumpkin competitions

If you can reference the competition promoter, or something currently in the news, your entry will stand out in the crowd.
YouTube, Instagram and TikTok have some excellent pumpkin-carving tutorials to help you improve your technique.
If small children are involved, try decorating your pumpkin with felt tips, paint or stickers rather than carving. My son helped create the mini pumpkin ‘aliens’ for our photo, while I carved the UFO!

Don’t just buy one pumpkin – buy several, and experiment with your carving
Use the pumpkin flesh to create dishes for competitions too – I won a few prizes with my eyeball soup recipe (and it tasted pretty good too!)

Halloween costume competitions

Taking photos somewhere dark or creepy will look more exciting than your lounge – do you have a local churchyard you can visit for a photo shoot?
Take photos at an interesting angle.

Use props to make your photo eye-catching
Cute or daft costumes are usually more successful in competitions than gruesome ones. My baby son dressed as a mummy won loads of Halloween competitions!

Finding Halloween Competitions

I like to use a regular Google search to find creative comps, and have tailored this for Halloween – see links below. You could also try asking an AI chat bot to find you current UK Halloween competitions too.

There are also lots of creative and effort-based competitions listed on the Lucky Legends forum, accessible only to members. Find out more at www.superlucky.me/luckylegends

Are you running a Halloween competition and looking for ideas? Check out my post 13 creative ideas for Halloween competitions

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Jenna Appleseed says:
29/10/2023 at 4:54 am
The Howden Insurance comp “£50 Smyths voucher (costume/decoration photo)” only links to the t&c’s – the actual competition is on twitter/x at https://twitter.com/howdenlocaluk/status/1714272612308685186 Prize also includes a Cadbury’s selection box