Thread: First time halloween

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just moved in to my new house. just moved out of my parents house and got my own. so halloween this year, my house.
want to do stuff, inside and out.
got a good size front yard. was thinking, tombstone and a gate. and lighting
inside, got a living room, dinning room, 2nd dinning room, breakfast nook, family room, and study on the first floor, party area.
not sure about haunted house in basement.
for inside;
candles, the leds and pvc candles.
want to start a spooktown display
got a fireplace to do something with.
been get ideas from here.
what was some of the thing at your guys first party.
decor, food, lighting, music?

For my first party, I didn't do a theme... but I would suggest one.

Things to Consider
- Themed Invites.
- Food table within Theme
- Alcohol or Shots tied to theme
- Ongoing activities (optional) to keep guests entertained and interacting (also within theme, for example the winking murder game or Tempt Your Fate)
- Costume Contest Categories and Prizes
- Perhaps door prizes or game prizes
- Halloween Music Setlist
- Themed Decorations
- Doing something with TV that is themed
(e.g., if no theme then show simpson's halloween treehouse episodes, for ZOmbie apocalypse theme show news reporters, for Carnival set up a video Fortune Teller)
- Decorate each room within the theme, but differently (if possible)
- Photo area with gimmic (Doesn't always work, but if you do a Western theme then you can have a large wanted poster on the wall for people to stand in front of... or can be more elaborate with props).


At the end of the day, I would definitely start with a theme. Settling on a theme really opens things up and gets ideas flowing. Plus, it gives the whole party this sense of wonder with all the details fitting together (like Disneyworld, etc), or like a story being told. You can really rework almost anything to fit your themes anyway. It also makes each year something completely new and exciting, not just additions. Try doing a search with keywords that might interest you.

Some of My favorite themes:
- Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, Haunted Carnival, Mad Scientist Laboratory (unveiling monster), Vampire Ball, Haunted Mansion (Ghosts, maybe past-murder mystery), Darkside of Disney, Murder at the Morgue, Alice in Wonderland or Mad Hatter, Pirates, .

Plus, if you have a theme....it's much easier getting suggestions and ideas for decorating.

Oh, you know. I think I misunderstood your original post. Were you asking, just for discussion purposes, what people did their first official Halloween as adults? If so, then here's what I did.

- I threw a Halloween party (no theme) and called it "Masks and Mayhem".
- I sent out a poem invitation about being mischievous and taking a break from the daily hassles of life.
- For food I had green rice krispy treat brains, mummy dogs, and breadstick bones.
- Had jello shots.
- Decorated with tons of cobwebs, candles, spiders. Created a few "moving eye" portraits.
- Played the entire collection of Simpson's Halloween TreeHouse special on my tv.
- Had a version of the Tempt Your Fate game.
- Placed a motion sensored monster noise maker, under a towel in the bathroom...that would move and make monster noises when anyone went to the bathroom. A little cheap scare.
- Costume contests.

It was a lot of fun, and ever since that people keep asking me when my next party is. Or what theme I am going to do. Boom. Addicted.

As for your yard. Might I suggest, do what you would like to see. Too many times we make things for others and it ends up that we don't like them. So the build was waste. Make your display for you and chances are others will like it as well. Watch the budget, it can get out of hand quickly.

Try the forum party thread here.

you need skulls heads, scary pumpkins, rats, snakes, webs, lights, fog machine (depends on you wanting it or not), lurking monsters, Honey the list is endless.......

Congrats on getting your own place. It must be so exciting and freeing all at the same time. Halloween sounds like it will be a blast at your place.

FirePlace:
Just a skull and bones type thing would look really good. Maybe some spider web to give it an agey feeling.

Kitchen:
We did ours halloween/countryish. So most of the stuff is more cutesy but it's not so bad. This also applied to every room in the house.

Basement:
If you have the time and energy it would be fun to do a haunted basement. Is your basement finshed or unfinshed? For some reason partys are real kick ass when they are in an unfinished basement. It really add's to the creep factor like there are bodys down there.

Yard:
The cemetary theme is a great one to go with. Do you have plans for a fence? If so, you should share them with me.

Lighting:

Outside: I'd use blues and greens. Ofcourse I'm talking about flood lights but if you can't get them before just go with your simple leds or pvc candles. They seem to make a nice effect.

Inside: Limited lighting add's erieness to everything. Just go simple.

SpookyTown:
Just beware that this can be very hazerdous to your walet! I started collecting in 2008 and can't stop. I even gave up going to a Broncos game just so I could play with my little villiage.

Food & Party:
Like I said if you have un unfinshed basement, I'd host the party down there. Turn the main light's out, put up some orange and purple lights, maybe add a strobe or two, glow sicks hanging from the ceiling and a little table with chips,candy,jello shots.


Hope this helps out. Also if your worried about food/party cost just remember that this is a halloween party not a wedding or over the hill event. Pot Lucks are often a great way to save and are a fun way to atrack guest. Beverage usage can offten be supplied by the people that want to drink. For our party's we will get a few 24 packs and if people want something else they are more than welcome to bring it.

Keep us posted.
HR08