How to Plan a Killer Halloween Party

Guide Note: Planning a Halloween party doesn't have to be scary. Feeling overwhelmed? Check out this page to learn how to plan a killer Halloween party.

Table of Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. First of All
  3. Timeline
  4. Invitations
  5. Themes
  6. Decorations
  7. Soundtrack
  8. Refreshments
  9. Activities
  10. Be a Great Host

Introduction

Photo by Raoul Brouns
Photo by Raoul Brouns
  • Even though you're too old for trick-or-treating, Halloween is still your favorite time of the year. Throwing a Halloween party means you can again experience the excitement of dressing up, getting slightly sick on sweets, and being a little more scared than you like to admit.
  • The perfect food, drinks, games and decor can make a party great; taking the time to do things right will make for a night your guests will remember in their dreams... and nightmares.

First of All

  • Imagine the party you'd like to have. Will costumes be required or forbidden? Are you going to have simple decorations or go all out? What about games and other activities? Get this settled before you get started.
  1. What kind of parties do you usually enjoy? What sorts of things do you hate at parties?
  2. Will the party need to be elaborately (or expensively) decorated for you to feel like it is a success?
  3. Do you have time or money to make or buy a lot of fancy food?
  4. Will your friends greet the suggestion of games with blank stares or enthusiastic cheers?

Timeline

Two Weeks Before

  1. Make guest list
  2. Send out invitations
  3. Start creating soundtrack

One Week Before

  1. Buy or make decorations
  2. Buy or make supplies for activities and games
  3. Plan menu, make list of food and supplies needed
  4. Clean the house, if necessary

Three Days Before

  1. Start creating the more elaborate decorations

One Day Before

  1. Decorate
  2. Buy food

Six Hours Before

  1. Put finishing touches on decorations
  2. Prepare refreshments

Three Hours Before

  1. Buy helium balloons
  2. Set up sound

Two Hours Before

  1. Set out supplies for games and activities
  2. Get into your costume

Half an Hour Before

  1. Set out refreshments
  2. Prepare lighting

Invitations

  • Whether you email invitations through an online service, mail invitations you made yourself, or hand-deliver tiny pumpkins with the invitation tucked inside, your invitation must include the following information:
  1. The date and time of the party, and the expected duration
  2. Where the party will be- address and directions as necessary
  3. What the theme (if any) will be, and whether or not the guests should wear costumes
  4. The RSVP deadline
  1. How many guests your house will hold comfortably
  2. Which of your social circles will blend well, and which will not
  3. Who of your friends will enjoying engaging in the activities you are planning
  4. Who would be surprised and hurt if not invited

Themes

  • If you choose to have a theme, make it something simple so your guests can find appropriate costumes, and so you'll have plenty of decorating and refreshment options.
  • Possible themes:

Monster Bash:

These guys are perfect for a Monster Bash theme. (Creative Commons photo by Patrick Fitzgerald)
These guys are perfect for a Monster Bash theme. (Creative Commons photo by Patrick Fitzgerald)
  • Tell people to come dressed as their favorite monster, decorate with pictures and pieces of monsters, play monster games and eat monster foods. There are a lot of monsters, from Frankenstein's creation to the guy under the bed, so there's a lot of room for creativity.

Gross Out

  • Think slasher movies, carnage, and gallons of fake blood. This theme is not for the squeamish.

Book/Movie Favorites:

  • Harry Potter or Star Trek, these are best if all present are devoted fans. Go straight to the source material for ideas, and check Halloween stores for ready-made themed decorations

Halloween:

  • The simplest theme of all, incorporates all of the above and anything else you can think up.

Decorations

  • Most of these can be put up in the days leading up to the party, but anything involving food or helium should be taken care of on the day of the party

Very Simple Decorations

  1. Get several dozen black and orange helium balloons from a party store (call in advance) with matching long ribbons. Letting these loose in your house will give each room an instant festive look.
  2. Create an abandoned house feel by draping furniture with white sheets (these can be bought very cheap at thrift stores) and covering the windows with cheesecloth (distress by rolling in balls, stretching, and tearing).
  3. Get instant atmosphere by switching your regular light bulbs with red or green bulbs, or a black light.

More Elaborate Decorations

  1. Paste up streamers, cut-outs, and other decorations from party or Halloween stores.
  2. Gather your construction paper, scissors and yarn and make crafty decorations.
  3. Rent a fog machine.
  4. Carve a few great pumpkins.

