When broomsticks and the dull yellow eye of black cats are seen. The darkness rumbles ’tis near Halloween. Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and caldron bubble.
On Hallow’s Eve night, Halloween lovers rise from the rubble to plant tricks and treats and groove to nostalgic beats. Here we show you how to conjure the best party that’s better to impress than ghosts in white sheets.
- Logistics 👻
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Planning any party, especially a Halloween party, is one of the most stressful events one takes on. So it’s important to plan out options for all your logistics before October. Be sure to have backup options for all your arrangements, just in case. No matter whether the location is a simple house party or at a rented venue a budget should be set, so as not to go into debt trying to entertain your masqueraded guests.
Opt for multi-purpose and reusable decorations found at discount stores and whip out those deadly cooking and baking skills to bring out the thrills and chills of a deliciously imaginative dining experience. To make your invitations Canva is one of the best ways to go for free templates and ideas.
- Playlist 🎵
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Remember you want your party to be a Dance of the Dead, not dead. Using your favorite streaming service(s) there are plenty of Halloween playlists you can shuffle for the best Monster Mashup. Connect a grand speaker to your device for dancing that will be sure to wake the undead and have everyone’s sweat, blood, glitter, guts, and gore on the floor. Check my Ultimate Halloween Playlist!
- Themes 🎃
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CHoose from any of the 4 themes
🧑🔬🧪Mad Scientists Kids Party🧪🧑🔬
“IT’S ALIVE!!! ALIVE!!! “You’ve made Science MAD! AHAHAHAHA!”
-Dr. Henry Frankenstein, played by Colin Clive
To channel your inner Dr. Frankenstein, a glow-in-the-dark mad scientists party is the perfect opportunity to experiment with baking and drink mixing. Start by sending out neon invitations shaped like bubbling potions or vintage steampunk goggles warning guests of the dangerous radioactive spills and chemicals that might just turn them ghoulish. Either have lab coats and goggles available for entering guests or ask them to dress as freakishly crafted Frankenstein’s monsters.
On the day, direct them to a buffet of your concoctions:
- primary-colored foaming/fizzy drinks served in beakers, syringes, and flasks, all with floating radioactive rods (glowsticks)
- test tubes filled with green M&Ms
- Jell-O and pop rocks petri dishes
- a microscope centerpiece
- specimen jars with gummy organs/worms/spiders/frogs/bears
- chocolate eyeballs
- green and yellow rock candy
- severed-finger and voodoo doll cookies
- an ice cream lab
- monster brain Rice Krispies
Decorations should include:
- sprawled hazard signs
- splattered neon paints with a dungeon laboratory backdrop
- metallic or black spray-painted plastic piping
- vintage light bulbs
- backlights
- classic cobwebs
- decrepit skulls
- fogged out floors from dry ice
- prop hyper-realistic human organ jars with glow-in-the-dark liquid
- a toxic waste vat
Activities can include:
- a potion-making station
- edible chemistry experiments (elephant toothpaste, ice volcano, Oobleck, lollipop lab, dry ice sweet treats, etc.)
- Frankenstein’s monster phlegm station (slime station)
- molecule building (with toothpicks, gummy candy, and marshmallows
These are sure to give your victims, er I mean guests, an electrifying time.
🎩🔎Spooky Met Gala/Haunted Mansion Murder Mystery🔎🎩
“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence…”
-Edgar Allen Poe, Eleanora
If you want an upscale halloween party, opt for a Spooky Met Gala and/or Haunted Mansion theme with the category of Vogue Horror. Just imagine bringing gore, thriller, and horror movie characters to celebrity fashion. The main color palette should be rich, black, teals, purples, blues, and reds for the gorgeousness of this dark and moody gala. VIPs will receive personalized unique tarot cards, ouija, or art deco vintage inspired invitations with rose gold foil on gorgeous emerald velvet. Envelopes can be stamped with your favorite wax seal. With horror, the guests who will be both their own designers and canvases can play around with textures (feathers, spikes, lace, mesh) with an extravaganza of scary-chic looks. Ask guests to show up in their best makeup and costumes from beyond the grave.
