Halloween is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year. It's a time to get creative, show off your skills, and have some spooky fun!
However, it can also be stressful when planning a memorable Halloween party for friends or family members.
First, decide whether the party is for adults or kids. The costumes people wear at parties geared toward children tend to be cuter and elaborate than those worn at adult-themed parties.
You can have a memorable night by getting the little details right. Halloween-themed cards, devilish decor, spooky food and drinks, and games are part of the fun!
But yes, it means a great deal of work.
If you're unsure about where to get started, let us help you with a list of unbeatable Halloween party ideas.
Interesting Halloween Party Ideas
These ideas include everything you need, from spine-tingling Halloween decorations to devilish food and lots of fun, including thrilling games for grown-ups and kids.
1. Deck the entrance
Signal your guests that they're in for a ghoulish party from the word go. For example, you can create a spooky doorway with a wreath of rubber snakes on the front door. Put baskets filled with “poisoned apples.”
You can also make luminaries out of plastic pumpkins and clear glass containers filled with sand and t-light candles.
Check out our Witches & Monsters Balloon Arch!
2. Welcome guests into a haunted house
Create an eerie, ghostly atmosphere in the rooms you are opening up for your guests. There’s nothing like a haunted house for lots of Halloween fun.
Use tattered white cheesecloth that will billow around like cobwebs. Cover small white balloons with small squares of white cheesecloth or muslin. Hang them from the ceiling, and your guests will enjoy the “ghosts” bobbing around.
Add to the atmosphere by taping red paper over all the lights.
3. Potent potions for adults
Invite your guests to get into the spirit of the evening with a self-service bar. Lay out buckets of ice and all the ingredients for cocktails so your guests can have fun playing bartender.
Set mini cauldrons filled with dry ice for smoke. Add a more eerie vibe by sticking spiders on the wall behind the bar and cobwebs around the glassware.
You can also get some giant black and white balloons for added effect.
4. Sinister sips for kids
Give young witches and ghouls the chills with Halloween-themed drinks.
You can wrap fruit-flavored soda bottles and cans with Halloween paper. Then, add glow-in-the-dark details to cups, straws, and plates.
5. Set a festive buffet table
Delight your guests with a festive dinner table. First, use a black runner to set off your Halloween centerpieces. Next, you should add black candles to old wine bottles and let the wax drip down the sides for that creepy look.
You don't have to be traditional!
Check out the above groovy tableware set!
Moreover, you can transform ordinary orange pumpkins into centerpieces with paint and glitter. First, paint pumpkins in Halloween colors and then dip the stems in glitter.
6. Serve fun food
Load your table with a selection of sweet and savory nibbles.
Did you know you could turn mini cream cheeses into creepy yet delicious appetizers? Just sprinkle little red or green food colors and some olives!
Don’t forget deviled eggs made with dill pickles and spicy mustard - they combine the classic flavors of mustard and dill pickles into one delicious dish.
Another option is to go for dried apple chips – try drying apples in the oven until they become crispy and then dip them in caramel sauce or chocolate coating for an easy dessert.
Spooky spiderweb pizza is also the perfect complement to any Halloween party.
7. Remember to award the best pumpkin
Fill your backyard with pumpkins of all sizes. Spread out craft paper and baskets of carving supplies and let everyone get creative.
Your guests will surely enjoy competing for the spookiest pumpkin prize.
Make sure to hand out a trophy or some ribbons to the winner! It’s the recognition that matters.
8. To-Go goody bags
What is Halloween without candy? What is a day of trick-or-treating without the reward of delicious, sugary treats? Nothing!
Hand out candy-filled favor bags at the end of the evening. You may want to go for chocolate, peanut butter cups, or even a bag of sour gummy worms.
Make favor bags for the adults too. People who miss out on candy each Halloween will love the trip down memory lane.
Halloween party tips for adults
If you're planning an adults-only Halloween celebration, read on for some ‘spooklicious’ ideas to bewitch your guests.
Design spooky invitations
Invitations are vital as they set the mood for the party before it starts. For example, the type of invitation you use can let guests know if the party will be cute or creepy.
Be sure to let your guests know any particular details that can help them enjoy your party. One of the biggest concerns people have is whether or not to wear a costume.
Decide on your Halloween party theme
Do you want your party to be fun, elegant, or creepily adventurous? The theme you choose will influence the way you decorate the party space.
Jack-o’-lanterns and friendly ghosts will create a lighthearted Halloween vibe, while zombies, witches, and vampires are darker. So if you want your Halloween party to be fun, blend the cute with the frightening.
You could even use two different themes to decorate multiple rooms.
Decorate your entryway
Go all out this year to decorate the front of your house.
Scarecrows, jack-o’-lanterns, cobwebs, and pumpkin luminaries are the easiest and most effective decorations.
You could even get a fog machine.
Create the perfect atmosphere with mood lighting
We all imagine Halloween to be dark, mysterious, and exciting.
Use candles, red and green strobe lights, and colored lights for that Halloween atmosphere. You can have just enough light to keep the party thrilling.
However, rooms with food and beverages must be lit up so people can see what they’re getting. You don't want people spilling their drinks and making a mess.
Gather round the punch bowl
A Halloween party is incomplete without a punch bowl.
Serve your drinks in a cauldron if you want to step it up a notch and use eyeball or skull ice cubes to chill the drinks.
Freak out your guests with a zombie hand that can hold the ladle. Also, add some food-grade dry ice to the punch just before guests arrive.
Your cauldron will steam while the dry ice will keep the drinks chilled.
