Thread: Literary Halloween party ideas

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Hello,
I am new to this site & was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions to offer me. I offered to throw a Literary themed Halloween party for my book club. I am asking everyone who attends to dress up as their favorite literary character. Any suggestions?
Thanks so much,
Nicky

Speaking as someone who has the Lord of the Flies in attendance at her yard haunt, I think this is a great idea! Are you looking for suggestions for decor, games, foods, all of the above? Will you be creating a room themed to a specific literary classic or something along the lines of "Fiction coming to life on All Hallow's Eve"?

More questions than answers at this point, but I'm sure there will be lots of people with great suggestions around shortly.

HI Blue Frog,
So far, I have a date & a theme. I am having it @ my house, so the usual Halloween decorations will be out, but was thinking of doing a dead author graveyard. I have a decent size front/side yard & a garage I can use for decorating. Our back yard is not too small, but it has in ground pool. Also, I live in South Florida, so the night I have my party will most likely be hot, so most of the party will be inside. I have a small library/game room, dining room, living room, & super small kitchen. I am trying to hire some entertainment. A psychic maybe. I have put in a request for some quotes from different companies. This is going to be a small group. Maybe around 25 people. I have been looking at some of the suggestions on the site already & am getting some great ideas. Would like to do a game or two. Any suggestions anyone has on anything would be great. I am looking to keep the cost of the party low, like around $500, so I will be making most of the food myself.
Thanks,
Nicky

A game that would definitely work for your theme is the "Who Am I?" game. My group really enjoyed it - and that's saying a lot! Basically, you write the names of people/characters on name tags before the party starts. When you're ready to start the game you put a name tag on each person's back. They can only ask yes/no questions and only one question per person at a time (had to add that rule because they would stand there asking the same person 10 questions instead of going on to someone else) to try and figure out "who they are". I used horror authors, directors, movie/book characters, mythological monsters, etc. Obviously you'd just use the ones fitting the literary theme.

Use the epitaphs of famous literary people on your tombstones.

Have spooky poems or passages from certain stories printed out on distressed/stained paper and put them in ornate, black frames. Set them around the house with candles near, to give people light to read by.

Have props around the house that symbolize certain stories. Lots of ravens (Poe), a shattered pumpkin (Irving), a decorated Halloween Tree (Bradbury), etc.