Activities & Days Out / 13 October, 2019 / Dazzle & Fizz

Here’s How To Have The Most Spooooooktacular Halloween Party

Throwing parties can be a frightmare at the best of times, but fear not, follow our double, double, toil and trouble-free approach to Halloween hosting and your guests will be sure to have a scream!

Decorations for your Halloween party need not be expensive and can be easy and fun to make at home.

Start by collecting branches and ivy from the garden, spray the ivy lightly with white spray paint and use ‘spiders web’ (a stretchy, very popular party decoration) to create a simple but creepy mantle piece display. If you don’t have ivy or branches, you could always collect dry leaves and spray white for a similar effect. These can also be scattered on the floor as the guests enter, or around key focus points such as the buffet or favour bag tables. The ‘spiders web’ is an effective and easy to use decoration. You can use it everywhere; hang from lights, shelves and drape all over the table… in this instance, more is more!

Party food

To display your party food, try making a ‘Witches table’ complete with potions and spells! Storage, old jam jars and glass bottles from the kitchen decorated with ribbon, lace and labels can contain your treats and ‘ingredients’. Make the labels look old fashioned by tea-staining the paper (this is also a fun activity to do with the children). You can also singe the edges once the paper is dry, which adds antiquity.

Try mixing different colour squashes and add glitter and sequins to make fun and unique potions. If you are concerned that the potions may spill or be consumed, you can super glue the lids down in advance. Old books stacked on the tables also make great ‘spell books’, especially if the books look tattered and ancient.

For your tableware, we have a great range of spooktacular products on our online party shop  Our black and white chair tassels would look fantastic on the backs of children’s sized furniture and frame your party tea table beautifully. Team these with a black and white spiral plate, black napkin and metallic gold or silver straw for a bold and spooky look.

You can get really get imaginative with the food for your Halloween party too. Strawberry laces can become worms, popcorn can be presented as crushed bones and green jelly can be boogie monster slime. Try and deliver a balanced menu, including party treats and more nutritious options as well.

A very effective and fun display can be achieved using a carved pumpkin and a selection of fruit for example. Hollow out the pumpkin and carve a face with a large open mouth. Then position fruit to be spilling out of the pumpkins mouth and on to the table. It looks delightfully gruesome and works best with a broad variety of different coloured fruits. Another simple idea is to cut the children’s sandwiches in to funs shapes like bats and crescent moons.

Lighting

For your party lighting, candles create the perfect Halloween atmosphere. To make a simple and free candleholder, raid your recycling box for left over wine bottles, distress the labels and put a taper candle in the top. The trick for the ‘authentic’ drips is to light them outside with a bit of wind and rotate in the wind for an all over drip! Make sure that you position the candles out of reach of little hands and do ensure that children are attended at all times around any flames, even those that our out of direct reach. If you are concerned about using real candles, you can easily pick up light up candles which look great inside pumpkins, paper lanterns and decorated glass jars.

Beverages

For your party beverages, punch is a great drink to serve to your guests big and small! Mix elderflower cordial, sparking water and food colouring to make your Witch’s brew for the children. Once the little trick or treaters are safely tucked up in bed, feel free to replace water with Prosecco and add a dash of vodka to make a more grown up poison!

For added theatre, try adding a creepy witch’s hand floating on top of the punch. This is so effective and very easy to do. Get yourself a rubber glove and fill it with water, then tie the end and put in the freezer. Just before your guests arrive, run warm water over the glove, the ice will slightly melt and the glove will be easy to peel off. Remove and add the ice-hand to the punch bowl and… Ta da!

So, with a little hocus pocus, scissors and selleotape, your handmade Halloween will be truly spooktacular!

Halloween party tips brought to you by the wonderful party planners, Dazzle and Fizz! 

Shop Ghoulishly Spooky Halloween Fashion For Kids

For competitions and offers from our favourite brands, click here.