Top 5 tips on creating a Halloween party
Halloween falls on the 31st of October. Straddling the line between Spring and Summer (in the Southern Hemisphere) Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts that allegedly would came back to Earth during that time. The superstition of wearing costumes stems from the theory that if you are in costume you would scare of the ghosts off and protect yourself.
Why not celebrate Halloween by throwing a vibrant and fun party for all your friends and for yourself. Read on to see our top tips on how to effortlessly create a memorable Halloween celebration.
Invite your guests to attend the party dressed up in costume. Halloween is synonymous with people dressing up in costumes – there need not be a “theme” your guests need to follow, allow your guests the freedom to come dressed up however they like – be it a super-hero, a zombie or a fairy princess. The atmosphere of any event is automatically lifted when all your guests are dressed up and celebrating their quirky outfits together. Costumes are a wonderful way to allow guests to socialise and network with the opening conversation being around their choice of costumes. No one likes to feel left out so maybe have a small stash of funny hats or masks at the door for people to wear should they have forgotten to dress up.
Decorations are another large element of Halloween. Halloween decorations generally revolve around putting up fake spider webs, Jack-O lanterns, fake skeletons and spiders everywhere. The colour scheme most indicative of Halloween is orange. You can also place natural pumpkins everywhere as centre pieces or on steps leading up to the party or even in the bathroom or you can purchase some Halloween bunting to put up on the walls and between the roof rafters. Leading up to Halloween these decorations will be freely available to purchase at a multitude of stores – have fun shopping for these elements. Another great way to jazz up your event on a budget is to add a lot of helium balloons. Pick a selection of orange and black balloons and place in strategic locations where they will have the most impact such as on chairs or as a centrepiece to the table. If orange is not your scene why not stick with black and silver or black and white. Use some fake white skeletons and a lot of candles in silver candlestick holders to create that medieval dark and creepy atmosphere.
Decorations can also be included and contributed to through the food you serve to your guests during the event. Why not make an orange punch with floating fake eyeballs or spiders? Serve red coloured shots in syringes to represent blood or devilled eggs. Add some orange sweets everywhere to add to the colour theme as well as the traditional element of trick or treating for sweets. Another sweet idea includes adding a candy table with some small brown packets for your guests to fill up and take home as a thank you gift for joining you at your Halloween party. The representation of returning from a Halloween event with a stash of candy will make any person of any age very happy.
Dim the lights. Halloween is a not recognised as a light and airy day, rather it is a day of doom and gloom celebrating and embracing monsters and other creatures of the night. Place a lot of candles with dripping wax to emphasise the medieval look of living in castles and behind stone walls before electricity and when night could be a scary time, when ghosts came out to play. Spend some time carving some Jack-O lanterns out of pumpkins. These Jack-O lanterns can be a great activity to do with the family. Place a candle inside the hollowed out pumpkin and watch the eyes dazzle and burn by the flickering candle light.
Ensure you have a great selection of music for your guests to dance to. Increase the atmosphere of your party by playing music that gets the dance floor moving with guests busting out their dance moves all together. Dancing brings everyone together and can elevate a party through the roof. Chose a great DJ and ensure your speakers are plugged in and ready to blast out tunes all night long.
Halloween is a fun and adventurous day to celebrate and create magical memories. Have fun and be safe if you are celebrating this scary holiday.