Every year, we plan a Halloween party where all of our children get to invite friends. This does mean we have a wide age range (from the youngest being 9 this year, to the oldest being 15), so planning and preparing is most of the battle. We’ve been doing Halloween parties for years now, so we’ve gotten the activities down and have really mastered the snacks that go with feeding so many kids! Each year, we also hope to use outside, depending on the weather, but often find ourselves all inside. The eldest, Kai, and his friends often do not participate in activities due to their age, so we tend to set up a TV and video games, along with decorations, in Kai’s room. For Amelia and her friends, who like activities, and Robin and her friends, who are younger, we set up lots of things to do!
Halloween Party Snacks
I do feel that the food around Halloween Parties is my favorite thing to organise. I am a big foodie and enjoy making all sorts of spooky items. For our Halloween Parties, we have a mix of homemade food and store bought. M&S is the best place, I have found, to find some Halloween-themed snacks that fit well. We tend to get crisps and spooky snack mix from there, along with some gummies and pumpkin-themed treats, to dress the table. Having a few grab-and-go items that people can munch on, from stores, makes a lot of sense for a party and can be great fillers. We also do get pre-made pizza from ASDA for our parties, as they have bat-shaped pizza which fits in well. We do these in the oven and then bring them out as and when they are ready, as we let everyone snack the whole time. Pizza is always a safe food, so fits well for younger ones.
Now, onto snacks that I make! I tend to aim for easy to make, simple snacks that can really pack a punch from a looks perspective. I do create a vegetable board, for balance, with a fun dip – often garlic and herb cream cheese, which everyone does snack at! For the actual snacks, I do make up a box mix of brownies and then put some vanilla frosting in a piping back, to pipe mummy stripes. This is something that Robin often helps out with, as it’s a very easy task. Do cut the brownies ahead for your Halloween Party, before decorating them. I also grab candy eyes to give the mummy’s more personality, but you can even use chocolate chips. Each year, Amelia always asks to make chocolate covered strawberries, that are covered with white chocolate to look like ghosts! I do decorate them to have two eyes and a round mouth using decorating icing – it’s simple and always goes over well. If you have leftover chocolate, I tend to dump it into parchment paper, sprinkle in some spooky sprinkles and candy, and then break it into bark when it sets. Lastly, an American classic, I make some jelly monsters out of jelly filled with grapes. Add a few eyes on top and you can have a fun treat (though this does need a serving spoon and plate!)
Halloween Games and Activities
When it comes to activities, we have a few that have really gone over well over the years! One thing we always do is set up a pumpkin patch in the back yard, grabbing a bunch of smaller either orange or some of the grey pumpkins and placing them all into the grass on the yard. We then have a designated time when we use the crafting table at our Halloween Party to decorate the pumpkins. Often, we grab a pumpkin face sticker pack from Amazon for the younger ones and put out paint pens for the older ones (do not use real paint, it takes far too long to dry), allowing everyone to decorate their own pumpkins. We then stack these on the stairs, by our door, waiting for everyone to be picked up. Pumpkin decorating feels so fun for Halloween.
Another thing we tend to do each year is slime making, by purchasing a few of the spooky Slime Kits and set them up on the craft table – with a table cloth underneath (this is a learned tip), and give everyone plastic bowls and plastic (or wooden) spoons. We then let them go wild, but often with the younger ones, we set out how much glue they are starting with so that everyone does get glue and does get to make slime. I often also grab a bulk box of small glass jars, to put the finished slime into, and pop them into party bags for the kids. The idea behind this is that not everyone needs to make usable slime – part of the fun is just in the making, so we let them do what they’d like. A few of the other activities we tend to do are pre-made – we often grab a few activity kits that we just have out like the witch ring toss and spider splat, but allow people to use it whenever they want instead of timed like the crafts. We also have all of the costume kids do a costume walk, and Amelia, Robin and Kai judge – we grab some ribbons to give out (and often go with the packs that have like “cutest costume”, “scariest costume”, “funny costume”) making sure everyone gets a ribbon.
A few things to note
We do tend to decorate every year, often putting caution tape on doors, adding balloons and of course, spider webs and bunting. If you have smart lights like us, using the color changing feature to make the house feel spooky also is a lot of fun, but do make sure it’s not too dark for younger ones, especially if you are having a late party. We do grab a couple of speakers and play a Halloween Playlist as well, to keep things in spirit. A lot of times, everyone just plays and has fun, without there needing to be a constant activity, which is also good! We do grab party bags for everyone to take home at the end, especially with the slime making, and do put names on the bags and pumpkins. Throwing a fantastic Halloween Party can be daunting, but it’s well worth it to make these memories with your children. All of ours always look forward to our Halloween Party and absolutely love talking about it for weeks after.
