Throw a halloween party for kids

Posted on by Forest in General, Opinion, Recipes & Food, Saving Money & Finances

Throwing a halloween party for kids is probably some of the most fun you can have on halloween. Going to an adult party is great and everything (and can be done later in the eve) but kids really know how to have the best fun!

Hosting any party though can be tricky and costs some money even if you ask for people to bring stuff. Halloween is a little while off yet so I suggest you decide and get organising now so you have no stress and can enjoy yourself too.

In this article I am going to look at how I would organise a budget conscious but hopefully fun kids halloween party.

How to throw a halloween party for kids

Invites

So you don’t waste time and money it’s worth sending out invites now. Make them fairly informal but ask for an rsvp and tell people to bring some food or drinks to lessen the load on you.

You can create some funky invites on the computer using clip art and any layout / word processing program. You may even have some great templates pre-loaded. I would make the invites 1/4 of a 10×8 sheet of paper and the you can print them yourself at minimal cost.

Food and drinks

Every party needs food and although you asked people to bring stuff I think it’s sensible to provide enough for about half of the projected guests. People will likely bring pre-packaged things like sweets or easy baked goods like sausage rolls. Keep your budget down by making things like new potatoes, vegetable and homemade hummus dips and small cheese sandwiches for savory stuff. Sweet stuff can be mini pumpkin pie tartlets, chocolate witch shaped cookies (find some halloween cookie cutters at the discount store) and homemade toffee apples.

For drinks I think it’s ok to let kids drink as much fizzy pop as they like at parties. So I advise popping to somewhere like Costco and buying a bulk box of cola or lemonade. It’s also nice to make a fruit punch (cheaper to make from pre-mixed juice cocktails and just add fruit and fizz with a fizzy lemonade). Also make sure you have ice water on hand and maybe some lite beers for the parents standing around.

Decoration

This is very important. I think the entrance to your home should be the scariest. Maybe put a home made wooden grave cross in the lawn and dig a hole to fill with dog bones. Put some fake blood leading up the garden path. Cover your porch with cheap fake cob webs and generally make it friendlier once the kids are inside with fun cob webbing everywhere and carved pumpkins with friendly faces.

Activities

Kids like to do more than stand around and chat so you have to have stuff for them to do. It helps to have some fun music and a place to dance as a general activity but also set up things like apple bobbing (supervised). Pumpkin painting (carving can be a bit dangerous in a party situation) and maybe a modified version of an easter egg hunt (cover eggs in fake blood and come up with a scary story).

Help….

You can’t do everything on your own. Also ask some of the closer parents if they can help you set up and pack up.  Don’t allow yourself to take on all the stress and only invite kids you know your kids actually like. A big kid argument is the last thing you need to deal with, especially if the parents are hanging around too! Just keep things calm, make sure friends are around and enjoy yourself.

Your suggestions….

I would love to know what ideas you have for a kids halloween party and also what plans you have this year.

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