A Guide to Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme

Having a Halloween party is a lot of work, with a lot of time devoted to party preparation and buying the supplies needed, but it certainly can be a lot of fun for you and everyone who attends. Wouldn't it be great to have a Halloween party that was so memorable that people talked about it for years afterwards? One fun idea for a memorable and Texas-sized Halloween party is throwing one with a Western theme. Horses, cowboys, cactus, and square dancing, what could be more fun than all that? To help you plan a successful party, I have put together a guide to help you plan your Western theme Halloween party.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #1: Choose Your Guests

Who do you want to invite to your Western Theme Halloween party; family, friends, neighbors, co-workers? Do you want to host an adults only party or do you plan on having both adults and children together or perhaps all of the above? It's important to decide exactly who you want to invite to your Halloween party and then you can decide how many people you want to invite. Once you know the group you want to invite as your guests and how many people you want to invite, you can figure out a budget and then choose a date and time.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #2: Plan Your Party Budget

How much do you plan to spend on your Western Theme Halloween party? The type of party you throw depends entirely on your budget. You can have a nice party that will only cost you a couple hundred dollars or you can have a very nice party that cost you many thousands of dollars. It just depends how much money you have to spend on your party plans and supplies. You can cut corners on your party budget and still have a great Western theme party if you make it a potluck and have each guest bring a dish of food and their own drink. You can also have each guest bring their favorite Country Western music CD (compact disc) and have that as special music for the party. You can cut back on decorations and make them yourself out of poster board, paint, twine, rope, straw, etc. And you can definitely save money by making your own Western costume instead of renting or buying one. You can save money by NOT having game activities and prizes at the party but you won't have as much fun either! You can handle all the party plans and preparation yourself and recruit family and friends to help out which will save the price of a party coordinator, DJ, bartender, hostess, valet, etc. Use your own judgment and common sense and try to keep to a realistic budget that is within your financial means. Going into debt for a party isn't going to be fun in the long run.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #3: Will You Be Serving Alcohol at Your Party?

Alcohol can be an expensive addition to a party plus there can be legal ramifications if you allow guests to drive home drunk. I don't generally offer alcohol at any party I give and especially not at any where children are present. This doesn't mean that I think you shouldn't offer it at your Western theme Halloween party though. Bottles of beer are definitely in keeping with the party theme, especially if you offer them in a metal tub filled with ice. I would discourage serving hard liquor though mostly because it is so expensive and if people want mixed drinks, then you would need a bartender to mix them. If you have a large enough budget to cover the price of a full service bar and bartender though, then by all means, go for it. Don't forget though that "friends don't let friends drive home drunk." You certainly don't want to be remembered for having the Halloween party where someone either got arrested for driving under the influence or had a serious accident on the way home.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #4: Choose a Date; Time & Location for the Party

If you're planning a Western Theme Halloween party that is for adults only, then you will need to choose a date and time for your party that will not conflict with your guests who are parents. This means that having your Halloween party on October 31^st is probably a bad idea because most parents with young children will be helping their little ones to have their own brand of Halloween fun. I suggest having your Halloween party anytime from the middle of October thru the 30th of the month on either a Friday or Saturday night. Hopefully most of your employed guests have weekends off so they will be able to attend your Western theme Halloween party and sleep in the next day. Will you be serving real food at your Halloween party or just snacks and drinks? If you are serving real food, perhaps a buffet dinner, then you can start your party around 6pm or 7pm and have it run through midnight or later. If you will be inviting a mixed group, both adults and children, then I suggest having the party on a weekend and during the day.

Where will you be holding your Western theme Halloween party? Will it be at your house either inside or outside or a combination of inside and outside? Will you rent a hall to hold your party at? Will you be renting a banquet room at a restaurant? Choosing a location to hold your party will dictate how many guests you can invite. If you have plenty of room with a large house and yard, then you can obviously invite many more guests than the person who lives in a studio apartment. If you do rent a hall or banquet facility, then that expense will need to be figured into your budget. Having to pay for a place to hold your Western theme party could really cut into your party budget.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #5: Do You Want a Theme within Your Western Theme

Do you want to have a specific Western theme within your Western theme Halloween party? By this I mean do you want your guests to come in any Western theme costume of their choice? Or do you want everyone to come dressed as their favorite Western heroes (real or fictional) such as the Lone Ranger and Zorro? Perhaps you would like everyone to dress as Western outlaws like Jesse James or Billy the Kid? How about having everyone come as a character from a Western movie like John Wayne in one of his many roles or Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke or the Cartright family from Bonanza? There are so many Western theme ideas from history and movies that the possibilities are nearly limitless.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #6: Choose and Plan Your Food & Snacks

What kind of food and drinks will you be serving at your Western theme Halloween party? If you decide to have a full meal at your party, you can serve it buffet style and serve typical Western foods which include plenty of BBQ such as steaks, ribs, hamburgers, and deep pit beef or pork. Typical Western side dishes include chili beans, cole slaw, and potato salad. You could serve any of these foods and add a green salad with ranch dressing, sourdough rolls and iced tea for a complete and authentic Western theme meal. For dessert you could serve peach and apple cobbler served with vanilla ice cream and have plenty of candy choices available since it is Halloween.

If you decide to have a potluck style meal for your party, then you might want to assign food dish choices to your guests (included with their invitation and ask them to RSVP) so you will have some idea of what food there will be. I suggest that you provide the main dish or the meat dishes and the iced tea and just have your guests bring all the side dishes and dessert.

If you don't want to have a meal at your party (perhaps due to a limited budget), you will still need to provide snacks and drinks. Snacks could include choices such as tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole. Perhaps you can have a nice mixed nut assortment and serve some iced tea along with a nice assortment of Halloween candy (maybe even some with a Western flair). Several batches of brownies are sure to be appreciated as well and they don't cost much to make.

