Thread: Open House Ideas?

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Hello everyone! So we have already been planning for 2010, and decided this year to do a Halloween open house. We have tried having adult parties before, and the turnout has been "ok", not great, but at least 10 -15 people. The problem with that scenario is that if you hold it the same night as others have their party, then it is a revolving door of guests. Second, last year we had a lot of our friends stop by on Halloween night, after their kids were done TOT. So a lot of them came tired, cranky, and not as excited as they should have been while seeing our fabulous decor
So, that being said, we plan on doing an open house the night before Halloween-Sat night. Then we will leave the decor up for TOT on Sunday (of course moving in the expensive props, lights, foggers, etc.) We will be inviting children and adults both. As far as decor goes, we do not do a certain theme every year, we do "sections". We have the traditional graveyard, pumpkin patch, etc. Then we do a pirate section, fortune tellar ect. If we did a theme every year, then the majority of our decor would not be used. Anyway...I was looking for some idea on games, activities, etc. The hours will be from 7pm-11pm. Here are some of the things we have planned:
Activities:
Inflatable Haunted House
Body Parts Toss Game (idea from a forum member here, the name escapes me at the moment)
Bon Fire

Food:
Nachos and Cheese
Marshmallows
Soda/Water/Beer for the Adults
Hot Cider
Juice for Kids

*I would like to do hot dogs/smores....but I am concerned about the expense it could add up to. I guess it depends on how many people end up coming? I dont want to not have enough food/or too much food left?
If I do hot dogs, should I let people roast them at the bonfire, or just grill them as needed for people?

As far as treats go, I will do the traditional Halloween candy and then I have the following to hand out (bought all on clearance 75-90% off after Halloween last year)
Halloween:
Pencils, stickers, tattos, puzzles, candy buckets to put m&ms in, chinese yo-yos. On the invitation, I will ask each parent to bring their childs own TOT bag/bucket. (they will need it for the next night anyway)
S0, thats all I have right now. I need some more ideas on cheap snacks, activities, and invitations...I think I should do a save the date card.
I know many forum members here have great ideas, so lets hear them! Thanks, friends

This is what me and my friends do. We use all of Oct to throw our parties. I throw mine on the first Friday of the month. Why? Because I want to get everyone into the mood early and there is almost no competition. My friend will bring some of his gear over to add to it. Then we have another friend throw a party in mid Oct. Again, we add some of our decor to it for the event. Finally one friend has their party on Devil's night or Halloween night. Same rules as last.

What am I saying? Throw your party in advance and you'll get more people.

Are you planning on people showing up in costume? If so a costume contest is a must. Last year we had Crystal skull vodka as first place and an itunes gift card as second place for best costume. This year we are doing prizes for best male, best female and best couple.

How would you run a costume contest if it's an open house?

Our town will be TOTing on Saturday night. They never do it on Sunday.

Love your idea and think it will be fun. I want to know more about the body toss game.

what about a pin the nose on the pumpkin or nose on the ghoul?

Love the idea of an open house as I do the same every year also. I like the ideas of nachos since they are kept in a crockpot and stay hot. In terms of the hotdogs, I think you could do the same - boil them and leave them in water in the crockpot too. I have never tried this but it seems to work at the ballparks, right?

Other food suggestions:

Meatballs (this is one of my favs) - I usually buy a bag of meatballs (usually from Sam's Club) and a large container of sauce, enough to coat all of them. Serve with mini rolls (also from Sam's Club) and you got meatball sandwiches!

Chili - I won't post my recipe since I never measure anything out - LOL. But it's a nice dish that can be kept hot in the crockpot also. Serve with some onion and cheese and everyone will be pleased!

In terms of activities for the kids - I usually try to set up a craft table. I usually print out Halloween coloring pages and leave a bin on crayons for the kids to color. You can also buy foam pumpkins and foam mouths, eyes, glitter glue, etc at Michael's for the kids to decorate.

Originally Posted by MichaelMyers1

Hello everyone! So we have already been planning for 2010, and decided this year to do a Halloween open house. We have tried having adult parties before, and the turnout has been "ok", not great, but at least 10 -15 people. The problem with that scenario is that if you hold it the same night as others have their party, then it is a revolving door of guests. Second, last year we had a lot of our friends stop by on Halloween night, after their kids were done TOT.....The hours will be from 7pm-11pm. Here are some of the things we have planned:
Activities:
Inflatable Haunted House
Body Parts Toss Game (idea from a forum member here, the name escapes me at the moment)
Bon Fire

*I would like to do hot dogs/smores....but I am concerned about the expense it could add up to......If I do hot dogs, should I let people roast them at the bonfire.......I know many forum members here have great ideas, so lets hear them! Thanks, friends

Hi MM1,

Sounds like a great idea.

I have a Smores recipe....alot easier to make and no burnt fingers..



Hershey’s Smores Bars
INGREDIENTS
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bars
• 1 cup marshmallow crème (or can use mini marshmallows instead)
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
3. Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow crème . Sprinkle bits of remaining dough over marshmallow creating a crumb layer; lightly press crumbs into marshmellow layer.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.

Here are a few ideas for games:

Actually an old victorian version of bobbing for apples.......it's harder than you think.



Or doughnuts....the one who eats the complete doughnut without it falling off the ribbon wins.



Pin-Face-On-The-Pumpkin




Bat pinata....




Bat pinata
instructions....

http://www.pinataboy.com/ghostbat.html

...hope this helps! H1

For our costume contest we called everyone together at 11pm and gave them each a ticket. Then we told them they had 15 minutes to give their ticket to the person at the party who had the best costume. This has the added benefit of making the guests mingle with each other a bit more. When the time comes, everyone gathers together and we give the prize for best costume to the person who has accumulated the most tickets, 2nd place = 2nd most tickets, etc.

This worked pretty well last year, but I'm going to have to figure out how to do it this year since we are running three separate categories. Maybe everyone will have to get three tickets (one for each category).

You could put up a sign at the entrance letting people know when the costume contest judging is going to start. Maybe that will motivate them to stick around and try to win a prize?

Try sloppy goblins (Bar-B-Q) in a crock pot and add hot dogs to it. 2 hot food items in one, and they always go good. Hot dog bits wrapped in bacon. Tombstone brownies are a great and inexpensive treat. Add Hershey Bar pieces as the tombstone, and put a candy corn pumpkin on it for good measure. Carve a pumpkin out and make pumpkin soup in it.

Games...musical chairs to the Monster Mash. Halloween Jenga competition. We have a bean bag toss competition. Bought an inexpensive haunted house one on E-Bay a few years back. Always fun. Guessing games. Fill a cheap glass container with M&Ms, one with candy corn, or both. Have a list and everyone guesses. Closest wins it.

We have one of our Halloween parties the first weekend too, and it's smaller, a different group of people. Hardly anyone else throws them, and the one or two that do, always have it the Saturday night before Halloween, usually conflicting with ours. This year it's Friday though, band plays Saturday.

Paul.

Halloweenie1 - those smores looks delicious! I might have to try that recipe this year - thanks.