How To Throw An Easy Halloween Party | Crafty October Day 25
Home » CELEBRATE »
Halloween has certainly gained in popularity in the UK over recent years – I can see this simply by the increased amount of decorations, party ware, and costumes in the shops these days. I remember when there would be just a small shelf full of stuff for Halloween, now there is an aisle or two devoted to it at this time of year. With Halloween just under a week away, you might start to catch a few bargains!
I have never been one for Trick-or-Treat, preferring to throw a party, over knocking door-to-door in the freezing cold! I have thrown a Halloween party pretty much every year for the past 25 years… (I feel sooo old) …so when it comes to planning them, I like to think I’ve got it down!
I thought I would share some of my ideas to show you how to throw an easy Halloween Party. I’ve got all the bases covered – decorations (including lots of free printables), costume ideas, party games, pumpkin carving patterns, music, movies, food & drink ideas, and a ton of recipes too!
Decorations
If there is one decoration you MUST buy, it is a bag of cobwebs – even if you don’t have anything else, this stuff will instantly make anything look spooky.
Wilko have sent me some items for my Halloween Party this year, which I plan to make good use of on the weekend. With it being late in the month now, some of the stuff isn’t available online, but my husband did buy some Halloween items in store yesterday, so get in quick before they all sell out!
My favourite item from Wilko this year, by far is their awesome pumpkin shaped drinks dispenser. Here are some Halloween Mocktails & Cocktails you could try out
- Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice
- Warm Autumn Punch
- Spicy Bloody Mary – In a blender combine 2 parts vegetable juice (like V8) with 1 part ready-made salsa until smooth. Add lime juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and celery salt to taste. Add Tabasco to spice things up more (optional). If you want to turn it boozy, add vodka. Garnish with thinly sliced cucumber and pimento-stuffed green olives.
- Dark Rum Punch
- Vampire Virgin Sangria – Place some ice cubes, sliced oranges, sliced lemon, quartered grapes, and fresh or frozen raspberries into a large jug. Add 2 parts cranberry juice, and 1 part orange juice. Top up with red grape juice (or red wine if you want to make this non-virgin).
For some free and easy Halloween decorations, check out my Halloween Printables! Download them, print them, prepare them and bam, instant decorations!
COSTUMES
You can go the old school route and cut holes in a black bin bag and use it as a witches dress; you can wrap toilet paper around your child to create a mummy; you can dress them in red and they become a little devil (although, your child may not need a costume >_>)
Again, get to the shops (whilst buying party supplies, see above) and buy a cheap mask/hat/hair piece which will help finish the outfit off. You may also find reduced to clear costumes for children and adults. Or, do as I do, dress in black or red and accessorize!
Don’t forget to pick up some face paints too – and supplement it with your own make-up (black eyeliner and red lippy especially!)
» Check out my last minute Halloween costume ideas
Party Games
If you have young children to entertain, then some easy games you can play with them are – to be fair, most of these the adults would probably want to get involved with too!
- Build-a-Skeleton (doubles up as a decorations, see above!) cut up the pieces, mix them up and get them to put the pieces together.
- Pass the Ghost – blow up a white balloon and get the children to stand in a line, they have to pass the balloon to each other either under their chin or between their knees. You can also draw ghostly faces on the balloons!
- Buy some gingerbread men (or if you’re Delia, make some) and set out sprinkles and ready-made icing in tubes for the kids to decorate and make gingerbread fiends. They could create zombies, mummies, skeletons…let their imagination run wild!
- Tell a [not-so-scary] story and have some sensory props to aid in the spooky feel – peeled grapes for eyeballs, spaghetti for guts, jelly for brains…
- Apple bobbing – the most traditional of Halloween fun! Fill a bucket with water, throw in some apples, get the guest to dunk their heads in and try to pick an apple out using just their mouths. I’m sure health and safety would have a field day with this one!
- Hanging Doughnuts – buy a pack of old fashioned doughnuts with holes, tie to string and then hang from a door frame: party guests then have to try and eat the doughnut with just their mouths and not using their hands at all. Hilarity ensues with this one!
