5 Must Haves for a Halloween Party

A party is all about the decorations. If you walk into a Pepto-Bismol splattered room, stuffed with balloons, and the nauseating scent of flowers, a baby shower is inevitable. And, often after a few minutes of cramped space and batting balloons, the shower couldn't be over soon enough. So, how do you plan an event? Most importantly, how do you keep people from looking at their watches as time creeps by? It's easier than you'd think, and with Halloween around the corner many of us are looking for new ideas and already beginning to prepare. Here are a few ideas to get you going as you begin to dig out decorations and concoct a costume.

1. Pick a theme.

It doesn't matter if it's all the characters from Saw, vampires, or a jumble of cats with arched backs, bats, and pumpkins. Just pick something and go with it. There are a variety of things, from masks to crepe paper, to fake spiders and floating eyeballs for the punchbowl that can make the party lively. Also, don't forget the music; there's nothing like the moaning ghosts and the howling wolves that creep out at night to haunt the parties of Halloween.

2. Bring Food to Life

Halloween food is fun, because it is inventive and sometimes a bit messy. Don't worry, it's always easy. You can do cupcakes with orange icing, create any "brew" imaginable, and make cakes and cookies in a variety of shapes to get oohs and aahs. I've seen cakes as pumpkins and cookies as spiders, bats, and cats with arched backs. All you need is the right pan or cutter, so cross your fingers and head to your nearby store to see what's at hand. Another trick is to nickname everything. Pigs in a blanket become fingers, olives are eyes, and a homemade cheese ball served on a platter could be Sir Galahad's head.

3. Plan Ahead

For a shindig to be great, it must be organized and thought out, that way everyone and everything can be in order when necessary, because more often than not when large groups gather, something goes awry. So, it's always better to have more than less, to know escape routes, and to be ready for anything, because even though you may be ready to dish a handful of surprises this Halloween, someone else may have something up their sleeves. It is Halloween after all, so play smart, be ready, and have fun!

4. Send Out Invitations Early

First and foremost, send out invitations. Sure word of mouth gets the job done, and yeah e-mail would be cheaper, but wouldn't it be nice to get something besides the previous tenet's junk mail or bills in your mailbox? To me, there's still something about "getting something in the mail" that's worthwhile; it's a flashback to old days when Christmas cards were common and spam was nonexistent.

5. Keep'm Awake

Last, but definitely not least, terrify your guests. It's never fun without a little amusement, right? Tell as few people as you can and conceive a scheme, like drive to look at haunted houses and come back to your home haunted, go to visit "grandma" and open the door to a chain sawing maniac running loose, or have characters press their faces against the glass and beat on the windows as your friends are engrossed in a scary movie.

So, go on! Have fun, dress up, and get out. Make this Halloween a night to remember, with creative music, blood soup, and a hand floating in the punch bowl.