Plan an eerie and exciting Halloween party for your little witch or warlock by following our Halloween party ideas! We’ve compiled some general party planning tips as well as great suggestions for Halloween decorations, food, and Halloween games that are sure to thrill all the ghoulies and ghosties at your party. (Are you a teacher throwing a Halloween party for your students? Check out our Halloween Classroom Party Ideas.)

Invitations
Decorations
Food
Party Favors
Games & Activities

If you plan to use Halloween party supplies like tableware featuring a Halloween theme, our Suggested Party Supply List may be helpful when placing an order. Please note that you may not need everything on the list; it is only intended as a guide.

You also may want to pick up a movie or two in case you need a calming activity to help overly-rowdy kids settle down a bit. Some excellent child-friendly Halloween movies include:

• ”Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh” (1996, unrated)
• ”Casper” (1995, rated PG)
• ”E.T.” (1982, rated PG)
• ”Ghostbusters” (1984, rated PG)
• ”Hocus Pocus” (1993, rated PG)
• ”It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (1966, unrated)
• ”The Little Vampire” (2000, rated PG)
• ”Monster House” (2006, rated PG)
• ”Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie” (2005, rated G)
• ”Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (2005, rated G)
• ”The Witches” (1990, rated PG)

Halloween invitations can be very simple or elaborate; the only limit is your imagination! If you have the time to make your own invitations, here are a few ideas you can try:

• Ghost Invitation – Place a white handkerchief out on a table, and write the invitation information in a spiral around the edges, making sure to leave the center white. When done, wrap the handkerchief around a lollipop (written side out). Fasten with a ribbon or rubber band at the neck of the lollipop, and dot two eyes with a black felt tip marker. Send your ghost invitation in a padded envelope.


• Gravestone Invitation – Cut a gravestone shape out of grey construction paper. Write R.I.P in big letters at the top. Write your invitation information underneath. Fold your invitation in half lengthwise, sprinkle a little black and orange confetti in the middle, and mail your guests a fun surprise!


• Pumpkin Invitation – Punch a hole in the corner of a card-style invitation, and tie it with black or orange string to a mini pumpkin (available at most grocery stores). Hand-deliver each guest’s invitation.


• Candy Invitation – Hide card-style invitations in small jars filled with candy corn. (Pickle jars or small jelly jars work well.) Hand-deliver your invitations to each guest.

If you want to transform your party area into a haunted haven that will thrill and delight all of your guests, then try these Halloween decorations to create a spooky atmosphere:

• Create artificial mist! Fill buckets halfway with water, and add dry ice. There should be enough water to cover the dry ice, and the proportions should be 2 parts water to 1 part dry ice. Warmer water will create thicker smoke, but it will disappear quickly. Cooler water will create thinner smoke, but it will linger longer. Place the buckets around the party area, but make sure the children can’t get into them. Dry ice is dangerous when touched.


• Inflate a variety of white balloons with helium. Cover each balloon with a small white sheet or square cut from an old sheet, and draw eyes and a mouth on each with a black marker. Float the ghosts around the party area. For extra eeriness, insert a glow stick in each balloon before inflating.


• Cover the party food table with a black or orange tablecloth and a selection of scary items such as plastic bugs, rats, and skulls.


• Drape orange and black streamers from the ceiling in the party area.


• Cover shoeboxes with brown or black construction paper, and line the inside of each with red felt. Lay plastic or rubber skeletons inside, and set the “coffins” around the party area.


• Make your own window coverings by cutting silhouettes of cats, bats, pumpkins, and spiders out of black construction paper or felt. Tape the cutouts to your window, and then cover the entire window with white paper or a sheet. Make sure the white covering fits the window exactly. Place a light source behind the window to make the scary silhouettes visible from the street.


• Purchase neon black lights, and place them in the party area. This will create an eerie glow and make all the white items in the room, like the mist and ghosts, really stand out.
  
