October 11th, 2018 by Chris Chapman

Halloween has become more and more popular in recent years. Nowadays it seems like Halloween is a monthlong celebration of everything that’s spooky – as soon as October starts, you’ll start to see Halloween decorations, bags of sweets, jack-o-lanterns, and horror films everywhere you look! There’s no reason to be a Halloween Grinch though – you can take advantage of the Halloween craze by throwing a spooktacular Halloween party! Halloween parties can be fun for all the family, especially if you have young children. If you want to throw a party this Halloween and you’re looking for inspiration, read on; our Halloween party ideas will help you throw a monster bash!

Make Your Own Decorations

If you want to throw the best Halloween party, always try and make all your own stuff! It’s a timesaver to buy all your decorations but you’ll miss out on that homemade charm – making everything yourself will make your party feel like a classic B-movie! Parties are about coming together with your friends and family, and there’s no better way to do that than to throw a party with some personal touches. Making Halloween decorations is also a great way to spend time with the kids on the weekend. You can cut bin liners or wool into the shapes of spider webs, freeze small plastic spiders into an ice cube tray for some spooky drinks, get creative and draw some posters and bunting – the possibilities are endless! Here are a few little ideas for Halloween party decorations. Read on – if you dare!

Toilet Roll Bats

Indent both ends of a toilet roll tube so you end up with a sort of pointed H shape. You should have two points at each end of the tube for your bat’s ears and feet (if you like, you can just use scissors and cut out some pointed ear and feet shapes). Paint your tube black using poster paint and wait for it to dry. Then cut out some black card into a wing shape and glue your wings onto your toilet roll tube.

Spooky Pinata

Pick up a paper lantern or a lightshade (like the one pictured) and glue a circle of card over the hole in the bottom. Take some craft paper and cut out a “skirt” that goes around the whole bottom half of the pinata. Glue this in place and decorate your pinata however you want using paints, fabrics, and papier mâché – just make sure you don’t cover the top half of your pinata too heavily as this is the part that’s supposed to break. A plain white ghost design is always a safe bet! Once you’re done decorating, fill the pinata with sweets and cover up the top with another circle of card. All that’s left is to find something to break it with – it’s a decoration and a party game all in one!

Mummy Wreath

Got an old wreath that’s no use any more? Why not upcycle it into a Halloween mummy instead? Use some black duct tape to wrap a small black band around a part of your wreath and stick some large googly eyes to it. Then wrap some bandages, muslin, or similar material around the rest of the wreath to create a mummy wreath with a pair of eyes peeking out at your guests!

Make Your Own Invites

Nothing adds a personal touch like a handmade invitation! In the age of social media, paper invites are very rare, so if you take the time to make your own it won’t go unnoticed! Making invites is a fun little project to work on, especially if you have young children, so get creative! You can stain your invites with teabags and burn or tear the edges to give them a suitably worn, spooky look.

Make Cocktails and Mocktails

The standard fizzy pop for the kids and beer for the adults is fine for a Halloween party, but if you want it to feel special, you can make some creepy cocktails and monstrous mocktails to keep all ages happy! We’ll give you a couple of recipes below to give you a bit of inspiration. We’ll give you the ingredients below – you can adjust the quantities however you like!

Blood Orange Rum Punch

1 part blood orange juice 4 parts blackcurrant juice/soft 1 part rum ¼ part fresh lime juice Fresh or frozen blackberries Blood orange slices Method: Mix all the ingredients together in a pitcher or punch bowl and stir thoroughly. Serve chilled with ice or with frozen blackberries!

Non-Alcoholic Hot Toddy

Large apples Apple juice, warmed Cinnamon sticks Star anise Method: Cut the tops of the apples off and carve out the cores to create your cups. If you like you can carve jack-o-lantern faces into the skin of the apple! Gently heat up some natural apple juice to around 70°C (if you’re warming up a lot of juice, we recommend using a catering urn so you don’t burn it) and pour into your hollowed-out apples. Serve with a cinnamon stick and star anise for a warming mocktail!

Get Some Outdoor Patio Heating

You want your Halloween party to send a chill down your guests’ spine – but not literally! Pick up an outdoor heater to keep you and your guests warm if you’re brave enough to venture outside. After all, what’s scarier than a dark and silent night? Outdoor heaters are designed to heat you directly using infrared rays, meaning you’ll feel the warmth as soon as you turn them on. This means they won’t let heat escape into the outdoor air like regular heaters! Which outdoor heater is best for you depends on the size of your patio. Usually though, a 2KW patio heater should be just right for most patios or decking areas.

Decorate Your Garden

If you’ve got an outdoor heater, why not add some decorations to your garden, too? Cut some scary eye shapes into some cardboard tubes – toilet roll cores and kitchen towel cores will do nicely. Put a glowstick inside the tube and block up both ends with something to make sure the glowstick stays put. You’ve just made yourself a creepy pair of glowing eyes! You can make a few and hide them in bushes or hedges around your garden – memorable touches like this won’t go unnoticed by your guests!

The Best Halloween Movies for Your Halloween Party

No Halloween is complete without a scary movie, so when your party is winding down, why not finish the night off by huddling around the TV, turning off the lights, and enjoying one of these Halloween classics?

Bride of Frankenstein

Featuring not one but two celebrated horror characters, this golden oldie is the perfect Halloween film for all ages. Boris Karloff’s famous Monster meets his iconic Bride (and her timeless hairstyle!) in a film that works as both a monster movie and a love story.

Friday the 13^th Part VII

Not one for the faint of heart (or for anyone under 18!), the seventh instalment of the 80s slasher franchise is the best one to watch after a few Halloween cocktails. You’ll never look at a sleeping bag the same way again!

Coraline

One of the scariest children’s films ever made, Coraline is an animated film about a lonely girl who stumbles upon a dreamlike world that hides a dark secret. Based on the classic children’s book, Coraline is entertaining for the young ones while having enough of an edge for the adults too!