Budget Halloween Party Tips

1. Visit your local Dollar store, they have lots of chips, pretzels, candy, and other goods, all for a great price, and most of them are name brand.

2. Ask your guests to bring their favorite Halloween snacks, most people will see this as an invitation to share their personal favorites and will be glad to help.

3. Ask guests to bring their favorite scary or just plain ridiculous Halloween movies, most people have some lying around their house, and again most people like to see other people enjoy what they enjoy so they will see this as an invitation to share a movie they see as great.

4. To get the games going, try a tombstone decorating contest. Either make it, who can do the funniest, scariest, or just plain weirdest tombstone. For tombstones, either cut up some old cardboard boxes that you have lying around (or most stores will give you boxes for free if they have any and you ask them) or buy some poster board from your local Dollar store and cut them into shapes like tombstones. For added fun, let your guests cut out their own designs.

5. For invitations, cut your invitations out of poster board and write in your details yourself, you can get creative here and use old things you have around the house.

6. After your guests have had a little alcohol, grab some crayons or colored pencils and see who can color the best Halloween picture with their eyes closed. You can find great Halloween pages online free, just print them out. Another spin is to have your guests draw the scariest, silliest, funniest, etc picture on a piece of paper with the hand they don't normally use (if they are right handed, they use their left, and opposite for left handed guests), with their eyes closed.

7. Another great game idea is to play "Wrap your Partner." Get some crepe paper at your local Dollar store or other discount store. Have your guests wrap the person they came with like a mummy, or someone else if they came stag and see who does the best job.

8. Who's line is it anyway. Have your guests write down situations, characters, etc. and put them in a bowl or hat. Have them take turns acting out the things that were written down.

9. Give each guest a clothespin or other item that can attach to their costume. Have a word chosen that no one is allowed to say. When someone says that word, whoever catches them first gets that persons clothespin. The one with the most pins at the end of the night wins. You can get creative here as well and decorate each pin with a persons name or Halloween things.

10. For a spooky touch to your punch, clean a rubber or latex glove out and fill it full of punch (go with a color other than the punch in your bowl so it will stand out, you can always do this by adding simple food coloring) or 7-up, tie the bottom of it closed and put it in the freezer until frozen, after its frozen and right before your guests arrive, take it out of the freezer and cut the bottom off, peel the glove off and add it to your punch bowl.

11. Instead of the Mylar strips hanging from the doorways take an old sheet and cut it up into thin strips. Spray paint it black and orange or any other spooky colors and hang it from the doorway. You can add to this by gluing little spiders to it. You can always find these items for cheap at the local discount store.

12. Turn your lights very low and leave your door open just a crack. Cover your furniture with white sheets so it looks like a deserted house. When your guests arrive hide and wait for them to enter, jump out and scare the pants off them! The sheets can be left on as an added effect throughout the night and it helps so people's costume make-up and other things don't leave a permanent mark on your furniture!

13. Serve slime! This can easily be made with average applesauce and green food coloring. You can get creative and add other things like raisins or even put plastic spiders in it (make sure they are big enough that they won't get swallowed!)

14. Be sure to place spooky things where people least expect it. Put fake spiders on toilet seat covers and in chairs. Cover bathroom doors with fake spider webs so when they walk through it gets on them.

15. Have people bring or contribute to the drinks. Everyone out there understands it is expensive to provide alcohol at a party. If guests don't want to bring something ask that they contribute a couple of dollars to drink. You can also have one specific person who serves the alcohol, people tend to get less carried away when someone else is serving.