Ideas for Throwing the Perfect Family Halloween Bash

It’s nearly that time of year again!...no, not Christmas! Halloween! The time when little goblins are running around, witches fly on broomsticks, and vampires search for blood.

In other words…it’s time for MY favorite holiday!

My family is known for holding many gatherings throughout the year. We don’t just celebrate birthdays and the major holidays (like Thanksgiving and Christmas) either; we celebrate the little ones too: Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Mardi Gras. Although we never really need an excuse for getting together to spend time, we sure are suckers for themed parties!

Halloween has become my family holiday party. I am in charge of putting everything together for the yearly family Halloween bash; all the way from the invitations, to the craft and games done during the party. I wish I could say this is more exciting for my nieces and nephews, but honest and truly I am just a big kid who enjoys the Halloween environment!

By providing a few basic essentials for your next Halloween gathering, you can be sure to have a spook-tacular good time that the kids (and adults) will surely enjoy!

1. Prior to the actual party towards the end of the month, my family and I get the season going by attending the ever-popular and ever-growing Pumpkin Festival in nearby Circleville, OH. This thing is huge! Several streets are closed off to make way for food stands, game stands, merchandise booths, fair rides, heaviest pumpkin contest…and my personal favorite, the parade! The kids enjoy the rides and food, while the adults enjoy the sights and sounds of everything happening all around. Check your nearby cities for similar Halloween events to get this festive holiday started off right!

2. This 2011 marks my family’s 4^th annual year of pumpkin carving night! A day or two before the kids go trick-or-treating, the family has a gathering where we separate into teams and carve pumpkins all night, eat, listen to music, watch TV, and just hang out. Each adult is responsible for bringing two rather sizeable carving pumpkins, carving utensils, and a dish or dessert for the meal. To make it more enjoyable for the kids, the adults’ names are put into a hat and each child gets to draw who they will be partnered with for the night of carving pumpkins. The kids then choose which two pumpkins they would like to carve, as well as the carving application of their choice (bat, mummy, haunted house, etc). My family and I have become accustomed to buying the pumpkin carving kits after Halloween from the previous year when they are on sale! The adults will have a big role in helping their kid-partner carve the pumpkins…generally the kids get the ball rolling by copying the pattern to be cut onto the pumpkin. They will need help steadying the pumpkins as they cut and general guidance of the cutting pattern. I have found it’s much easier for the kids by tracing the pattern with a permanent marker after they have applied the pattern onto the pumpkin. Once all the pumpkins have been carved, we usually like to light them and turn off all the lights so we can enjoy all the hard work that was put into each and every one of them. This is a great way to spend family time together, and become even more excited about the upcoming night of trick-or-treating! And, you now have several more frightfully fun decorations to put in the yard for the whole neighborhood to enjoy!

3. Last, but certainly not least, is trick-or-treating night. The house is full of excitement as the kids are getting ready to go out for beggar’s night! The adults pretty much help get the kids costumes ready (making sure they are bundled up enough if it should be a cold night) and accompany them from door to door. To spice things up for the adults while walking the kids around, I usually bring a bunch of fun Halloween headgear to wear: Princess Tiara, Knife through the head, cowboy hat, cat ears, etc. We end the night by huddling around our bonfire pit to help the person on candy duty with the remaining trick-or-treaters

1. Decorations – an absolute must!
2. Costumes – what’s a Halloween party without costumes anyway?!?!?!?!
3. Food – the more the better
4. Entertainment – you can create a spooky compilation of Halloween tunes, or just buy a few CDs after the holiday when they are on sale. I also like to have a few DVDs of family Halloween favorites playing on the TV in the background. Suggestions: Hocus Pocus, Haunted Mansion, Casper, Sleepy Hollow, etc. For adult oriented gatherings: Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13^th, Poltergeist, The Fog, The Thing…any horror movie will do.
5. Games – the more goofy (and entertaining) games make the best (and funniest) memories for both participants and observers
6. Crafts – for both kids and adults (recommended)

If anything, having a festive atmosphere is the way to get the party started before guests actually start to mingle. And the great thing is, Halloween décor can be simple (and inexpensive) by using left over jack-o-lanterns from the holiday to fill in space with color, or by doing what I do, and grabbing as much of the stuff after the season when it is dirt cheap! I really tend to go crazy with this season, so it doesn’t surprise me in the least that I have 7 Halloween bins stored in my garage, but only 3 Christmas bins. But definitely hit the dollar stores and Wal-Mart stores for reasonably priced decorations, and never forget to seek out coupons to help lower the cost. Be as crazy (and creative) as you want! Hit Michael’s Craft Store to purchase empty bottling jars of various sizes, and then fill them will eyeballs, bloody fingers, toy bugs and rats to create a spooky, laboratory-type feeling in the kitchen area! Michael’s usually emails discount coupons on a regular basis, especially during the holiday seasons, so don’t forget to sign-up!

Costumes: Although it shouldn’t be mandatory to make your guests' dress in costume, it should be highly recommended to keep the laughs going as new folks join the party. You can always hold a best, worst, creative or funniest costume contest where everyone can cast one vote for their favorite. And to keep the festivities going, inexpensive awards, like candy wrapped in holiday paper, can be given to the winners.