• Consider other products that will help set the spooky atmosphere, such as a ghost piñata, a Halloween goblet and bat or ghost mylar balloons.

You will want to prepare a Halloween party food list well before the party to make sure you have enough treats and snacks on hand. Supply simple foods that fit the theme or, if you have time, create some special treats your child’s friends will rave about! Here are some suggestions:

• Serve finger foods that come in Halloween colors, such as orange slices, Cheetos, baby carrots, cheddar cheese cubes, Ho-Hos, black licorice, and blackberries. Make fruit kabobs by alternating purple grapes and cantaloupe on wooden skewers.


• Use your favorite Halloween cookie cutters to cut soft sandwiches, such as peanut butter & jelly or tuna fish, into spooky shapes, like ghosts, bats, and pumpkins. You can also use mini cookie cutters to cut pumpkins out of orange cheese slices and ghosts and skulls out of white cheese slices to serve with Ritz crackers.


• Create spider treats by inserting eight pretzel sticks (four on each side) into the filling of Ritz peanut butter crackers. With a dab of peanut butter, set two raisin “eyes” on top. (To accommodate children with peanut allergies, make your own cracker sandwiches using plain or flavored cream cheese as the filling.)


• Prepare chocolate pudding in clear plastic cups. Stick a vanilla wafer “gravestone” in each cup, with one half beneath the pudding surface and the other half sticking up, and draw an outline of the grave in green cake decorating gel.


• Place chips and dips like salsa and guacamole in bowls on the food table. Prop small plastic spiders and rats up on the bowls.


• Wrap one half of cocktail sausages in thin strips of a four tortilla. Place a dab of ketchup on the other end to look like a toenail. Call these “monster toes.”


• Serve a spooky punch like Swamp Juice. Empty a 13-oz. package of Kool-Aid into a punch bowl. Add 1 cup sugar and 8 cups water, and stir until dissolved. Stir in 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate. Just before serving, add 4 cups ginger ale and 3 scoops orange sherbet. This will create a putrid green color that will look awful but taste delicious! Add small plastic spiders or raisins to serve as “bugs” for an extra creepy effect!


• Use a Jack-O lantern-shaped cake pan to create a fun Halloween cake, or make sugar cookies using Halloween cookie cutters and decorate with icing. For an extra special treat, make a haunted gingerbread house for your guests.

• 1 chocolate cupcake per guest
• Canned chocolate icing
• Chocolate sprinkles
• Red skittles
• Black string lace licorice

1. Frost the cupcakes with chocolate icing.
2. Roll the tops of the cupcakes in chocolate sprinkles to create a “hairy” look.
3. Press two red skittles in the center of the cupcake to serve as eyes.
4. Cut eight 4-inch pieces of licorice per cupcake for the legs. Bend each “leg” in half and crease. Push the end of each leg into the cupcake (four on each side).
5. Serve!

• Ghost on a Stick
• Ghosts in the Graveyard Cake
• Fudge Spiders
• Orange Ice Cream Jack O’Lanterns

A pumpkin-carving contest is a great ice-breaking activity for a kids’ Halloween party, and it’s also a good way to keep everyone busy until all the guests arrive. Give each child a small pumpkin and child-friendly carving utensils. Or, provide paint, brushes, glue, yarn, and magic markers for a less intense decorating challenge. Remember to play Halloween music in the background, like Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, or a collection of eerie sounds.

For more Halloween party games and crafts, see our Games and Activities section below.

Thank your guests for coming with fun Halloween favors like plastic pumpkins filled with candy, spider rings, glow sticks, halloween swirl pops, eye poppers, Halloween bubbles, or scary games and books. Or, let each guest choose their own Halloween headwear to take home, such as a cowboy hat, firefighter helmet, princess headband, or other hats and headbands.

To save time, you may want to consider our complete Halloween Favor Set. You can also choose from our selection of personalized favors. Choose from bag tags, zipper pulls, magnets, and more, all personalized with your guests’ names or a personal message from you.