Build Scary Monsters

Photo by Penny Matthews
Photo by Penny Matthews
    • You'll need:
    • —An old long-sleeved shirt (with a hood is great), pants, gloves, shoes, and a hat (if the shirt is hoodless) (all these can be bought very cheap at thrift stores if you don't already have them)
    • —A Chair
    • —Three or four newspapers
    • —A wire coat hanger
    • —A full-head mask (again, the thrift store might have one)
    • —A lot of safety-pins
    • —A thin, two-foot long piece of wood
    • —Optional: Cheesecloth, fake blood (available where costumes are sold)
    1. Safety pin the shirt to the pants (placing a pin every inch or so, all the way around)
    2. Run a straightened wire coat hanger through the sleeves of the shirt, from one cuff to the other (this will make the arms more pose-able)
    3. Stuff the shirt and pants with wadded up newspaper, enough to allow it to sit up in a chair by itself
    4. Fill the gloves with smaller pieces of newspaper, and safety pin them to the cuffs.
    5. Fill the socks and shoes with newspaper, and attach them to the pants (you won't need as many pins for this; three per leg should do)
    6. Insert the piece of wood into the neck hole
    7. Fill the mask with newspaper, and stick on top of the wood, so that the wood slides in amongst the newspaper and the head stays on
    8. If the mask does not seem scary enough, try wrapping with strips of cheesecloth (for bandages) and painting here and there with red paint (for blood)
    9. Put chair in dark corner

Stretchable Spider Webs

  • Place these all over the room or in a few select corners for a spooky feel.
    1. Bags of these webs can be bought at Halloween stores, party stores, discount superstores, and sometimes grocery and drug stores. They cost around $2 a bag, so buy a few.
    2. Once removed from the bag, they will catch onto any rough surface, such as the tops of door and window frames, bookcases, and lamps. It is usually best to start high and stretch them diagonally down. Where you attach the other end, make sure it is secured and tension is maintained.
    3. The more you stretch them, the better they will look.
    4. Add plastic spiders and dead leaves, but remember that less is usually more.
    5. The spray-on cobwebs-in-a-can are NOT recommended for indoor use, as they leave a permanent residue.

Treat Table Decorations

Create atmosphere with fake gravestones. (Photo by Thad Zajdowicz)
Create atmosphere with fake gravestones. (Photo by Thad Zajdowicz)
  1. Cover table with black tablecloth (from a Halloween or party store), burlap, or tea-dyed cheesecloth.
  2. Buy Halloween-themed plates and bowls from a Halloween or party store, and use small hollowed-out pumpkins for chip and dip bowls.
  3. Amongst the plates and platters, sprinkle fun-sized candies, plastic bugs, and doll parts (buy these from craft stores, or buy old dolls at a thrift store and dismember). You can also leave small piles of these on tables around the house.

More Decoration Ideas

Soundtrack

  • Having the right kind of music playing in the background sets the mood for a party. Keep in mind that unless your party is going to be a dance party, you'll want your music to be loud enough to be enjoyed but soft enough that people can talk over it.
  1. Buy a Halloween CD like Elvira Presents Halloween Hits or Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Halloween
  2. Turn on a horror movie and keep the TV volume on low; fill your rooms with the familair strains of Tippi Hedren's screams
  3. Make your own Halloween mix tape or MP3 list:
    • —Pop songs: "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus, "Every Day is Halloween" by Ministry, "Boris the Spider" by The Who, "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads
    • —Movie Soundtracks: The Exorcist, Psycho, Halloween, Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas
    • —TV Show Themes: Twilight Zone, Buffy, Addams Family, Alfred Hitchock Presents
    • —Novelty Songs: "Monster Mash", "Witch Doctor", "The Purple People Eater"
    • —Drop scary sound effects in between songs

Refreshments

  • These can be laid out on a large table for easy access; you can also put candy and treat dishes— or pumpkin pails— around the rooms for guests to find. Check the treat table regularly to rearrange and refresh the plates of food.

Food and Drink

  • Spook-ify your favorite foods:
  1. Try to stick with Halloween colors, using food coloring to make things orange or red, black, and green (add a few drops of food coloring to white or yellow cookie dough or cake mix at the same time you add the egg).
  2. Put shredded carrots under finger foods.
  3. Break Milano cookies in half to use as gravestones on the tops of cakes and cupcakes.
  4. Use gel icing to add spiders to cookies and cakes, and to paint wounds onto gingerbread men.

Cookie Witch Fingers

Suitably creepy refreshments. (Creative Commons photo by Kasia/flickr)
Suitably creepy refreshments. (Creative Commons photo by Kasia/flickr)
    • You'll need:
    • —A simple shortbread cookie dough or prepared sugar cookie dough
    • —Green food coloring, red food coloring (optional)
    • —Almonds
    • —Cookie sheets
    • —A small knife
    1. Color cookie dough with green food coloring (if desired).
    2. Roll dough into 'fingers' (roughly 2.5 inches long, slightly thinner than actual fingers as dough with expand).
    3. Squeeze and shape the middle into a knuckle, and use a small knife to make lines.
    4. Press an almond into one end for the nail (if you like you may paint it red first with food coloring and water).
    5. Bake as usual on cookie sheets.

