Halloween Party Guide!

What calls for a great party? A great theme!

Are you a scary, gorey lover? Or are you more child friendly?

If you’re like me, you love the proper stuff. The kind that screams horror. I’m always into more realistic decor rather than animated, but there is a time and a place where those kinds are perfect!

Themes I have had during my days of hosting include:
* Mad Scientists lab
* Freakshow Circus
* Spiders nest

Themes to inspire:

* Witches and Warlocks – Coven
* Cannibal House
* Zombies or Zombie safe house
* Monster Mash!
* Vampires
* Murder House
* Haunted House
* Asylum
* Horror Movies Villains

When you have found your perfect theme, you have the whole world of party planning at your feet! Your costume, food and decor will fall into this!

Let’s face it, location is everything! Child friendly, alcohol friendly, large enough or small enough space, access to music, food and comfort, accessible to family and friends from different places etc.

I ALWAYS host my parties at my home. I completely understand those who would prefer not to due to having to clean up or being worried about items of the home being broken or even lack of space! 
Well.. you can make it work if home is the best option.

Here’s why I always use home:
* Accessible for all of my guests.
* Guests can bring their own alcohol
* Children can come with no time limit worry
* Access to a kitchen throughout the evening to cook more food and clean up as you go along.
* Food doesn’t need to be transported.
* You can play the music you like!
* You don’t have to pay for caterers, DJ’s and a venue
* Home is more intimate and cosy
* You are free to decorate how you like
* You can finish up the night whenever you please and slip into a cosy bed!

So, if you choose yours or your family home, above are the perks!

So, once you have your location, date and theme, you can put together your guest list and invitations! 

For ease I use Facebook events to invite my guests. For those who don’t have Facebook, I simply message them personally. I find that Facebook event is an easy way to track how many people you have invited and who is coming. It is a platform where you can post for all to see and easily change details and contact your guests.

If you’re old school, you can always pop a few invitations by post! It’s just Facebook on paper hehe. Calls and texts work just as well, but mean you will have to tick of your guest list manually and keep track on who is coming and who isn’t.

What I always have to keep in mind is not to get knocked down if people let me down. No matter how many people you have attending, it will be wonderful! I have learnt from all of the parties I’ve hosted that people will let you down last minute and you never usually have the amount you expect but it still turns out super fun!funky beverage, good food, costumes and good music will create a fantastic setting no matter how many people occupy the party!

Create the guest list, invite people and leave it there. Focus on the decor, food and planning rather than who is coming. Check in on your guests every week or so to remind them of the party date and check in on numbers.

Just remember, who comes, comes, who doesn’t is missing out!

Of course if you have a specific theme you will be working around that for the perfect costume! However if your theme is miss mash and you don’t feel you have to stick to it for your costume, you are open to a world of spooky wonder and creations.

I always find my outfits either on Amazon, budget friendly shops and supermarkets or I find material to create my own costume. Sometimes you can use regular clothes and really dress it up with some makeup and accessories! 

If you fancy popping out for the day to look in some shops, you may find some wonderful outfits that fit your style and liking perfectly! Or you may even find materials and accessories you can put together. Here are some shops below that I recommend visiting:

• Poundland
• Asda, Tesco, Aldi – Supermarkets
• Wilko
• Any Party shops around your area
• Argos
• The Range
• Amazon online
• Smiffys

Dependant on your theme you should have a decoration aesthetic in style. The first thing to think about is how you want your decor to come across. Do you want a dark and horror type decor? Or do you need to cater for a more young animated audience? The level of horror will be huge when deciding on decor. More animated decorations are cheaper and will be in the more budget friendly mainstream shops.

Here are some shops below I recommend for your decorations. Some online and some out and about:

•  TK Maxx
• Homesense
• Wilko
• Paperchase
• Asda, Tesco, Aldi and other supermarkets
• Poundland
• The Range
• Amazon
• Flying Tiger

Finding a food and drink theme can be wonderful and fun but will add a little extra commitment hehe. I can’t stress enough to hosts that they need to remember that the party is for them as well as the guests and you don’t want to be spending all night working on food for others and forgetting to enjoy yourself!

Lately I have discovered the wonder of buying about 10 big pizzas and laying them out with bowls of  topping so that people can choose what they like on their slice! It’s an easy, affordable feast and will fill the bellies of your guests. Chips and picking food is also perfect when catering for a large group of people. We like to put in some olives, crisps, hummus, salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips and general selections of finger food.

Making a big curry, chilli, stir-fry or dish along those lines can also be a good idea! People can just pick at them and quickly microwave if they choose to. During Autumn, hearty food is perfection, so going with a warm pot of hearty food is always a winner! We always have so many people looking forward to our party food as we make a lot of homemade things and put our heart into it. We are renowned for our homemade sweet treats and we love making them fit into the halloween theme. If you have little kids, letting them help with baking is so rewarding hehe.

If you want to have a halloween theme with food and drink, try thinking about colours and layout. Sometimes we can put some food colouring into our cakes and it can transform them! We love making pies and shaping the pastry into something unique that adds that edge to the dish. I find that if you can’t make the food themed, try using lots of serving dishes in different halloween styles.

In terms of drinks, you can now get ‘Fanta Dark Orange’ which is black. This would be perfect for creating a punch or even just putting them out for guests to enjoy with spirits or just on its own. We find that for Halloween gatherings it is so fun to create homemade punch or themed cocktails. We usually put the punch in a large punch bowl and add funky halloween sweets or moulded ice. We use our drinks dispensers for keeping our homemade cocktails and use chalk stickers to write the names of them on. It’s simple yet wonderful! We buy the cheapest spirits and juices and voila there you have it!

Make sure you ask guests to bring their own alcohol if needed as it will be virtually impossible to buy all of the alcohol to suit peoples taste and will certainly take a huge chunk out of your budget. If you can and feel necessary, go to your local supermarket and buy their own brands of cola, lemonade, tropical soda, cherry soda and anything else you feel will help your guests enjoy their beverages.