Food, food, and more food!: What party would be complete without food?!?!?! You can buy pizzas and sodas, or do a buffet-style party loaded with Halloween-themed goodies and treats! At my family party, I have the adults bring at least one dish or dessert (that is decorated for the festive holiday), and then complete the meal with all sorts of eye-popping food. I will also incorporate decorations into the buffet, such as a tray full of severed hands, or skulls in a candy dish. It keeps the party going from the main floor into the eating area.

Entertainment: Make sure there is noise in the background for all to enjoy listening or watching while they are eating, sitting, chatting, decorating or wandering around.

You definitely want to keep the kiddies entertained with ghoul-ish games that will keep them active and distracted. You can either take the leader role, or designate an older kid to assist with the preparations and game rules prior to the party starting. I always start out my Halloween Bash with the Skeleton Treasure Hunt…the kids go nuts every year! I create treasure maps and clues out of construction paper, and tie a toy skeleton to each of the clues that are then hid throughout the house. Each clue leads to the next, and then finally the last clue, which has a small prize attached to the skeleton. To keep things interesting, I have each pair of kids go all over the house; first to the very top floor, then all the way to the basement, and sometimes out to the mailbox. As they have gotten older, I have had to make the clues a bit trickier, and have even had them complete a word puzzle game before receiving their next clue. Whatever game you come up with, keep it fun and keep it fast!

1. Candy Corn Relay Race – Place 2 Halloween buckets at opposite ends where the kids will start and end the race; the end bucket will be empty, and the start bucket should be filled with candy corn. Each team has to put a spoon in their mouth and crawl on hands and knees from the start to the end bucket and back again with their spoon full of candy corn. If they drop any candy corn, they must go back to the beginning and start over again. When the kid empties their spoon into the bucket, they can crawl as fast as possible back to the next teammate who will then do the same. They continue until time is up. The team with the most candy corn wins!
2. Bobbing for apples – ok, so this isn’t really a game (much), but it’s tradition and loads of fun for the kids. Simply fill a bin with water and drop in apples for the kids to bob for…with their mouths only. Adults will enjoy this too, or another variation is to tie the apple to a string and hang them up high for folks to grab with their teeth as they swing to and fro.
3. Balloon Pop – Similar to charades, place a piece of paper with Halloween words (bat, Dracula, witch, etc) inside a balloon. If you don’t mind cleaning up the mess afterwards, you can even add some festive confetti before blowing it up and tying it closed. Select teams, and each member must pick a balloon and pop it (anyway they can), retrieve the paper and act out the word to their team within a certain time frame. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins!
4. Birdseed Treasure Bottles – This is a neat game for older kids, as well as adults. Get some empty, clean soda bottles and fill them with birdseed and various small trinkets (birthday candle, game pieces, thumbtack, screw, toy bugs, etc). Fill almost to the top, leaving a good 2 – 3 inches. Cap and lock the bottle, and be sure to write down what is in each of the bottles; I usually use different colored bottle caps to cut down on confusion. Provide paper and pencils for those playing, and have them try to find as much of the trinkets as possible inside the bottles within 5 minutes. They can shake and turn over the bottle as much as they want to try and locate what’s inside. Tally up the number of each player’s guesses to determine the winner!
5. Brain Games – On top of the fun and exciting games, I also like to provide brain games for the kids to calm them down after running around. I put together a bunch of word games and word searches for them to work on while straightening up the mess that was just made from the game. I will also hold an adult Halloween Trivia test with more challenging questions…usually based on Halloween facts, but also horror movies and scary characters. When everyone has finished answering the trivia questions, I have them provide their test to another adult (to cut down on cheating :o)~ ) and then we go over the test together. As the answers are provided, I usually give a little bit of background to the subject. Just the grading part of the adult trivia test provides side-splitting laughs for everyone, cause they usually try to defend why they chose the answer they did. To spice up the test, I provide gifts for everyone. The person with the highest score gets to pick for a selection of gifts, and so on down the line of winners.

There are many great ideas for Halloween games floating out there on the Internet. Just do basic Google searches to find a list of fun games that kids of all ages will enjoy playing.

Kids (and adults) like to move around and use their hands to get messy and keep busy. I always have at least 2 crafts for all to enjoy. Last year the kids got to color Halloween magnets and picture holders. The year before that they painted picture frames and decorated small Halloween cakes in the shape of jack-o-lanterns. This year they are coloring scary masks and decorating a small Haunted House cake! Don’t forget the adults! You can use a bit more messier and complex craft ideas for the adults who enjoy being creative; such as scrapbooking pages, picture frames, and painting votive candles for the Halloween season. Search online for other craft ideas!

However you throw your Halloween Bash, have fun and be creative! Don’t be afraid to go over the top when it comes to decorating the front yard and house, or making enough food to feed a small army! If this is your first Halloween party, the more fun your surrounding is, the more fun your guests are sure to have. You can always gauge how your next year’s party will be by the turnout of this year’s party!

HAPPY HAUNTING!!!