Fun goodie bags for adults
Fun Halloween parties are easy to plan, and you won’t have to spend a fortune on them.
Masquerade masks, fright wigs, fake blood, vampire teeth, and candy are great fillers for goodie bags.
The best part about including a mask or a fright wig is that any guest who doesn’t have a costume can instantly feel part of the festivities by wearing theirs.
Games you can play at a Halloween party for adults
If you are hosting a Halloween party for adults, you should include games to keep the fun going. ElliesParty is the number one destination for all of your themed party needs and offers a wide variety of products to choose from!
Here are some suggestions for Halloween games that adults can enjoy.
Set up an adult form of trick-or-treat
We never outgrow candy, so a wide variety of sweet treats for your guests is a must. You could scatter carved pumpkins filled with candy throughout the rooms.
You may also organize a cookie decorating competition. Fill bowls with colored icing and small candies as decorations.
This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend time together, and everyone will enjoy eating their creations once they’re done.
Dumb charades or Halloween charades?
Here is a game that will have your guests rolling around with laughter: Play the Halloween version of Dumb Charades.
Write Halloween-themed clues on little slips of paper. Then, divide your guests into two teams, and take turns with one person acting out a clue for their group. The team that has the most points at the end wins.
Boozy trick or treat
Fill cups with colorful juices and spike some of these cups with alcohol.
When guests choose a cup, some get a trick - the juice, while others get a treat - the drink. To increase the fun, use jello shots or pudding shots.
Halloween fear factor
You have to fill painted boxes and jars with cold, slimy foods like peeled grapes, boiled spaghetti noodles, olives, or cold sliced hot dogs.
Your guests will have to guess what's inside the box by using their hands to feel around. How disgusting!
Bobbing for alcohol /apples
Bobbing for apples is great fun. But you can add a twist by having your guests bob for alcohol.
Fill a beverage bucket with water and a variety of tiny, single-serving bottles of alcohol.
If you prefer to bob for the traditional apples, fill the bucket with a mixed drink like sangria instead of water to give your guests a juicy surprise.
Donuts on a string
What could be more fun than seeing adults getting messy while trying to eat?
Hang doughnuts from a ribbon and see who can eat the entire doughnut the fastest without letting it fall from the string. Tie everyone’s hands behind their backs.
Hacks for a kids’ Halloween party
Do you have the perfect decorations? The best pizza dough recipe?
The most frightening ghost story?
Here are some hacks and creative games for throwing a great kids’ Halloween party!
Halloween party invitations
Choose festive Halloween colors for your invitations that show your party is fun and friendly.
It is essential to keep the ages of your guests in mind to make sure your bash doesn't scare—or bore them!
Send invitations in an envelope with confetti inside, so when they open them up, their room will be full of festive decorations.
Include kid-friendly recipes on the menu, such as cookies or something more seasonal like pumpkin pie (and don't forget about snacks!)
Halloween decorations
Kids like the spooky ambiance of Halloween parties. But keep in mind your youngest guests and what they may find frightening.
Here’s what you can do:
- Hang bats from the ceiling or porch.
- Place spiders on walls or window sills.
- Put away all breakable items.
- Arrange pumpkins around your house.
- Display fake skeletons or ghosts everywhere.
A pumpkin with dry ice fog as your centerpiece will wow kids of all ages. Use bright yellow, orange, and blue animal-themed balloons to keep the kids engaged.
Party drinks
Drinks should be festive and Halloween-themed, but they shouldn’t disgust your little guests.
Make a bright green Halloween punch with ginger ale, lime sherbet, and add a few drops of green food coloring for chills.
Halloween crafts
Halloween is a time for all things spooky, and that includes crafts.
Give your little guests their own artistic outlet with some Halloween-themed arts and craft supplies. They can make tiny scarecrows with popsicle sticks, glue, straw, and scraps of fabric.
Pick a theme
Choose age-appropriate Halloween party themes. Try to use a second theme along with spiderwebs and pumpkins.
In particular, younger children will enjoy a magical forest or a monster-themed party.
You can also invite guests to come in costume and give a prize for the best costume.
Games you can play at a Halloween party for kids
Sometimes it's hard to know what games we should have available for our little trick-or-treaters.
We've got some great ideas in store on this list!
Pumpkin patch stomp
Fill orange balloons with candy, loose change, rubber spiders, and other treats before inflating them.
Trick-or-treaters can have a blast stomping around in the "pumpkin patch" in your backyard to claim each prize inside.
Hunt the eyeball
Buy lots of googly plastic eyes and hide them all around your garden or backyard.
Then, have the little ones search for as many googly eyes as they can.
Ghost and pumpkin bowling
Turn toilet paper rolls into ghostly bowling pins with felt features. Cut the stem off of a pumpkin, and you have the perfect festive ball.
Now, your young guests will have fun knocking down the pins.
Candy-filled balloon pumpkins
Create fun Halloween piñatas out of orange or yellow balloons filled with treats.
Give these to the little ones to take home as a party favor.
Mummy wrap
Children will have fun turning each other into mummies.
Give the little ghouls long strips of muslin or cheesecloth to wrap around one another.
Keep an eye on them to see their noses and mouths are not blocked accidentally.
Conclusion
Halloween is just around the corner, and if you're planning a party, it's essential to get started early. We've put together some tips above on how to plan an unforgettable Halloween celebration that will have everyone talking in no time!
First, make sure your decorations are up-to-date with this year’s trends. There are plenty of great ideas available at elliesparty, so there's no need to worry about running out of creative inspiration.
Happy Halloween!
Author: Lorea Lastiri