Thread: What were some of your best new ideas that worked this year and why?

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I have to say first that I love this forum! I have used so many great ideas from others so thank you all for posting. This was our 6th Halloween bash and every year it gets abit bigger...we had 60ppl here (expected about 100) but it snowed .....ALOT! We had a quite afew cancellations due to travel, but regardless it was fun, fun fun!!! Danced till 2AM!! Here are a few of my great new ideas used this past Saturday at our party
1. Rent pub tables....locally, we got 3 this year, $8, each for the weekend! We set up our garage as a dance hall every year and this gave a place for people to hang out around, put their drinks and food down if they wanted. I put a tea light candle holder on them and it was awesome...Will rent a few more for next year
2. Set two playlists....first playlist was the halloween mix, monster mash, thriller, etc, and moved into more dance/club music after a few hours. Got the party warmed up first before all the great dance music came on.
Also, I have hired a food server the past 3 years, and that works out great! I totally get to socialize and be a host to all the guests. This year our bartender could not make it...we do not offer a full bar, but someone to make shots. My husband jumped in and made a tray of shots and passed them around, but someone brought jello shots and we decided we think that is the way to go, and let the food server pass those also.
3. Buy syringes for jello shots/or any shot. I made a drink called "liquid valium" with Crown Royal, peach schnoppes, coconut rum and cranberry juice. I filled the shot syringes and went around with them in a small cooler and offered my guests a shot. I loved it! It was so fun! Can't wait to hear your new must tries!

I stole a few recipes off here that went over really well like the antipasto skewers and the mini pumpkin pie bites. The Jello shots are always a hit - I make them like jigglers either with Halloween themed cookie cut-outs or Jello/ice cube/candy molds. This was our first year of Tempt Your Fate, with balloons, and that was a success. And everyone really liked our casket cooler/prize container (we divided it in half since it's a full sized casket that was actually intended for dead body use). Oh, and the nacho bar was well received too!

I would say my two way mirror worked great and had a lot of insight from here about my shiatsu massager that ran strong for 2 1/2 hrs, very happy with this year, already starting to think about next yr. I strive and take pride in homemade props and this site has helped me for the last 3 yrs.

Omg... yes I agree with the syringes! I had them for the first time this year and my guests were fascinated with them!

Elise...love the casket cooler and Nacho bar idea! Always looking for new things for next year...started looking on line for great sales today!

I agree 13thhour about the homemade props...we like making them and being able to re-purpose or come up with a different spot for them next year! We want to make a coffin cooler for next year!

I was a nurse, and last year I searched high and low for iv bags for jello shots...I made a recipe called Liquid Valium from allrecipes.com...it was delicious and so much fun to pass around....I think I might use them at our crazy Christmas party and give shots of "Holiday Cheer"

I also ordered new IV Feeding tube bags...I loved the idea, but they poured pretty slow....

I have two best and worst ideas.

Firstly my 2 WORST ideas EVER were absinthe and the other was deciding to make a psychedelic forest in the house. The forest looked AWESOME and helped keep a usually ignored room busy and full of guests but not worth 15 hours of my time!!! The absinthe was just WAY too easy to accidentally over-do-it. I had 5 drinks over the course of 4 hours with food (only 1 was absinthe) clearly enough to make anyone drunk but I am no lightweight and I don't remember the second half of the party!!!!

The 2 BEST ideas I had was to set up my projector with random themed videos on one wall and backlights. I thought people might find the videos to be pretentious and silly but it entertained people for hours as they tried to figure out what the clips were and what the hidden (non-existent) message was. The backlights were tons of fun and people got people in the mood to get up and dance which has not been a common occurrence in years past.

I'm so techi challenged...what do you mean when you say a projector? I love the backlight idea, we had a disco ball and that added allot to the dance area (garage)....and never tried Absinthe, but heard it's pretty potent! We had Blavod this year, but since my bartender was a no show due to weather, we have alot left.

Originally Posted by star_girl_mag

I have two best and worst ideas.

Firstly my 2 WORST ideas EVER were absinthe and the other was deciding to make a psychedelic forest in the house. The forest looked AWESOME and helped keep a usually ignored room busy and full of guests but not worth 15 hours of my time!!! The absinthe was just WAY too easy to accidentally over-do-it. I had 5 drinks over the course of 4 hours with food (only 1 was absinthe) clearly enough to make anyone drunk but I am no lightweight and I don't remember the second half of the party!!!!

The 2 BEST ideas I had was to set up my projector with random themed videos on one wall and backlights. I thought people might find the videos to be pretentious and silly but it entertained people for hours as they tried to figure out what the clips were and what the hidden (non-existent) message was. The backlights were tons of fun and people got people in the mood to get up and dance which has not been a common occurrence in years past.