Halloween Parties

Halloween, celebrated on October 31 of each year, is a tradition celebrated going door to door collecting candy, attending Halloween Parties, watching horror films and, in today's rendition, going to haunted houses. It's the night for witches, ghosts, goblins, headless horsemen, carved pumpkins, and skeletons.

In days past, ghosts and witches were very real to people. These people built bonfires to ward away the gouls, witches and ghosts and danced about in costumes trying to scare away the evil spirits. The customs from these bonfires and many other customs gathered from other celebrations from our past contribute to our celebration of this holiday.

Party Themes

Halloween is in itself a great theme for a party. The assumed atmosphere is dark and drab, the color scheme is orange and black, the mood is scary, the attire is costumes.

Theme ideas:

Have a Monster Mash Party - All guests dress up like their favorite Monster. Include a contest to determine which guest most resembles their monster.

Haunted House Ghosts Theme - For this theme, use the invitations for the Haunted House below. Lay out your haunted mansion using the map shown on your invitation and use as many of the Haunted House ideas shown below as you feel are appropriate.

Invitations

Ideas for invitations can include small hand delivered pumpkins with party details written on them, witches hats, masks, construction paper invitations cut out in these shapes or store bought invitations.

Make vampire party invitations from black construction paper by cutting pieces in the shape of bats.

Haunted House party invitations should be made on parchment paper. On one side of the paper put a map of the haunted mansion and story of the harrowing stories that unfolded there. The other side should have your invitation information stating the location, time and attire for the party.

Attire

If you feel that some children, teenagers or adults attending your party may not wear costumes, simply require that everyone wear something on their head such as a mask, hat or other attire.

Have your guests dress for a particular era like the 40s,50s or 60s... Dress up like your favorite monster... dress in costumes and come as couples.

Decorations

Decorations can include orange and black balloons, candles, tableware, monster footprints, and streamers.

Centerpieces can be jack-o-lanterns made with pumpkins. The story of Jack from which the Jack-o-lantern is derived is Irish in origin. According to legend, Jack was not allowed to enter heven because he was too wicked and the devil would not have him because he had played tricks on him. The legend continues with Jack forced to wander forever carrying a self made lantern. Jack-o-lanterns carved from pumpkins are our rendition of Jack's lantern and are therefore very appropriate for centerpieces and other decorations..

Another great centerpiece for parties is to hollow out a pumpkin and serve one of your food items from it. Vegetables, Dips and other food items are candidates.

Haunted House Ideas

In the end, real everyday people dressed in scary atire make for the scariest haunted house. Mix people dressed in scary atire with dummies you have in your haunted house. Have the people stand very still so they are thought to be one of the dummies and then have them move in some slow startling way to scare your guests.

Make effective use of stuffed dummies using old clothes. Simply button the shirt and tuck it into the trousers. Use safety pins to attach the shirt to the trousers. Stuff the clothes with newspapers to get the effect you want. Old shirts with hoods are best.

Drape cobwebs from the doors and ceiling: Hang 48 inch pieces of string from the ceiling and dampen them just before guests arrive so when guests walk through, the string will brush against their heads to scare them.

Use a fog machine to generate an eery environment. Increase the effect by replacing regular light bulbs with black lights. One way to make a fog machine is to place a block of dry ice in a container of warm water and set it on the floor next to a wall. Keep children away from the dry ice.

Scatter body parts throughout the scenes: Place bones (fresh carrots or use well cleaned chicken bones) at carefully selected locations...eyeballs made of peeled grapes...tofu with rounded edges to simulate brains...hair from old dolls or an old wig... oiled soft flour tortillas for skin... uncooked popcorn for teeth.

Put stakes with skull lights along your entry sidewalk

Make a tombstone out of a piece of plywood, paint it and rig it with a motion activation device so it laughs as your guests pass it.

For ghosts, blow up 8 inch balloons, tie on an appropriate length of fishing line. Then open a white garage bag, pierce the bottom of the bag and pass the fish line through the bag. Pull the fish line until the balloon is at the bottom of the bag. Invert the bag and hang your ghost from the ceiling. Use black lights appropriately to make your ghost glow in the dark. Use a magic marker to draw a distorted face on the ghost.

Hang upside down bats here and there.

Games

Costume Contest - As guests arrive, hand them each a small sheet of paper and pin a card with the name of a Halloween character on their back. All guests must have different Halloween characters on their back. At some point in the party, ask each guest to write the name from the back of the guest with the most striking costume and put the piece of paper in a jar you've set aside for this purpose. Count the results and announce the winner.

Who Are You - On 5x7 cards, write the name of one Halloween Goul or character on each card. As guests arrive, pin one card on the back of each guest. At the appointed time, tell your guests that they can ask one question and only one question of each other person at the party. That person can only answer the question with a "yes" or a "no". The object is for each guest to guess the name that is pinned on their back.

The Words of Halloween - Give each guest a piece of paper and a pencil. On the word "Go" have all the guests write as many words containing the letters of the word Halloween as possible. After two minutes, stop the game. The guest with the most words wins the game.

 

Planning and Organizing your Party

Organizing your tables is important. For buffets, make sure to put the plates, utensiles, napkins, etc. at the location where guests will pass first with the foods afterwards.

If budget is a concern, you should concentrate first on the food and beverages.

Food

Graveyard Pudding - chocolate pudding and oreo cookies are required for this desert. Make the pudding per the instructions on the packages and put normal servings in your bowls. Insert oreo cookies vertically to look like headstones from a graveyard.