View video: Haunted Halloween party for kids & adults
Whether it's super scary or just plain silly, your Halloween Haunt will
be a hit with these quick and easy party tips. You can tailor your event
to fit a theme, such as Harry Potter, Friday the 13th, Bewitched or
Magic and Wizards, or keep it general with lots of creative creepy
touches. If there are kids present, tone the frights down a bit, but if
it's for fearless grown-ups, kick it up a notch. The trick is to keep the
treats handy and the costumed creatures entertained!
Eerie Invitations
Send the guests "Pumpkin Pal" invitations to get the party started.
Blow up orange balloons and hold the neck of the balloon without
knotting it. Then write party details on the outside of the balloon with
glow-in-the-dark pens, deflate and mail to guests with a note to inflate
the balloon in the dark to read the surprise.
For an extra thrill, include plastic spiders, rubber snakes, slimy
eyeballs or candy body parts in the envelope (inexpensive tricks and
treats and Balloon Time® Helium Balloon Kits are available at your local
party store).
Creepy Costumes
If you choose a specific theme for your costume party, such as
"Famous Couples," "Favorite Monsters and Villains" or "Your Alter
Ego," ask the guests to dress appropriately. If not, let them use their
weird imaginations and dress as they please. When they arrive, offer
additional accessories to scare it up, such as fright wigs, garish
makeup, wound tattoos, rubber masks and long fingernails.
Decrepit Decorations
Turn your party room into a Haunted House with stations for various
activities and games. Begin by erecting cardboard or Styrofoam
tombstones in the front yard, personalized for your expected guests.
Set up inflated or cardboard cutouts of monsters, creatures and
scarecrows. Inflate black balloons using Balloon Time helium balloon
kits, and attach to the mailbox, trees and fences to greet the ghoulish
guests. Cover white helium-filled balloons with white tissue paper,
draw a couple black circles for eyes, add an oval mouth, and place
around the yard to look like floating ghosts. Cover the front door with
cobwebs and play haunting sounds or music.
Continue the fun inside with decorated stations, such as "Frankie's
Laboratory," "Body Transplant Hospital" and "Alien Autopsy." Include
"specimen jars" with yucky stuff inside and make sure to include
green, purple, and orange helium-filled balloons with the black ones to
give the room a creepy yet festive atmosphere. Set up a fog machine,
keep the scary music going and add glow sticks throughout the
darkened room. Once in a while pop a balloon to give the guests a
scare.
Ghoulish Games and Activities
Mummy Wrap
Divide into teams and give players rolls of toilet paper or black and
orange crepe paper. Have them select a "mummy" from the group,
then race to wrap the mummy (all but the mouth), without tearing the
paper. The team that wraps its mummy first, wins a prize.
Alien Autopsy
Prepare "body parts" from various foods and other objects, such as
cooked spaghetti for brains, peeled tomato for heart, Jell-O for liver,
cooked penne pasta for intestines, dried apricots for ears, peeled
grapes for eyeballs, popcorn kernels for teeth, and so on. Have the
guests feel inside containers — without looking — and try to guess what
they're really touching! Keep a camera handy for those wicked facial
expressions.
Pumpkin Creatures
Divide into teams or couples and have them creatively carve their own
pumpkins. When everyone is finished, award a prize for "Cutest,"
"Ugliest," "Scariest" and "Funniest."
Pumpkinhead
Give everyone a helium-filled orange balloon and a permanent
marker. Place names of guests in a hat, and have players each draw a
name, without revealing it. They must draw the person's face on the
orange balloon. When everyone is finished, show them in a circle and
have everyone try to guess who each Pumpkinhead is.
Fearsome Refreshments
You could always serve the "body parts" as appetizers or snacks — as
long as they haven't been handled by all the guests first! Include
Vienna sausages for fingers, deviled egg for eyeballs, and cow's
tongue for an added (and frightening) delicacy.
Spiderweb cupcakes are fun and easy to make. Frost chocolate
cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting. Put a teaspoonful of white
frosting in the center and using a toothpick, "pull" lines from the
center to the outer edge of the cupcake. Dip the toothpick in more
white icing and draw concentric circles around the cupcake to create a
web. Add candy or gummy spiders and serve to unsuspecting guests.
Worms in the Dirt are fun to make and to eat. Buy chocolate pudding
cups, remove lid and sprinkle on crushed chocolate cookies to look like
dirt. Add a couple of gummy worms and stick a fake flower in the
center to look like a potted plant gone bad.
Serve Witch's Blood — blood red punch — in a caldron, with a green
floating "hand," made by freezing green tinted water in a rubber glove.
Remove rubber glove "hand" at serving time by running lightly under
warm water, and peeling back the glove. Place ice cubes in guests
cups, tinted green, with a gummy worm frozen inside!
Frightening Favors
Send the costumed creatures home with:
- Glow sticks
- Mini flashlights
- Vampire teeth
- Fake fingernails
- Tattoos
- Wax lips
- Gummy worms
- Costume accessories
- Stage makeup kits
- Slimy eyeballs
- Creepy candles
- Halloween CDs
Penny Warner has more than 25 years of experience as an author
and party planner. She has published more than 50 books, including 16
specific to parties. Additionally, Warner writes a weekly newspaper
column on family life, penned a column for Sesame Street Parents
magazine and has appeared on several regional and national TV morning
programs. Her latest book, HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, debuted in
February 2010 from NAL/Penguin.
Balloon Time is the leading brand of consumer helium balloon kits
in North America. Balloon Time kits feature a helium-filled tank, latex
or foil balloons and ribbon, and are available at national retail
chains, party goods and grocery stores nationwide.