Thread: First Ever Halloween Party!

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Every year my aunt and uncle throw a Halloween party, but they just had a new little baby ghoul 6 months ago, so
the party got handed to me to put on at my house. I have never put on a party, so please send me tips, tips, and more tips!!!

Do you do a theme for your whole house? I want it people to be wowed, but still very family friendly. We do have
little kids that come.

Thank you so much!!

Oh, how exciting! There are so many threads to look through here. Personally, I don't do a theme, I just decorate with the same Halloween decor every year, but every year that decor collection grows.

First of all, congrats - this will be fun, and no, there is no reason to worry. You will anyway, but remember, this supposed to be fun.

Step 1 - Let Halloween itself be the theme. Don't try to tackle a particular focus until you have one party under your belt. Simply have a darkened house filled with weird lights, Jack O Lanterns, fun Halloween music and a couple of props. That will do the trick. Think about hanging tattered cheese cloth from the ceiling and over pictures and shelves. Maybe buy the Beef netting some folks like for the wacky cartoon webbing. Halloween has one primary look - eerie light in shadow. Keep that in mind, and the rest will work itself out. Be aware that real flame light should be up and out of the way of children, swirling cloaks and dresses, etc.

Step 2 - Get a head count, adults and children. Try to make sure everyone has room. If furniture needs re-arranging, decide when that happens. If furniture needs protecting, creepy old sheets look good and will hide plastic underneath just fine.
Decide if costumes are required. Get the invitations out by next week so as to give people time to plan their costumes, babysitting, etc. Let them know...
Time,
Date,
Place,
If costumes are required,
what food and drink you will be providing (if any) and what they should bring (food, chairs, a pumpkin, etc.). Don't try to assign specific foods and beverages to people; if there is something you know you will need, like tea, coffee or ice, provide it yourself. Let them bring desserts, snacks, hot food, sodas, whatever. Get the house cleaned, bathroom prepared for numerous guests, etc.

Step 3 - Consider activities. Will this crowd like games or maybe a pumpkin carving session? Can you turn to someone to run a session of Halloween trivia, charades or even tell some ghost stories? Do you wish to provide goody bags or prizes to game winners? Better get them now.

Step 4 - If you do plan on cooking, stick with one dish and one beverage. I suggest either a wild halloween punch or mulled cider for the drink, and warm fingerfoods, especially if kids attend. Pigs-in-blankets are a traditional Scottish Halloween dish, and great for kids and grownups alike at a party. Don't just listen to me, check this forum for recipes. Take your time now and decide what you want to do. Remember, you can do this every year, so don't try to cook everything you want this year.

Step 5 - if you have pets, plan on where they will be for the evening. Some pets need no special attention, others would likely be more comfortable in a quiet dark room away from the crowds.

Start working out these issues, and you will be well ahead of the curve when you start figuring out the details.

I hope this link helps 13 STEPS FOR A WICKED HALLOWEEN PARTY

Spats gave you some great advice. For some cheap decor, hit the Dollar Trees. Everything is a buck and they have some great props. Also have theme music. Dollar Tree also usually has some CDs, Games are a lot of fun. I will be back later with a link to a website that has lots of ideas that don't cost much and are fun.

How exciting---your first of many Halloween parties!

Spats thank you for the great advice. I think I'm going to go with what you said about halloween being the theme for the first year until I get more under my belt. Just going to make it a witches house with witches bottle and place them in the kitchen with spider webs and a Witch cooking in her cauldron and more that same idea in to the dinning room where more food will be placed. I am not to sure what to place in my living room. I feel like I should take pictures of the rooms and add them here for input. lol

WicKED, I already had your website bookmarked!!!! Great, helpful, ideas Thank you. But I was planning on being that guy (girl) wearing the iron man costume.

Printersdevil, Thank you I can't wait to see that site. I have a budget of nothing! I had to have surgery on my foot and on my gallbladder all within 4 weeks of each other so I had to take a lot of time off, so cheap is great!!

Thank you guys for the replys

Check out this thread Share your Halloween Party tips and tricks! There are some wonderfully helpful idea here And go ahead and post some pix of your living room! I'm sure we can help in more detail

http://1halloween.net/

http://www.holidays.net/halloween/

http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-parties/

http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-games/

The site that I got a lot of first time ideas from is the first site listed above. It has some fun things. I really like the Songs and Lyrics sections. We used these several times as stand alone games, Tempt Your Fate fates, etc. If you have a microphone and speakers they can be hilarious. I even printed out the lyrics for people to follow. The Carols and Music ones are also great.

The party planning section has some great ideas, too. In fact, I go back to this site often. Thanks for reminding me to check it out again today!

I see they have added some knew things like how to make a witch and a vampire. These are made with supplies that you can easily find so they don't cost much.

Don't forget to check thrift stores and Dollar Tree. I am adding a link to my Facebook pics from last year. I just dropped some of the body parts from DT into plastic cauldrons and had some instant props. The cheap arms and hands placed in plants and coming out of the grill and again, great impact for not much money. I used lots of balloon blown up and put inside of cheap masks and positioned on wire coat hangers with small costumes to make some ghouls and witches. We just drew the eyes in with markers and highlighters. I made th outside scarecrows the same way on the dollar bamboo sticks. Just think outside the box. But, mostly, have fun! One of my witches by the outside bar is just a cheap witch mask on top of a standing fan with a long robe for clothing.
One witch (the one that looks like football shoulders) simply has that witch head positioned on top of a corner shelf and an orange shirt and skirt added.

Last year's decor:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...f1d491e&type=1



The year before:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...11e5aee&type=1



Last year's Be WITCHY party:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...f80f55a&type=1


Never underestimate the fun that adults can and WILL have with simple childish games. Our crew has a ball every year with the Mummy game. All it takes is teams and several rolls of toilet paper! Pass the small pumpkin without using your hands. My personal favorite is the pantyhose game where you try to move objects across the room or the balloon on a paper plate while playing the Waiter Game. All of these are FREE with items you have on hand. Loads of laughs.