Halloween Party Ideas Volume I

Halloween is quickly approaching, and now is the time to get the Halloween costume, get the candy and start planning that Halloween party. Obviously, if you are reading this article, then you are thinking about or in the process of planning a Halloween party. Being that this is one of my favorite holidays of the year, i have myself thrown and been to many Halloween parties. This article will give you ideas for your Halloween party, whether you are planning and adult party or a children's party, your sure to fine and idea in this article.

First off, i will start with ideas of a child's Halloween party. The first thing to do for any party is start figuring out how many people are going to be there. For a child, a good idea of people who should be invited are family, friends and possibly kids in their class room. So, the first thing to do is get the invitations. There are many ideas to choose from, whether you buy them pre made, or you make them your selves, this is a fun activity your children will enjoy. Bring them to the store with you to help pick out the invitations if you choose to buy them already made. If you decide to make them yourself then this could be something that the kids could get involved in and use their creative minds! One idea for a Halloween invitation, is making a bat invitation. For this product, you will need black construction paper, white stock paper, scissors, glue stick, xacto knife and a felt tip pen.

Start by taking a piece of black construction paper,

Draw the out line of a bat on the paper, you do not need any major details, just the outline.

Next you will need to cut out the shape of the bat

After cutting out the bat, you will need to take the white card stock and cut it into a square that will fit inside the shape of the cut out bat.

After cutting the white square, you will need to glue it to the black bat.

Using the xacto knife, you will need to cut two small circles in the left over white card stock. These will be used for the eyes.

Glue the circle where the eyes should go. Inside the two small circles, use the black pen to make two black pupils.

Now, on the white paper inside the bat, you should now put the information for the party. Such as who, what, when, where and time.

Let the pen drive throughly, after drying, fold the wings of the bat inward to cover the information. That way, when people get the invitation, when they open it, it's like the bat opens it's wings.

This invitation, is rather easy and very cute. With the kids helping on this project, they will feel like they are participating in all the fun.

Now that the people are invited, it's time for you to think of fun games the kids can play during the Halloween party. One idea is a game called pass the pumpkin, this game is played just like hot potato. Kids sit in a circle, and while scary Halloween music is being played, they pass small pumpkins around the circle. If a kid is holding the pumpkin while the music has stopped then that kid is out. Keep playing till someone wins.
Another idea for a super fun game is build-a-scarecrow. With this game, split the kids into separate teams, with the supplies, such as pillowcases, markers, straw, old clothes or whatever else you can think of, give the kids around 20 - 30 minutes to make the scarecrow and give prices to the scariest or the funniest and put them outside.

If you are throwing a Halloween party for a child that is a little older, a fun idea could be to do a Blaire Witch style tape. Ask the friends who are invited if they have a video camera. If so, have the kids with the cameras get with kids who don't and do a Blaire Witch-Esq video. Have them make a 5 minute humerus video of them talking to the camera like in the movie. Ideas could be: A bathroom with no toilet paper, In a mall with no credit cards, Halloween is here and I don't have a costume, have an idea?

Now that the games are planned, next you have to think of what you are going to feed all the kids. Pizza is usually a good bet, but can become pretty expensive depending on how many children are at the party. If you aren't too into spending that much money, then here are a few ideas for finger foods: Bat shaped sandwiches (actually you can do this with any shape cookie cutter) You will need, white sandwich bread, and anything you want to go on the sandwich. Build your sandwich with whatever you want to put on it, take the cookie cutter an press into the bread making the shape of the bat. These are easy and generally affordable to make.

For some awesome food ideas go to www.fabulousfoods.com , there are many ideas on what to serve.
Now that you have the food figured out, you will want to decorate the party. The best thing to do for this is to visit your local party store, generally they have tons of stuff and many of it will be on sale. Also, for a cheaper place visit your local dollar store for more decorating stuff. Remember, you do not need to spend a lot of money to make a party fun! Bring your kids with you and they will feel like they helped out, this isn't just a party for your kids, this party can be fun for you too!!!
Also remember to make gift bags for the kids. In the gift bags, include: candy, toys, cheap Halloween masks, pencils etc... Kids love getting gifts.
Remember, have a "ghoul time"!

Continue to Article #2 for the Adult party ideas !!!!!