Top Tips for Throwing a Fabulous Halloween Party

1. Check with friends before inviting

Halloween lands on one day each

and every year, October 31st. It's a short season, and many people will

be planning All Hallows Eve bashes.

Check with your friends and family

BEFORE sending out party invitations to see if the date you choose runs

into someone else’s party plan. If so, try and work out an arrangement

so that both parties can still take place.

2. Leave Party End Open

When you are hosting a family Halloween party,

in your invitation, leave the finish time open-ended to accommodate

your guests. Keep in mind that people who are bringing their kids will

want to know when the kids' activities will take place so they will be

there for this fun part and then they may need to leave for another

party or because someone is tired.

Other guests, especially those

without children, may miss the kids' party altogether, and enjoy

arriving late and staying even later. Keep this in mind when you set

the time frame for your party.

3. Get Help.

At a family-style Halloween party, you will want to mix

with the adults, stir potions with the kids, video the ghoulish mummy

race, and take in the costume fanfare! With all of this and more, line

up help.

Do you have a babysitter or two available? They would be able

to help you set-up, run the kids activities, and anything else as long

as you have them on hand to help. Don't assume that your guests will

pitch in on this front!

4. Announce Kids' Activities when they begin

Make sure when the

activities for the kids begin, you let their parents and other adults

at the party know that the ghoulish fun is under way. Everyone hates

missing out on the fun, and some adults may even want to be included.

Make sure you have some games and/or activities where the kids and

adults interact together. For example, stuffing a scarecrow relay race,

eating donuts off a clothes line, and/or decorating pumpkins.

5. Serve food that everyone will love

Adults will enjoy a more

fanciful menu items, a delicious pumpkin soup or stew, an autumn pasta

salad, corn muffins, apple and pumpkin tarts, etc. Make a few key items

that your adults will rave about, but also keep in mind that the kids

will be happy with a far simpler menu.

Make up a batch of coffin

sandwiches with popular fillings (simply use a cookie cutter), serve

favorite snacks, but place name tags beside them with scary names, as

an example Boiled Lady Bugs, (Red & Black Jelly Beans), and Blood

& Guts simple pasta.

6. Be Prepared to Unmask

Given the season, you may request that guests

don their costumes for your party. Be sure to remember that small

children may be afraid of guests in their costumes. Be prepared to ask

people to de-mask themselves quickly if this situation arises!

7. Supervise Pumpkin Carving

or decorate the pumpkin instead of carving

If you are planning on having adults carve pumpkins for a party

activity, make sure to supervise carefully where the knives are placed.

Little ones will be running around and can easily pick up something

dangerous like a carving knife as the party excitement is underway.

Supervise when the carving takes place carefully to make sure an

unfortunate incident does not occur.

Happy Spooky Halloween Planning!