Ornamentation should channel an Edgar Allen Poe vibe, complete with:
- fog
- black steaming cauldrons
- dark goblets
- black cheesecloth
- lit black taper candles
- skeleton hands holding place cards
- gold accents
- DIY paper bats
- creepy vintage portraits
- sculptures and statues
- black and white painted pumpkins
- polymer clay animal skeletons
- fake stuffed ravens and other creepy animals and motifs
- aberrantly twisted trees
- gargoyles
- ceiling-high floating candles
- arrangement of dark flowers and greenery in vintage apothecary bottles
- thrifted black books
- Halloween villain black and white prints
- 3-arm candelabras
- vintage brass
- costumed waitstaff of ghosts and zombies
You may also want to stuff some old clothes with hay or cotton to make some dead guests, place some plastic or styrofoam tombstones, red cobwebs and fake spiders around the house, serve creepy punch and ghost cake, with each place setting made up of a black dinner plate, black salad plate, a charcoal linen napkin, and mix-and-match flatware.
Food would of course follow this dark and decadent display. The wait staff would be serving sleek and sinister black/dark red bloody witches brew cocktails rimmed with black lava salt garnishes of olive eyeballs and/or dark colored fruits. Appetizers may house a charcuterie board piled with coffin-shaped brie, tombstone-sliced chili pepper cheddar, salami, grapes, rye toasts, fig chutney, pumpkin preserves, dried cranberries, cornichons/gherkins, olives, and candied nuts. The main course would be a family style squid ink pasta with shrimp and cherry tomatoes or a vegan/gluten-free quinoa-stuffed squash slow cooker stew. Dessert can be mini creme brûlée pumpkins, pumpkin s’mores cookies, dark chocolate cake, or baked apple cider cruffins.
Activities can include making a haunted gingerbread house decorating contest, an All Hallows’ Eve costume contest, or a murder mystery. The murder mystery takes a bit of imagination and creativity, but once you develop a story, your interactive party will be sure to wreck havoc on all your guests (MWAHA-HA-HA). Once the guests have arrived, let them know the general plot and offer clues throughout the night to help them solve the mystery. As an added bonus, play some black-and-white horror films/clips projected to close out the night.
🦇🤡 Monster Mash/Carnival 🤡🦇
“Welcome to our freak show, come meet my monsters
Oh, such a fine collection of stranger things”
-Sub Urban (Feat. REI AMI), Freak
Gather all of hell’s heathens in a monster mash or blood curdling carnival. Use the lyrics of your favorite monster mash song in your vintage carnival ticket invitations. Encourage the guests of your Samhain soiree to costume as sideshow acts, sinister clowns/jesters/jokers, ring leaders, and demented animals.
Adorn the house in:
- monster-inspired decorations
- devilish clowns
- crawling baby heads
- decapitated dolls
- fake blood-stained pinstriped decor
- caution tape
- gory Halloween props
- demented kids toys and games
- night circus signage
- antique games
- IT-inspired elements
- bloody handprints on the walls
- plastic body parts
- ripped/old clothing strewn across the floors
- venetian carnival masks
- unkown creature combinations
- lots of rats
Such cryptic scenery will make guests scream in delight. This is a party that is best outdoors in the darkness of a moonlit yard.
For snacks, fill some black or orange paper cones with caramel popcorn mix or cotton candy, have deep fried blood spattered Oreo cookies, witch finger churros, pumpkin pastries, candy apples, face hand pies, apple cider root beer floats, gelatin brain molds, and Halloween-themed candies. The main frightfully tasty delights should be classic “finger” fair foods (corndogs, burgers, grilled corn, nuggets, onion rings). Games can include tossing bean bags into the zombie’s body, biting pumpkin spice cheesecake doughnuts, Skele-Ball, Crystal ball reading, and Ring Around Rosy (ring toss on fake dismembered body parts). Your party will surely be a festival of fright!
Autumn Harvest
Your Halloween party doesn’t need to haunt your guests to be a spooktacular time. If you’re looking for an earthly way to invite friends over, decorate your space with DIY fall-themed ornaments. DIY decor can widen the possibilities for how to decorate for fall while being inexpensive. Try seasonal dried flower wreaths, grapevines, sunflowers, acorns, pumpkin displays, place settings following the warm-colored shades reminiscent of fallen leaves and shortened daylight. To be sustainable and reduce carbon footprints, find decorations at local farms. Serve warm drinks and desserts that remind you of the season, like apple cider and pumpkin rolls, pumpkin patch punch, or artisan halloween pizza. Guests can come in plain clothes or light simple costumes.
In any case no matter what theme you choose, just remember to have fun and be safe. Now go my ghouls and goblins to throw the best Halloween party of the century, stay hydrated with a pumpkin spice latte while you’re at it ☕️
