Halloween Party Ideas

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for having friends over. The best ones over the years have been the various themes. It can take a lot of preparation but everyting from decorations to the punch you serve can add to the mood.

Decorating Ideas

There are lots of little things you can do to decorate your party area. Set the mood early by adding tombstones to the walk up to the entrance. Just get cardboard cut outs on a stake and paint them and add names and dates.

Orange and black ballons filled with helium to cover the ceiling areas or just construction paper chains in orange and black.

Rig a spider on a string behind your toilet and attach to the door so that the spider comes out from behind it when you close the door. This is usually quite a good one especially if your friends can keep quiet about it as new people arrive.

I have a friend who made a coffin cooler out of foam. Painted it black. Put a garbage bag inside of it and filled it with ice and beer.. Instant cooler.

Don't forget the mood music. I have a few cd's that are just for Halloween with the sounds of ghosts, creaking doors, rattling chains, etc. You can check out some here.

Last don't forget dry ice for a smoking cauldron. Using dry ice inside a pot or under your punch bowl allows the look of smoke to be coming from it. WARNING : Do not let the dry ice get in any of the punch and make sure it is not touching any plastic.

Drink Ideas

A couple of quick drink ideas. Make your favorite punch and use red food coloring to make it look like you are serving blood. Serve "nuclear waste" - Orange juice, vodka and blue curacao.

Add a hand to your punch bowl. Take a new latex glove rinse it well, fill with water, tie it off and freeze. When you are ready to use it run it under hot water until you can remove the glove.

A similar idea is to make eyeball ice cubes. I did this once using the whites of a boiled egg to make a small circle about 1/2 inch in diameter. A bit of food color for a pupil and place in an ice cube tray. Fill it , freeze it and voila an eyeball ice cube. You can also add little rubber spiders or other bugs.

Use a pumpkin for a punch bowl. Scoop it out and clean it well and you have a punch bowl.

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