Oct152018
Party Ideas

For kids, October 31st can be a much-anticipated, fun night of wearing the costume you picked out weeks ago (or maybe a disappointing night if you changed your mind on what you wanted to be for Halloween but you weren’t allowed to get a new costume), walking around the neighborhood with friends on a crisp evening, and hitting the jackpot on candy.

Growing up doesn’t mean Halloween can’t still be a day to look forward to, and we’re not just talking about waiting until your kids go to bed to binge eat a bunch of their candy. Halloween parties don’t have to end when elementary school does – throw a Halloween party to remember without breaking the bank! Grab some fun cheap Halloween decorations, and start planning an epic party with these ideas.

Festive Snacks

Get creative with your snacks, and make sure everything has a themed name. A cauldron of punch becomes witch’s poison. Use puff pastry to create a warm, cheesy Mummy Brie. Carefully sliced olives can turn deviled eggs into spider eggs. Hollow out a pumpkin to hold pumpkin brains dip, and add spider web cupcake wrappers to make even the sweetest treats spooky.

Whatever snacks you’re serving, be sure to grab some fun platters and bowls to make things even more festive. Put finger foods out on these Sugar Skull trays or serve salad or snack mix from a themed bowl with these skeleton arm servers. Halloween picks can be stuck in just about anything to add a festive touch. Cheap party supplies are readily available and can be used to serve food creatively, making all the difference when taking your party from sub-par to memorable.

Costume Contest

It’s not Halloween without costumes, but encouraging adults to get creative and dress up can be easier said than done sometimes. Get creative with a costume contest, and make sure there’s a great prize! If you’ve got creative friends, they’ll love the opportunity to come up with their own original Halloween costumes.

Better yet – give your costume contest a theme. If it’s a party for couples, encourage your friends to come as famous non-human pairs. If your friends like to engage with what’s going on in the world, ask for costumes that reflect a current event from the past year. If you’re all the same age, or at least from the same decade, throw your theme back to when you were younger. There’s endless options, but choosing a theme can help people get their creative juices flowing and have fun.

Be sure to designate a corner for a Halloween photo booth, with plenty of cheap Halloween decorations and photo props for your guests to get social media worthy pictures in costume and post about how much fun they had at your party! Stock it with a selfie stick, make a sign with your party’s hashtag, and let your guests have fun!

Decorations – Inside and Out

You don’t have to spend a fortune to transform your home into a haunted house. Cheap Halloween decorations are easy to find or make! Decide how spooky you want to go – are you hoping to scare your guests, or just have a fun evening celebrating fall and eating candy?

If you want to go spooky, you’ll want to be sure the lights are down and you’ve got a fog machine. Use these bloody table cloths and plates to creep your guests out, and warn your guests what they’re getting into before they even come inside with these front yard decorations. Hang spooky things from the ceiling in every room, and inflate some skeleton balloons. Make sure there’s appropriate music to keep your guests spooked all evening.

If you’re taking a less spooky route, there’s plenty of fun Halloween decorations available, like these Sugar Skull decorations or pumpkin tissue pom poms. A Halloween party doesn’t have to be spooky to be fun!

Plenty of candy

Adults love candy too. Make sure your party has plenty of candy in order to be successful. Have a spider web bowl of mini chocolate bars or a Jack O’ Lantern pail of fruity candy out in every room. Be sure to offer a variety of options so everyone can find something they love!

Bonus: if you host your party the weekend before Halloween, you can save the leftovers for trick or treaters!

Fun Activities

In addition to the costume contest, you’ll want to plan activities for your guests to enjoy. Bob for apples, have a pumpkin carving (or pumpkin painting) station, or host an epic Halloween dance party. Break the ice with a game of themed charades or would you rather. Plan a murder mystery game, or sit around a fire pit and see who has the best ghost stories.

Start planning for next year

Cheap Halloween decorations can definitely be reused, and will help you cut costs even more next year. Be sure to stick anything that can be reused in a box with your other party supplies or holiday decorations. Start thinking about next year’s costume contest theme and working on an amazing original Halloween costume.

When November 1st rolls around, be sure to look for discount party supplies and get started planning next year’s Halloween party – only 364 days to go until next Halloween!

Category: Party Ideas13 Comments
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Author: Amber Miller

Amber is a Kansas native, and always will be as long as there's a sunset to chase and a blooming sunflower field to wander through. When she's not writing, she can be found exploring new coffee shops with her husband and dreaming of their next trip to take together.

13 Comments

  1. What a fun article ! Brought me back to when my son was small as I was a single parent cheap was the coolest way to go. Even as an adult I can tell you that cheap does not mean boring! We always find some of the greatest things here. 

  2. In a day and age when saving money is imperative this is a great article.  It also great at telling us how to expand our Halloween experience.  All in all its a great day to have a party and can be enjoyed by young and old.  Put together all your pointers and we all stand to have a pretty good day.  Thank you for the great advice.

  3. You have some lovely ideas for Halloween parties! I was just thinking about what to do for Halloween so your article was very helpful. I think the kids would love to set up these party decorations. Maybe I’ll because little more prepared this year with the help of your great suggestions.

  4. Awesome ideas for an adult Halloween party. This might be really good for our friends who are planning to host an adult Halloween party in late October. It would be nice for all of us to dress up in spooky costumes and it would be great if you could give us some spooky costume ideas and from where we can purchase them.

  5. A very timely post, with Halloween just around the corner.  You give some great party ideas.  My son and daughter-in-law have declared Halloween to be their favorite holiday.  They go all-out with decorations, costumes, snacks, and whatever original ideas they can come up with.  I’ll send them the address to your site so they can check out your suggestions.

  6. Halloween is certainly one of my favorite holiday.  I am trying to come up with a good costume for me and my girlfriend.  I want something that you don’t see everyday for me and my girlfriend.  We were thinking about bonnie and clyde, but then again people probably wouldn’t know what this is.  

    Do you happen to have any good ideas.

    These are some good ideas though.   I like the cauldron of punch.  But, each year we try to decorate our porch to scare the kids.  Have a scarecrow that jumps out at people when they get so close.

  7. There is two weeks to go for Halloween. My friend will be host a party in his mansion soon. He wanted me to prepare some decorations in his home. I would need some awesome snacks. Some freaky costumes for the guests and glowing lanterns. Do you have an all in one set for me? It is hard to shop in so many stores to buy it all.

    • We’re working on setting up special bundles especially for occasions but they’re not ready yet. For now, I encourage you to use some of the products mentioned to help decorate and assist your friend with his party. A lot of the items are perfect necessities for such an occasion. Good luck!

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