Hosting a Halloween Party

Set the Mood for a Ghoulishly Fun Party

Halloween is the one day of the year when young and old alike look forward to feeling just a little frightened. So give them the kind of party they secretly desire by turning your home into the perfect place for a spooky Halloween party.

The Invitations

Print your invitations on gray colored, 4" x 6" card stock. Start the type 1/3 of the way down the card. Once your cards have been printed, trim the upper portion of the card to look like a tombstone by rounding off the top corners. You can use this introductory wording before giving your guests the date, time, and address of your party.

On Halloween night, when the sun goes down We're hosting the scariest party in town The lights will be dim, The ghosts will be out, Only the brave will be walking about. So come to our house, only if you dare, But be warned, dear friends, you'll be getting a scare.

Creating the Effect Inside and Outside

Did you ever notice how much less frightening scary movies are when you cover your ears? That's because sound plays a big part in setting the mood, and why sound effects will help to create the spooky atmosphere for your haunted house party. Luckily it's easy to find Halloween sound effect CD's around the holiday. Rattling chains, tortured shrieks, and ghoulish laughter will be found on most of these Halloween sound effect recordings. All you'll need to do is rig up a sound system that will play the music inside and outside your home to greet your guests as they arrive.

A fog machine is another essential part of creating the spooky atmosphere for your haunted house. Set up one machine along the walkway leading to your home. Another one placed inside your party room will complete the effect. Be sure to aim the mist low to the ground so that the fog can swirl up eerily around your guests.

Stand carved and lighted jack-o-lanterns along your walkway as a phantom battalion to salute your guests. The pale white pumpkin variety looks especially macabre.

Once guests enter your home, all the lights should be dim. Use candles in strategic, but safe, locations to light your party.

Instead of dusting your home to make it clean for your guests, you should add dust to your furniture using a light coating of talcum powder to create that abandoned home feeling. Drape cobwebs (purchased from Halloween shops) across the upper portions of your doorways, in corners of the room, and down from your chandeliers.

Drape white sheets over your couches and chairs. Rubbing a little dry garden dirt into them first will make them look particularly neglected.

Use black table cloths to cover your tables, and blood red napkins as a decorative accent. Place rubber rats and plastic spiders around the serving dishes on your buffet.

Fill vases with fresh white lilies or drooping dead roses that have been given a week or more to wilt. Tie the vases with black ribbons.

Finally, your guests will complete the atmosphere when you ask them to come dressed as their favorite scary character.

The Food

Even if the food you serve is suitable for more than the walking dead, your offerings can still add to the haunted house effect. By renaming some recipes and selecting others with lots of red ingredients, the underlying message will be clear. For example, serve Bloody Mary's or rename a cranberry punch Vampire's Punch for effect. Red Velvet Cake can be called Bloody Velvet Cake for the party, and after you drip red decorator gel down the sides of the cake, your guests will get the picture. Or take your basic meringue cookie recipe and pipe it into ghostly shapes.