Popcorn Balls

    • You'll need:
    • —12 cups unsalted popcorn
    • —1 1lb package of marshmallows
    • —Orange food coloring
    • —1/4 cup of butter
    • —Saucepan
    • —Large bowl
    • —Cookie sheet
    • —Wax Paper
    1. Place popcorn in a large bowl.
    2. Melt marshmallows and butter over low heat until smooth, then stir in five or six drops of orange food coloring.
    3. Pour over popcorn, tossing the popcorn in the bowl so that it is well mixed.
    4. Let cool for five minutes, then lightly butter your hands and form popcorn into 2 1/2 inch balls (makes about 14). Let cool on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.

Radish/Olive Eyeballs

    • You'll need:
    • —Radishes
    • —Green olives with pimentos
    • —Vegetable peeler or small knife
    1. Peel radishes (leaving some red behind for veins).
    2. Using a knife or peeler, scoop out an olive-sized hole in each radish.
    3. Place a green olive, with the pimento facing out, in each hole.

Punch Extras

  • Make punch spooky with fog-producing dry ice. There's some disagreement on the safety of putting dry ice directly in punch, so play it safe:
    • You'll need:
    • —Small chunks of dry ice
    • —Water
    • —Delicious punch
    • —Two large bowls, one several inches wider but a good bit shallower than the other
    • —Tongs
    1. Place bowls on treat table, with the taller bowl inside the wider bowl.
    2. Fill the taller bowl with punch.
    3. Fill the wider bowl 1/2 way with water.
    4. Using tongs, place dry ice in the wider bowl, all around the smaller bowl.
    5. Add water to the wider bowl, until it is almost full.
  • Add a floating frozen hand to your punch bowl:
    • You'll need:
    • —Water, soda, or punch
    • —A plastic, non-latex, non-powdered glove (can be bought at a drug or grocery store)
    • —A rubber band
    • —Scissors
    • —A punch bowl
    1. Fill glove with water, soda, or punch.
    2. Close at the wrist with a rubber band, and freeze.
    3. Once solid ice, cut away the glove and let the "hand" float in the punch.

Finger Food Recipes

Sweet Treat Recipes

Punch, Cocktail, etc. Recipes

Without Alcohol
With Alcohol

Activities

  • While parties where people just talk, dance, and eat can be great fun, games and activities are a great way to keep parties going strong.

Pumpkin Carving

Photo by Ariel da Silva Parreira
Photo by Ariel da Silva Parreira
    • You'll need:
    • —Workspace
    • —Pumpkins
    • —Knives for cutting
    • —Spoons for scooping
    • —Newspaper and paper grocery bags
    • —Pens and stencils (optional)
    1. Check out Mahalo's How to Carve a Killer Pumpkin
    2. Buy a batch of pumpkins ahead of time or ask guests to bring their own
    3. Get plenty of knives, spoons, pens, and stencils
    4. Prepare for a big mess by covering the area with newspapers, and putting out a lot of paper grocery bags for people to throw away their pumpkin guts

Spooky Stories

    • You'll need:
    • —A few memorized stories
    • —A flashlight or candle (optional)
    • —A dark(ish) room
    1. Prepare ahead of time by remembering your favorite scary story or finding a new one, and encourage guests to do the same
    2. Have everyone sit in a circle
    3. Dim the lights, and give the speaker a candle or small flashlight to hold
    4. When it's your turn to tell, lower your voice a little and speak as slowly as you can

Charades

    • You'll need:
    • —Slips of paper and pens
    • —A timer or watch
    • —Paper and pen for keeping score
    • —Two Bowls
    1. Break the guests into two teams and give each player two strips of paper and a pen
    2. Instruct the players to write down the titles of scary movies, books, or songs
    3. Set out two bowls, and put Team One's strips of paper in Team Two's bowl, and vice versa
    4. Have who ever is 'it' pick a slip of paper, and then try to communicate the title of the movie or book to the other people on their team, without using any words or sounds (there are a number of common charade signals)
    5. If the team guesses the title in one minute, they get three points; within two minutes, they get two points; within three minutes, one point
    6. Whether the team guesses or not, after three minutes it is the other team's turn
    7. The teams alternate until everyone has been 'it' once, and whoever has the most points wins

Bobbing for Apples

    • You'll need:
    • —As many apples as you have guests, plus a few more, the softer the better (they're easier to bite than the hard ones)
    • —A large tub of water
    • —A low table (when the tub is on the table, it should be a little above waist high)
    • —A Pitcher
    • —Towels, rubber mat
    1. Wash the apples
    2. Place the table on the rubber mat, and the tub on the table
    3. Use a pitcher to fill the tub most of the way with water
    4. Add five or six apples
    5. Have each guest take turns bending at the waist with their hands behind their backs, attempting to pick up an apple using only their mouths
    6. After the guest is done, give them a towel to dry off with

Other Games

Be a Great Host

  1. Introduce people, especially guests you know are shy.
  2. Keep the food fresh and the refreshments table neat.
  3. Set an example by being a good sport during the games.
  4. Appear to enjoy yourself, no matter what happens.
  5. Make sure your guests don't drive home drunk.

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