Halloween Party Ideas & Decorations

Fa la la la la, ‘Tis the season for….Halloween—Which means it’s time for the ever-popular Halloween parties! It seems like everyone has them, especially those who are the parents of small children with lots of little friends from grade school. Adults have Halloween parties too, though the two are often very different: one kind of party tends to happen during the day before it gets too dark, and often involves a group of small children doing the Monster Mash for hours at a time between fistfuls of candy corn and cupfuls of soda; the other happens to be later at night, usually has less candy corn but more drinking instead and occasionally involves at least one person in a “sexy nurse” costume.

Most parties have some semblance of decorations to really hit the point home — otherwise, a Halloween party without decoration will just look like a simple get-together full of vampires, ghosts, librarians, and maybe a pirate or two. For children, decorations often make parties more fun and can add to their already amazing imaginations. With the right decorations, it is possible to make a normal living room seem almost like a crypt or graveyard full of scary creatures that only come out from under the bed after the lights go off.

Some people choose to stick with simpler decorations, using orange and black streamers and balloons strategically placed around the designated party room(s) and buy cut-outs of ghosts and skeletons to tape to the windows or to hang from the ceiling. There are often pumpkins, or at least pumpkin cut-outs on the windows alongside the skeletons and ghosts and black cats wearing witches’ hats.

For those more into Halloween, who like turning it into a once-a-year event, party decorations tend to be more intense and in-your-face. Some will start with a cd or tape of spooky music or sound effects playing near the front door, or in the area where most of the party will be held. There could be cobwebs all over, with huge spiders eyeing party-goers hungrily. Occasionally there will be skeletons hanging off the ceiling, or perhaps chained to a wall with a fake rat sitting on their bones.

It is common for parties made specifically for school-aged children to involve a spooky basement tour, where lights are turned out and replaced by dim purple lights and sometimes have a fog machine to add a chilling aspect to the area. In the basement, there could be more skeletons, more cobwebs and spiders, and sometimes huge, looming Grim Reapers. This is also the perfect time to bring out the “bowl of eyes” (a bowl of grapes), a “plate of intestines” (a plate with slippery, wet round pasta or something along those lines), a “bowl of spare teeth” (dried corn kernels), or really anything moderately disgusting for a child to stick their hands in and be grossed out. With the right props, it will expand a small child’s imagination and make them think that their best friend’s parents have an evil dungeon in their creepy basement, not just an old couch and a loud washing machine.

Consider putting candy in bowls with motion sensors and dismembered hands that move and wiggle as soon as someone goes to grab a snack. Perhaps a punch bowl that looks like a decapitated head is a good idea. With themed parties, even the silverware, napkins, and plates can turn into decorations if they have the right pattern to them.
No matter what kinds of decorations a person chooses, it’s important to remember that this is one of the few times a year when an adult can go a little crazy and feel like a kid again. So turn that house into the laboratory of a mad scientist! Carve pumpkins and stick candles in them and place them in the windows facing out to the street. Put fake tombstones up inside your house, or even in your backyard if the weather is good enough to hold outside. Let your imagination run free, and whatever you do — have a good time.

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