Photo Gallery | Halloween Planning: Costumes-Parties & Safe Festive FUN

Halloween Party Planning Tips:

If you’re planning an adults-only soiree, but you’re inviting couples who have children, don’t host your party on Halloween night. Parents of young children won’t want to miss out on Halloween family fun and even if they did, it would be nearly impossible to get a sitter.

Start early in the evening if children are welcome. This allows families to enjoy the party together, without fussy kids (at least, until the sugar crash kicks in).

Consider what time it gets dark where you live. It’s much more fun to go to a Halloween party in the dark, rather than while it’s still daylight.

Think about duration. If you’re fine with guests lingering until the wee hours, then you can leave the ending time open-ended. However, if you prefer to get your beauty sleep, you may want to put an ending time on the invitations. Four hours is plenty for a Halloween party – anything longer would be considered more of an open house (which may be ideal for parties held on Halloween night itself) and in that case, expect people to come and go as their evening allows.

Mailing invitations (especially for an informal gathering such as a Halloween party) really isn’t necessary – if you have email addresses, you could use a free service like Evite.

The simplest way to create your Halloween feast is to use “normal” party foods and assign them “creepy” names for the evening. For example, BBQ chicken wings become “Bat Wings,” a simple brick of cream cheese surrounded by red pepper jelly can be shaped to easily become “bleeding skull,” deviled eggs become “devilishly dreadful,” and a simple punch becomes “mummy’s blood.” 

• "Finger Sandwiches" are easy to make: Purchase a pre-made breadstick dough at your grocery store. Separate the breadsticks per the regular instructions and lay on cookie sheet. Slice pepperoni rounds into quarters. Use pepperoni pieces on one end of each breadstick, fitting the rounded edge out. Bake breadsticks as directed. Split while still warm along the length of the bread stick, but do not disturb the pepperoni. Once the breadstick is almost cool, stuff with the creepy hotdog worms. Now you have creepy witches finger sandwiches.
• Eyeball Eggs: Use your favorite deviled eggs recipe, then decorate as follows: spread out three or four thin strings of pimiento for a red, bloodshot look. Use a slice of black olive for the center of the eye and use two small slices of green olive to form a pupil similar to a cat. Let the black olive show through.
• If your party includes children, it’s a wise idea to give a small gift or favor to every child who comes in costume, in addition to awarding prizes to the contest winners. A small toy, glow stick, or attractively wrapped popcorn ball would make a great “everybody wins” prize for this purpose.
• Prepare everything earlier instead of rushing around while guests are around

Sources: Tricks2million.com/top10halloweentips.com
Special thanks to Halloween City for contributing to this report