Yes, It’s Time to Start Planning for Your Halloween Party

A quick definition to start off this week’s post…plan (v) – decide on and arrange in advance. Now, let’s use it in a sentence…“It’s wise to plan for your Halloween party in late September.” And the reason it’s wise is because it gives you time to decide on what type of party you’d like to have.

Are you thinking family oriented or adults only? Who’s on the guest list? How far do you want to go with your decorations? Should your party have a theme, complete with games? Should you and your guests wear costumes? See, there’s a lot of questions to answer if you “plan” on hosting a Halloween party. Let’s get started, shall we?

• Guest list largely depends on if you want small and intimate or large and, perhaps, rowdy, as well as the current rules regarding large groups in your area. The size of your venue will dictate this to some degree. One other thing to consider is adults only, a mix of kids and adults or just for the little ones?
• Decorations can run the gamut from none at all to an exterior as well as interior graveyard, complete with animatronic zombies, skeletons and ghouls. What decorations you choose are very closely related to the next decision you make…
• A themed party or not? In fact, the costumes themselves could be a theme from your favorite character from a Halloween movie to a Walking Dead themed party. Or how about a Jack-o-lantern themed party where everyone brings their own and votes are cast to determine the best?
• What food and drink to serve? A full course meal or just snacks? Alcohol? A great idea is to have a pie baking contest (pumpkin being the most obvious) or a Halloween themed beverage contest (alcoholic or non). Have your guests bake their pies at home, obviously. But you could allow them to mix their drinks at your place.
• Halloween playlist should include “Monster Mash” by Bobby Picket, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult, “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, “Phantom of the Opera overture,” “A Nightmare on my Street” by Will Smith, “The Addams Family” theme, “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon and “I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow. The rest of the playlist is up to you.
• To play games, or not to play games. That is the question. Games are great ice breakers and are almost always good for a few laughs. Here are a couple you might consider…

1. Guess the zombie’s body part. And yes, it is G rated. There are a couple of ways to play this, with boxes full of “body parts” and contestants reach in to feel them or with all participants seated, hands held out in a cup shape while blind folded. I prefer the latter. Use items in your fridge or pantry to mimic zombie body parts, such as cold, cooked spaghetti for intestines or brains; large, wet grapes or hard-boiled eggs for eyeballs; candy corn for teeth; fake finger nails for the real version; dried prunes or apricots for ears; bananas for…wait, I said this was G rated.
2. Monster 20 questions. Print out monster names, such as Dracula, werewolf, Frankenstein’s monster, The mummy, The Phantom, the monster under your bed, Freddy Kruger, Jason, Michael Myers, Pennywise, Voldemort etc. Then, tape the names to the backs of your guests when they arrive. They can then ask other guests a maximum of 20, yes or no questions, to determine which “monster” they are.
3. Don’t say “Halloween.” Hand out an equal number of tokens (pennies, poker chips) to each guest as the arrive. Then, instruct them that any time someone hears them say “Halloween” throughout the evening, they must turn over a token to the person that hears them. The one with the most tokens at the end of the evening wins.
4. A Halloween themed scavenger hunt. Hide Halloween themed items around your house, yard and, perhaps, even neighborhood and send the kids/adults out to find them, with or without clues. It’s up to you, as is whether you place them in teams or not.
5. Halloween taboo. Like the popular game, “Taboo,” and $20,000 Pyramid, this game asks one person to guess the Halloween item being described by another person using single-word clues. However, there are certain “taboo” words that cannot be used. For example, describe “pumpkin” to your partner without using the words “orange,” “Jack-o-lantern,” or “gourd.” Or, describe “witch” to your partner without using the words “black,” “broom,” or “cauldron.”

October 1^st is just around the corner, which means Halloween is as well. It’s time to start planning for your party now. Hopefully, the above ideas get you moving in the right direction.