It’s approaching the time of year where the nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling from the trees and the kids can’t wait to go Trick or Treating again; just so they can eat their annual sweet allowance in one night… okay maybe two! Yes we’re talking about Halloween.
Here in the UK more and more of us are enjoying Halloween traditions, whether that be dressing up in costumes, trick or treating, pumpkin carving or throwing a party, there’s no denying Halloween is growing in popularity year on year with the UK spending an average of £400 Million per year on paraphernalia to help us celebrate. That said; A successful and memorable Halloween party doesn’t have to break the bank, follow our tips and tricks for a spook-tacular celebration!
Choose a theme and set the scene
Think about who the Halloween party is for and choose a theme that’s suitable, you wouldn’t want to choose something that’s going to give the children sleepless nights. I usually find younger children really enjoy pumpkin and witch themes; as long as they’re not too menacing, slightly older children like something with a bit more scare factor so you could choose themes which include zombies, monsters and haunting ghosts. And the tweens seem to enjoy scaring the life out of each other so the more gruesome the better! Consider which colours you’ll use to decorate, this helps to create a cohesive design; orange, black, purple and green are great Halloween colour choices. There are so many choices when it comes to buying reasonably priced Halloween decorations, Pound shops, B&M, Lidl and Aldi to name just a few, but it’s also amazing what you can create with a few old sheets, black bin liners and a bag of spider webbing! If your budget allows consider places like The Range, Hobbycraft, Party Delights, Ginger Ray and John Lewis, and remember you haven’t got to decorate the whole house, concentrate on one room and make it impactful.
Create a Halloween Playlist
There is no party without music and atmosphere, so create a Halloween party playlist to get everyone in the mood. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to create your own list you can always use a streaming service such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, Deezer or Spotify, they will have Halloween playlists ready to go!
Food
Turn everyday foods in to a gruesome grazing platter with a little bit of imagination.
Try carving a puking pumpkin crudité platter, let your child’s favourite dip flow from it’s mouth and provide lots of carrot, cucumber and celery sticks for dipping, or create spooky sandwiches by cutting them in to bone, skull or ghost shapes using cookie cutters. Make mummy dogs by wrapping thin strips of ready to roll pastry around sausages before baking, just add candy eyes to give it the finishing touch, or try my daughters favourite Halloween food by making a cauldron full of witches brew… usually pea and ham or tomato soup with bread bones for dipping.
For something a little sweeter try turning strawberries into mini ghosts by dipping them in white chocolate and adding a spooky face with dark chocolate, or make lime jelly in glasses and top with an eyeball jelly sweet, alternatively decorate cupcakes with green or purple buttercream and top with jelly worms. To keep your little gremlins hydrated freeze a rubber glove full of water and float the ice hand in a large bowl of fruit punch… just remember not to feed them after midnight (those of you who grew up in the 80’s will get the reference! 🤣)
Entertainment
Again the key to an enjoyable and successful Halloween party is considering the age of your guests, make sure the games played are age appropriate. Younger guests usually like games like mummy wrap; each child grabs a toilet roll and frantically wraps someone head to toe like a mummy, the first to finish their roll wins… this one usually gets lots of laughter at our house! Musical Monsters (statues) is another good one for smaller children. Slightly older children might like a game of truth or scare, or trick or treat feely boxes ( children plunge their hands in to boxes of the unknown and guess what they’re feeling) we did this last year and the squeals coming from our kitchen were hilarious as the children plunged their hands in to boxes of angels delight with added cauliflower (monster brains) or jelly with pickled onions (eyeballs) but by far their favourite was boxes of jelly shoe laces (worms) which they were more than happy to eat afterwards! You could also consider more traditional Halloween activities like pumpkin carving or apple bobbing (obviously under adult supervision) or even the best Halloween face paint or costume, there are so many options you’re spoilt for choice!
Bring in the professionals!
If you’re struggling for time or inspiration but still want to make this Halloween a fun and memorable occasion then allow us to help, we will create an amazing Halloween sleepover space and provide you with everything you need for a frightfully fun night of spooks, squeals and laughter! All you need to do is contact us and we will take care of the rest.
