PARTY THEME
Halloween
Halloween, or spooky theme parties are always a hit, with kids and adults (big kids!) alike.
A scary theme is not recommended for very young children however, unless mellowed down appropriately, as nightmares may result!
Have fun
creating a truly horrifying Halloween Party with our suggestions below!
Click here for some fun, spooky, gruesome Halloween Games.
HALLOWEEN INVITATIONS
Halloween party invitations can be created in all kinds of spooky shapes, such as ghosts, skeletons, bats, mummy's (with real bandages), witches, goblins etc. You can even make 3D pop up invitations, or other interesting paper tricks. What about an envelope of loose "bones" that have to be put together in a skeleton shape, before the party details are revealed? If you want to be even more creative, what about recording your own DVD, CD or cassette invitation, with spooky music and sound effects to add atmosphere as you tell your guests the details of the party.
GRUESOME SPOOKY FOOD
Creating gruesome Halloween party food can be great fun! Try making severed finger cookies, eyeballs, bones, edible bats, cats and rats. Have lolly snakes, lolly teeth, and other suitable sweets. Colouring food out of the ordinary colours can add to the effect. Make a cauldron of green or blue soup, or fruit punch. Give your foods grotesque names- Call the tomato sauce "Blood Sauce". The punch, "Witches Brew". Label things such as the pepper and salt, and other seasonings and sauces, or bottles of soft drink etc with names like "bloodwort", "eye of newt", "dead man's shavings".
HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
One of the most fun parts of a Halloween/spooky theme party is the chance to dress up! Your guests probably won't have any trouble finding an idea for a costume, but just in case they neeed help, here are a few ideas.
Halloween Costumes- Mummy, ghost, ghoul, skeleton, zombie, character from The Munsters, Addams Family or spooky/horror movie or TV series, bat, cat, rat, toad, devil, witch, wizard, goblin, horrible creature, "the thing under the bed" or "in the wardrobe",
A SPOOKY STORY TO SET THE SCENE...
Spooky Sound Effects Story
Find, or write, a spooky story, containing lots of appropriate places for sound effects. Work out the effects, and what equipment you will need. Try to have at least one different effect for each guest, so that no-one misses out. this can be achieved if necessary by clever doubling up- eg someone can be "slow footsteps", and someone else "fast footsteps". Or "distant thunder" and "loud, close thunder". Allocate sound effects to each guest, and make sure they have what they need, know what to listen out for and what to do.
Set the scene, by having the lights out, and just a candle (careful!), torch or low wattage light for reading by. You, or a chosen narrator, reads the story, pausing at each sound effect (and giving a hint if needed) for the sound effect to be made. For older children/adults, it can be quite hectic and fun to get faster, with sound effects close together, as the story progresses, and even more fun if each person has more than one sound effect to do. There will be a lot of mad rushing and laughter, trying to keep up, and getting things wrong!
Some suggested effects:
-
Footsteps of various types
-
Thunder-a sheet of flexible metal can be excellent for this, but be careful not to have sharp edges, and give to someone old enough to handle with care
-
Horse hooves- 2 coconut shell halves, or rounded plastic bowls
-
Scream- a real scream, but tell the person not to hurt their throat... and maybe warn the neighbours what is going on beforehand!
-
Rattling chains
-
People to make noises like cats, bats, rats, owls, moans, whimpers, heavy breathing etc
-
Wind
-
Rice dropped on a cake tin as rain
-
A gong
-
something sloppy or crunchy to munch on, for the sound of monsters slurping brains, or crunching bones
The Tale of the Gruesome Body Parts
Create a short story, about finding body parts and other yukky things scattered in a spooky forest, old house, or maybe adding them to a cauldron to make a potion.
Tell the story in the dark and allow the guests to feel each part- pass it round a circle if maybe- as you talk about it. Have some rags on hand to wipe fingers if necessary- maybe give one to each guest before the story starts. Raw meats and other items could be placed in zip sealed plastic bags for cleaner, safer handling.
After the story, allow the guests to guess what the parts really were, and then reveal them.
Suggested body parts:
-
Raw linked sausages for intestines
-
Lambs brain or sqishy tomato as a brain
-
A wig, corn silk, or long fake fur as hair
-
Lump of uncooked liver for heart or liver
-
Tomato sauce for blood
-
Grapes of olives for eyes
-
Gherkin or cocktail frankfurt for a nose
-
Rubber glove filled with set jelly as a hand
-
Hard dried apricot as an ear
-
Happy Partying!