- Pass The Trick-or-Treat Parcel – like regular pass the parcel, but between the layers, add a mixture of small (age appropriate) tricks – like plastic bugs, or silly dares, and treats.
- Make A Mummy – you’ll need a couple of rolls of cheapo toilet roll, one person is the mummy and everyone has to wrap the toilet paper around them. Do it in teams and the first to complete, wins.
- Pumpkin Carving Competition – the shops may well be running low on pumpkins now, and you might even find them at a reduced price. For younger children, supply paints, glitter, marker pens, and stickers, and let them decorate the outsides of their pumpkins without worrying about sharp knives. For older children, they may be able to carve a pumpkin with adult supervision. I’ve got the patterns and carving guide here!
MUSIC + MOVIES
Don’t worry about music – I’ve got you covered! Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs. It is free to use (they do put ads between the songs), or there is a monthly £9.99 subscription. You can download Spotify here for your computer, and it is also available for mobile devices, so just plug yours into some speakers and get the Halloween party started! If you have it installed already, just click play on the of the Halloween songs, and let the spooky festivities begin!
I’ve set up a 75 song, 4-hour playlist, with spooky tunes, and creepy sound effects as background noise for a Halloween Party.
» 75 Halloween Party Songs on Spotify
Now, when it comes to horror, I’m a big old scaredy cat, so you’re not going to find the really scary, gory movies on my list! I’ve included lots of my favourites, as well as a few I’ve not yet watched. There are movies for kids, for tweens, teens, and grown ups…and for wusses like me! If you’re not planning on having a party, why not pick a movie or three, grab some treats and settle in for a night of Not So Scary Movies for Halloween!
» 54 Not So Scary Halloween Movies
Food & Drink
Easy Halloween Party Menu 1 – the quickest and easiest
- Tomato soup – open a can and heat up. Add some garlic croutons to keep vampires away.
- Hot dogs – buy frankfurters and keep warm on the stove in some simmering water. Serve with pre-cut hot dog buns, ketchup, mustard and onions – some frying involved with this, but if you super can’t be bothered, you can buy cans of fried onions. I won’t judge.
- Jacket potatoes – throw in the oven about an hour before guests arrive – provide butter, grated cheese and baked beans for toppings.
- Some sort of cake/cookie/dessert – all supermarkets have got Halloween themed sweet treats you can purchase.
- Crisps and Popcorn – open bags, dump in a bowl
- Bottles of limeade and cherryade – they’re red and green – oooh Halloweeney!
Easy Halloween Party Menu 2 – some prep required
- Chips & Dips – and veg crudities if you like. Buy ready made dips like guacamole, salsa, garlic and onion (again, because vampires), open up some tortilla chips (or cut Halloween shapes from a flat tortilla and bake/fry) to serve with. You can buy ready cut veg these days as well – or take ten minutes to peel and cut some carrots, baton some cucumber, slice some pepper and put some cherry tomatoes on a plate.
- Chilli Con Carne – mince, packet o’ seasoning, kidney beans, tinned tomatoes. Follow the instructions on the packet and serve with chips (above, not English chips!) and toppings like sour cream, guac and salsa. You could even serve it in a hollowed out pumpkin, like I did with my Slow Cooker Beef, Bean & Pumpkin Chilli
- Pumpkin Pie – we can buy pureed pumpkin in this country now (win) so follow my recipe which is tried and tested and my go-to recipe for the past 20 years! Cheat and buy a ready-made pastry case too (I have no shame, I do that every year, and this year will be no different!)
- Sweet & Salty Spooky Snack Mix – this is a dump and run snack – choose from things like toffee popcorn, regular popcorn, pretzels, mini marshmallows, peanuts, cashew nuts, M&Ms, candy corn, jelly beans, raisins, dried cranberries, chocolate chips… you get the idea!
- Halloween Mocktails – Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice, or Warm Autumn Punch
If you want to do a little bit more in the kitchen, I’ve got 40 Halloween Party Food Recipes here!
Whatever you are doing for Halloween, have fun, enjoy time with family and friends and have a wicked time!
Happy Halloween!
Crafty October is a month long series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog, where I share an idea a day for Halloween + Autumn. All ideas for Crafty October 2016 are here.