Who will be preparing your food? If you and your family and friends will be preparing the food, then you will definitely be saving money and should then be able to provide more and better food choices. I have attended quite a few Western theme gatherings that offered deep pit beef, chili beans, cole slaw and/or green salad along with a roll and enjoyed myself tremendously. It's an easy meal to prepare and doesn't have to cost much.

If you have the budget and can afford to hire a caterer, then you have one less thing to worry about in regards to your party. Find a capable caterer and turn the entire meal over to them. See if they can arrange to have someone at the party to handle the buffet table as well.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #7: Choose Your Party Invitations & Send Them Out

Choose your Western theme party invitations carefully because they set the tone for your entire party. Your guests will get an idea of what to expect at the party from your invitation. If your invitation is a piece of paper with the party information written on it in your handwriting with a little drawing of a Western hat, then they are going to think your party will be a low-budget affair that may not be much fun. Of course they would be wrong but first impressions are so important that you really do need to choose your party invitations carefully. When you do send out the invitations, you need to have a date to tell your guests to RSVP by so you will know approximately how many people are coming so you can plan the amount of food needed.

A good time to send out party invitations is about a month before you plan to have your party. Hopefully this will give your guests plenty of time to RSVP and get a costume. You can find Western theme party invitations from several different places online. One website with a nice selection of different Western theme party invitations is impressinprint.com.

If most of the people you know have computers and e-mail addresses, then you can consider sending out e-card party invitations. One website that offers e-cards for Western Theme parties is Evite.com.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #8: Choose Your Decorations

You can find some great Western theme party ideas at the Party Theme Shop.com. Not only do they sell just about any Western party decoration you can think of, they also have ideas for your party so you might want to check them out. They also have Country Western theme party ideas and decorations to check out as well. Another website that offers ideas and a party planning list and sells party supplies is Themepartiesnmore.com. They have some great ideas for different Western themes and other nice party supplies.

Typical decorations with a Western theme include plenty of horses, cowboys, Indians, cactus plants, saddles, covered wagons, wagon wheels, chuck wagons, saloons, dirt streets, wooden buildings and sidewalks, cowboy hats, sheriff, badge, bandanas, straw or hay bales, etc.

If you are holding your Western theme party outside, try to set the Western mood with bales of straw or hay set around the area as seating. You can drape horse blankets or throw rugs with a Western or Native American Indian design across the bales of straw to make them more comfortable to sit on. Bales of straw can be purchased from an animal feed supply store in your area, check your local yellow page listings. You can also buy "bales" of sawdust that are used for bedding in large animal pens for a lot less from an animal supply store than from a small pet supplier. The sawdust can be strewn around the ground in an area that can be used for dancing or eating as an extra Western style touch.

If you have a large enough budget, it would be a fun touch for your party if you had large wooden cut-outs, cut from sheets of plywood, and painted them to simulate an old Western town or ghost town as a backdrop and photo op spot. You can get a similar look if you buy cardboard cut outs of barn siding and more from websites such as partycheap.com.

It would be fun to have a photo op prop with either a wooden cut out or a cardboard cut out of a cowboy and cowgirl or cowboy and saloon girl. I mean the type that shows the full body and costume with an opening cut out for the face of a person to show through if they stand behind it. A smaller and low priced version of this is the cardboard Wanted poster photo prop at partycheap.com which cost around $5.00.

You can add a fun touch to the party by hanging old fashioned style signs by the food area, drinks area and other areas that say things like chuck wagon, saloon, or outhouse. The possibilities for decorating with a true Western flair are endless and there is no wrong way to do it so just buy or make what you like and then set everything up for your party and have fun.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #9: Choose Your Own Costume

As the host of the party, you will want your own costume to be special. Perhaps you can visit your local costume shop and see what they can offer with a Western theme. There are also plenty of online costume stores with Western outfits and accessories. Some Western theme costumes for you to consider are cowboy, cowgirl, Native American Indian, saloon girl, gambler, gunfighter, sheriff, bounty hunter, Lone Ranger or Zorro.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #10: Choose Music

If you are unable to afford a DJ to handle the music or lack the funds to hire a live band, you can use your own CD player and handle the music yourself. Country Western songs would fit well into the theme. You can play music by Garth Brooks, Trace Adkins, Gretchen Wilson, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Hank Williams Jr. etc. You can find a sample music list of Country Western songs at the evite.com website. If you burn a CD with the music you want ahead of time, then you can pop it into the CD player, set it on repeat and forget about it for the rest of the night.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #11: Choose Party Activities & Prizes

Since you're having a Western theme costume party for Halloween, it would be fun for your guests to have a contest for best costume, worst costume, most authentic costume, etc and give prizes to the winners. Prizes could be any small trinket with a Western theme or perhaps even gift cards for different restaurants. Other party activities could include square dancing or line dancing, lasso a saddle horn, horse shoes, etc. Small prizes can be given to the winners of any games too.

Throwing a Halloween Party with a Western Theme #12: Take Pictures & Video

A costume party is going to be full of photo opportunities so take plenty of pictures yourself or hire a photographer. Find someone to take video of your guests having a good time and you'll have some great memories to share at your next family gathering.

After your party is over and your guests have gone home, you'll most likely be too tired to clean up right away so get plenty of rest and clean up the next day. You can return any rented items such as costumes, tables, chairs, chafing dishes, etc. at that time. And with all your planning, preparation and hard work, hopefully your party will be the one that your friends, family and co-workers will be talking about for years to come.

Resources:
PartyCheap.com Western Party Supplies.
Party Theme Shop.
Shindigz Party Ideas and Party Decorating Tips. Western Themed Party Invitations.
Themepartiesnmore.com. Western Party Ideas.