Five Fun Non Halloween Parties for Christian Families

It's time of the year for some Christian families when they have to explain to their children why they can't go to so and so's Halloween party. For some Christian and even secular parents, Halloween is a holiday they have decided to forego for various reasons.

Whatever you think of the holiday of Halloween, there is no denying that dressing up in fun costumes and eating candy is a universal fun thing to do for kids and even adults. There have been some churches that have tried to host non Halloween type parties for their kids and families on Halloween. They label these non Halloween parties by another name. Halloween can become whatever the partier intends for it to be.

As a recreation leader for many years with seniors and families, I use to plan parties for a living and here are five good ideas for having a fall party during the Halloween season that kids and families can enjoy together without labeling it Halloween.

Fall Harvest Party and County Hoe-Down

Get out your western wear, bandanas, boots and square dance music for a down home country western Hoe-Down party. The kids can still dress up in western or farm wear with the girls wearing pretty square dancing outfits, or Indian princess outfits. The boys can be cowhands or even dressed in black gun slingers.

Put out some bales of hay, some fake cactus made from plywood and painted, and hang up some sombrero and cowboy hats for wall decorations. Lots of time stable owners have cool things sitting around, like saddles, old buckets and barrels that can be placed around the party area to set the scene for the party. Table decorations can be made by turning cheap straw hats and cowboy hats upside down and arranging colorful fall bouquets or mums in them with bandanna accents.

Try some fun games like water squirt gun showdown. To play this game, each of the participant has their face slaughtered with whipping cream. I usually buy the spray on kind. Then they stand back to back, walk 5 paces on command from the judge and turn and fire their filled water guns at each other, aiming to be the person who washes the most whipped cream from their fellow gunslinger. Okay it's a messy game, but kids love it! Best play outdoors or on plastic drop cloth.

A hoe-down needs some country line dancing, country music and even some square dancing and usually the dancing is the best part of the party! Food for the party can be western themed with hot dogs, chips and salsa and brownies for dessert. And it wouldn't hurt to have a basket of candy for the kids to have candy for their non Halloween party!

Masquerade Ball

It doesn't have to be as sophisticated as it sounds, but the idea is still all about dressing up in costumes and the ball theme is just a fun centering device. Renting a disco ball to hang certainly sets the mood for this non Halloween party. Party goers choose the own costume. For Christian families, some guidelines could be distributed ahead of time. For instance no horror costumes or monster ones, etc.

Party goers are given a simple eye mask when they enter. These can be purchased from party supply websites online here. The party is about trying to guess who the other party goers are, so you can distribute some 20 question type handouts for them to use in asking each other questions.

For decorations, Mardi Gras masks, lots of glittery material, buffet tables set with crystal and silver platters to make it look elegant. Fancy finger foods, and yummy desserts work well as food treats and of course the biggest fanciest looking punchbowl possible. For the one that I organized, we had several punchbowl tables, each with various kinds of punches.

Dancing would again be a fun activity at this non Halloween party, classical waltzes would be fun to try and even a fun group dance like the Virginia Reel.

Lord of the Rings Quest Party

The most elaborate costume non Halloween party I organized was a Lord of the Rings Party. We took our school building and decorated each room with a theme from the Lord of the Rings books, complete with a Mount Doom Room where a ring of fire waited for the party goers to toss the Ring into.

Party goers were divided into Fellowships of Nine..and the quest began with their needing to first Find the Ring. They were given a riddle that led to the Hobbit Inn where the Ring was held by Gandalf (an adult dressed in costume) Once they solved the riddle they were given the ring and their next clue which led to a Elven Room, and again another riddle or game to be solved. Each room had a challenge to be met in either game form or riddle form that led to another area of the building, until eventually the team was ready to enter Mordor and Destroy their Ring to win the quest.

Along the way, however, there were Dark Riders, (more adults dressed in black who could nab one of the Fellowship and send them to a Dark Ring where they were held until the team could rescue them.

The Quest ended in the Cafeteria with a huge English Feast and lots of fall decorations. I still get requests from people for the exact directions to host a Lord of the Rings party.

Sukkot

Many Christian families have begun to explore some of the Jewish traditions and holidays and Sukkot, while celebrated in September, can be a good theme for a non Halloween party celebration. As Christians we never want to "take over" the religious traditions and celebrations of another religion and culture, but we can explore it by setting up our own versions, attempting to replicate as authentically as possible the celebration as it is celebrated by our Jewish neighbors and friends.

Sukkot has some wonderful traditions for children to learn about, including the meaning behind this "harvest" celebration and why it is a rejoicing holiday. My daughter in law is Jewish and we have learned so much about her traditional celebrations.

The building of the sukkah (a temporary house) can be the main part of the celebration. For the one that I did for area children, we used large refrigerator boxes that we collected for several months and transformed them by small teams, decorating and designing their Sukkah. You can check out some wonderful books on celebrating Sukkot with children here at Children's Lit. There are also great websites online for background information about Sukkot and how to use this theme as a fall non Halloween party celebration that would honor Christian themes also.

Trunk Parties

Many churches have compromised on the Halloween theme by hosting trunk trick or treating parties in their parking lot and I think this is a fun compromise. Kids are allowed to dress in costumes, again with appropriate guidelines by their parents and church officials. Parents can bring their trick or treat goodies to share and each child goes from car to car to show off their costumes and "trick or treat" safely. If you're not comfortable with the Halloween message, then have your Trunk or Treat on another day, label it a Fall Sharing Party, have each person set up table decorated with a special food treat to share with each other.

It's important to know that while we want to protect our children and encourage our values, we also want our children to experience good traditions and good fun. Non Halloween type parties allow the fun to flourish and being a Christian certainly doesn't mean that we can't have fun!

Online resources

What is Sukkot http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm