How to throw your kids an awesome, budget-friendly Halloween party
It’s here… the spookiest time of year. Kids are planning costumes, Fun Size candy is stacked high at the grocery store, and the pumpkin patches are open for business. This year get in the Halloween spirit by throwing a “scary awesome” party for your kids – without breaking the bank.
Killer Decorations
Some of the best Halloween decorations are also the easiest. Get creative with the stuff you already have on hand. For example, if you have an old Zombie costume, stuff it with pillows, wrap it in a cape (sheet), and sit it on a rocking chair.
•Graveyard: section off a small part of the room with landscape fencing (or rope) and cut out four to six cardboard headstones. Color them with gray spray paint and write fun names like “Ima Zombie” in bright white marker. Add a black light to make the text pop.
•Flying Bats: hang construction paper bats from the ceiling.
•Spiders: line the corners of the rooms with cobwebs and place plastic spiders in them.
•Pumpkins: place scary jack-o-lanterns lit with LED candles throughout the house. Use pie pumpkins or buy artificial ones you can use year after year.
•Spooky Walkway: line your walkway with small white and orange paper bags. Cut ghost and jack-o-lantern faces in them and light them with flameless candles.
•Scary Lighting: switch out the lights in the party areas with orange bulbs, and If you have a strobe light, use it during dance time!
•Floating Ghosts: tape white disposable table cloths over balloons and hang them from ceiling.
•Skeletons: hang plastic skeletons on the walls or make your own out by cutting bones out of white poster board and connecting them with small metal clasps.
Spooky Snacks
A book could be written about Halloween party food! Here are a few easy, fun, and super-spooky treats to serve.
•Personal Pizz-O Lanterns: cut out different veggies to look like eyes, noses and mouths and let the kids create their own pizzas. Have the dough pre-shaped into pumpkins and the oven pre-heated.
•Oreo Spiders: gently twist off the tops off Double Stuffed Oreos and place four thin licorice strips inside, so they stick out on both ends like legs. Replace the top and use frosting to put little red candies on top (cute-and-creepy eyes).
•Ice Cream Witches: scoop out a ball of mint ice cream for each child and place waffle cones on top for a witch hat. Put out gum drops for eyes, Twizzlers for hair and candy corns for noses.
•Worms and Dirt: the Halloween classic! Mix pudding and cookie crumbles in individual cups, and top with gummy worms.
Ghastly Games and Activities
Pre-planned games are an excellent way to keep kids engaged during a Halloween party. Older kids just need a few games and plenty of dance time, while younger kids do better with structured events from start to finish. The craft ideas below are great for kids ages 8 and younger but may get some eye-rolling for kids ten years old and up.
•Costume Contest: have each participating child line up and have slips of paper ready for the audience to vote. Depending on the kids’ ages, you may not want to let the audience vote by raising hands or applauding. Have prizes ready for multiple categories, like “scariest” and “most creative.”
•Pumpkin Hunt: fill small plastic pumpkins (or orange and black Easter eggs) with candy or prizes and hide them throughout the yard. Have the party guests collect them in a basket, trick or treat bag or other Halloween-themed reusable container.
•Guess the Gross Thing: have children try to identify different objects while blindfolded. Cold spaghetti, Jell-O, gummy worms and peeled grapes will get plenty of squeals
•Trick or Treat Bag Craft: buy a bunch of blank canvas shopping bags from the craft store, and have the kids decorate them. They can use fabric paint, glue, glitter, sequins, and even iron-on patches.
•DIY Witch Hats: supply black construction paper, glue sticks, glitter, paint and other items that can be used to embellish the finished hats. Have the kids roll the black construction paper into cones, trim the bottoms so they can stand flat on the table and cut out circles for brims.
•Bob for Apples: for some good old-fashioned fun, fill a bucket or plastic bin with water and apples, and blindfold each child as they try to snag one.
With these tips in toe, your next Halloween party should be a “screaming” success. Here at Bold Real Estate Consultants, we wish you a safe and happy Halloween!
