THROW A HALLOWEEN PARTY
Learn How To Throw A Fun and Festive Halloween Party With These Party Tips!
 | | Halloween is a holiday like no other. Most celebrations are religious, national or civic in nature- not Halloween. Originally a pagan holiday of the harvest season, Halloween is a night when the rules disappear and everyone has an excuse to get freaky. It functions as a steam valve for cultural tension, like Mardi Gras or Running with the Bulls, and societies must have these pressure releases every once and again- otherwise we would all go absolutely nuts. | |
With the gates of the Netherworld open and ghouls roaming the streets, Halloween is the perfect time to throw a party! Get started planning now and by October 31 you will be ready for a night of freakish celebration, candy and bewitchment!
HOW TO THROW A HALLOWEEN PARTY
Make it a costume party, of course! Be sure that your halloween costume is awesome, unique and ready to go, because the night of your party is no time to be hot-gluing sequins to your belt. Write on the invitations that costumes are expected (or required), and then tell everyone in person the same thing. Nothing is lamer than a costume party where no one dresses up. Have a few quick costumes on hand for those who show up undressed: moustaches, wigs, hats and masks work nicely.
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Consider the date. If you throw your shindig on Halloween 31 itself, you will have lots of competition and your turnout may suffer. Choose the night before or even the weekend before, but don’t set the date much after the 31st, as no one wants to dress up after the fact and the magic will be gone.
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Serve easy-to-eat food. Halloween night is not the time for a formal, sit-down dinner. Keep things festive with easy finger appetizers, chips and dip, cute desserts and of course, heaps of candy! There are plenty of neat Halloween food ideas out there depending on your budget: brain-mold Jell-O, chocolate-covered grasshoppers and gummy fingers are just a few! Go wild!
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Drink up! For an underage crowd, creative a celebratory punch out of orange soda and sherbet, and freeze punch in a plastic glove beforehand to make a ghoulish ice cube to float in the bowl. For a party with adults, add some cheap beer and a signature cocktail or two- there is no need to set up an entire open bar. Give your cocktails creepy names (like Vodka Vampires and Whiskey Corpses) and choose wines and beer with similar spooky nomenclatures. Designating a bartender will free the hostess (you) up and is highly recommended, or you can just let guests pour their own.
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Music is a must. Hire a friend to bring sound and DJ, or at the very least appoint someone to be in charge of keeping the tunes coming, even if that means hitting replay on the iPod. Create a playlist beforehand and select upbeat, weird, dark and scary songs to keep the party’s energy swinging!
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Create space. You will need space to dance and mingle, so do this by pushing back furniture or moving it out entirely to the backyard or another room. Place chairs around the outside of the circle, but not too many, as sit-down parties aren’t much fun.
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Have weird distractions. Games take a bit too much organization for a crazy Halloween party; it is better to have some unusual distractions and conversation starters set around the house than try and make everyone sit down and play a game of charades. Think strange toys, markers and paper, Ouija board, Play Doh, and tables with crafts to add to your costume.
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Scary décor: Create a spooky setting from the beginning by decorating the outside of the house with purple lights, cobwebs, ghosts in trees, caution tape, tombstones, and of course, evil jack-o-lanterns. Even better, get a friend in a gorilla suit (or similarly scary attire) to hide in the bushes and jump out at unsuspecting guests as they arrive. Inside the house, take a good look at your existing décor and see what you can spook up with a few creative touches. Hang an effigy from the ceiling, or turn a wall into a giant spider web with eight-legged host. Put a classic scary movie on your TV and turn the sound down, and use dead leaves and sticks for a table centerpiece! Apples are also inexpensive and pretty, and candles add the spice of fire to any room. Think outside the box and put a skull in the bathtub, a spider in the sink and bugs in the closet to really give guests a fright!
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Go outdoors if at all possible; Halloween is a time of year when you can feel the air crackle with energy and the crisp breeze is enough to set you alight. If you have an outdoor space, use it. A contained fire will add tons of atmosphere to your party; if you can’t do an all-out campfire then some tiki torches will work nicely. Lights in the trees and bushes also signal that it is time to party. Set up bales of hay to sit on and place creepy decorations in surprising places.
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Be ready. Plan your party out, from food to décor to costume and time to spare, as you don’t want to be running around stressing when your guests start to arrive. Plan to be completely ready party-wise an hour or two before, then spend that time relaxing with a bath, having a glass of wine, and putting on your costume.
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Shilo Urban is a freelance writer who has just relocated to Los Angeles after her previous homes of Seattle, New Zealand, Paris, Maine, and Austin. She is an active member of the West Coast electronic music community and lives to promote the art that she loves and the people who create it.
