Put a Skelton in your bathtub
with a little water & red dye, with low lighting.
Put some rubber spiders on the toilet tank, & hang some coiled rubber snakes over the towel rack.
It is suggested to spray non-stick cooking spray on your tub
so your "blood" doesn't stain.
Splatter some old white handtowels with fake "blood"
& hang them for your guests.
In the Hallway
Have a willing live victim sprawl on the floor.
Use masking tape to make a body outline. You can do this in any part of the party area, but I think it works best in an out-of-the-way area such as the kitchen or a hallway. The body outline can be done outside too, with tape or chalk.
On the Walls
Replace the pictures on my walls with spookier versions.
Find some creepy pics to download & frame!
Or frame the cardboard cutouts that you can purchase inexpensively in any local store.
For Anywhere
Gather up some small & medium sized branches.
Spray paint them black (or dark purple, or green & orange!) Put some sticking out from behind the couch,
put some in a large vase, put some outside!
Make larger ones into 'trees'. Get a large basket or bucket decorated to your liking, arrange your branch in some floral foam, weight it with some rocks, & spread some spanish moss (avaliable at any craft store) over the top.
You can decorate your tree or leave it bare.
If your computer's in view, seat a skeleton
in the chair, mouse in hand.
If you have any bedroom doors ajar,
prop a skeleton up in bed with a pair of glasses & a book to read. Or, if you decide to be really gruesome, buy some old sheets from the Salvation Army, lay them out (OUTSIDE) & spatter them with any "blood" concoction of your choice, that doesn't stain!!! If it doesn't stain anyone else when dry,
the bloody sheets can be used to cover (& protect!) your furniture. Just like in an abandoned house
where a horrific butchering took place!! EEEK!
Gather up some plug-in or (preferably) electric 'candles' that are usually displayed in windows at Christmastime. cheaper Paint them black, & drip some red paint- 'melted wax' along the top. Be careful not to get paint in the bulb socket.
And stock up on flicker bulbs!
Ideas Taken From
http://members.tripod.com/~lilacs_garden/boo.html
Make party bags for your guests to take home and stuff them full of neat treats. They don't have to be expensive,
even kids stuff like spider or bat rings, puzzles, games, Halloween Pens, pumpkin spice candles.
Cut circles of orange tissue paper and wrap around to
make a pumpkin shape, tie off the top with green ribbon or floral tape. Wah-lah! Little pumpkins!
Just draw on faces with a black marker.
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I like to give some favors that match the parties theme,
if you choose a theme idea.
Some themes I had...
Spider Party
Bat Party
Haunted House & Ghosts
Witch Party
Vampire theme
Skeleton Party
Universal Monsters
Jack-o-lanterns
When I go the theme route, I usually add alittle more decor to match the theme then usual, and dress the part if I can.
I use matching theme party goods. You will usually find matching invitations with the party goods. Mail the invitations with a Party name to match the theme of cause!
I make homemade chocolite candies with
candy molds to match the theme.
The cake is made to match the theme of cause.
Don't forget, make those loot bags with some theme goodies.
D.P.
Centerpieces & Candy Bowls
Hunt down gelatin molds that are shaped like a brain,
heart or hands and make an interesting centerpiece.
Decorate with a bunch of inexpensive plastic skulls &
pumpkin baskets that can double as candy dishes
Guts & Gore Display
MATERIALS
Cooked spaghetti
Can of spaghetti sauce
Frozen grapes
Cailiflower
Cardboard for sig
DIRECTIONS
For your haunted house party, use cardboard or heavy construction paper to make signs that say
"Brains", "Blood", "Eyeballs" and "Guts".
Put the spaghetti sauce, cooked spaghetti and frozen grapes in separate bowls & Cailflower. Place the signs in front of the bowls of gore you have set out on a table or around the room.
Cooked spaghetti = guts
Spaghetti sauce = blood
Frozen grapes = eyeballs
Cailiflower = brains
Shrunken Heads
MATERIALS
Firm apples
Paring knife
1 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp salt
Toothpicks
Heavy string or cord
DIRECTIONS
Peel and core a firm apple.
Use a pen to draw large features on one side
and then carve them out with a knife.
Soak the head for 30 seconds in the lemon juice and
salt to prevent browning. Set aside and repeat
the process with more apples.
Make knots about 6 inches apart in your string or cord.
Pass the sting through the cored middle of the apples.
Stick toothpicks through the knots and
rest each apple head on a toothpick.
Tie the string to a coat hanger in a place
where the apples can dry. In a few days, the apples
will shrivel up and look like shrunken heads.
Great for centerpiece decorations at your scary party.
Favor Idea for the Loot Bag
Print out the decorative Chamber of Giggles page from this site. Roll into a semi-loose scroll and tie with black or orange
curling ribbon. Curl ribbon against a scizzors edge. Guests will have something to die laughing with. Yes Die!!
Ghost Suckers
Use these for party favors, hanging them from the ceiling until ready to distribuate to your guests.
Take a round-headed lollipop. Lay the head in the center of a white handkerchief, facial tissue, or cloth square. Gather the handkerchief down around the stick and tie tightly just below the head with a rubber band, twist-tie, or string.
Add 2 black dots for eyes.
You can also use these ghosts as an invitation to your party. Write the party date and location around the outside of the handkerchief before making the ghosts. If you plan to mail them, you might want to use flat round lollipops
and padded envelopes.
Halloween Centerpiece
Purchase small pumpkin shaped gourds. There are always lots available in the grocery stores at this time of year. Keep the ones with pretty stems to include without candles.
What You Need
Orange pumpkin gourds
Yellow, orange and black candles
Apple corer
Florists' adhesive clay, optional
Dried leaves or vines, as desired
How To Make It
Break off the stalk from the gourds.
Use an apple corer to make a bigger indentation
in the top for a candle.
Note: If the gourd is too hard to do this, get some florists' adhesive clay and use that to hold the candle in the top.
Insert a candle
Make a centerpiece with several candleholder gourds and some of the ones (with nice stalks) that you saved.
Scatter in some fall (dried) leaves or vines,
whatever you can find. Use your imagination!
Window Pumpkin Faces
This project makes pumpkin faces to put in the small windows in your front door. These faces (Clipart Gifs Samples & link
to Print them are below) will make shadow patterns inside your house when the sun is shining, and silhouettes
from outside the house at night.
What You Need
Computer paper - white or orange
Scissors
Tape
How To Make It
Print GIF or download and print GIF. The gif has two faces on it. The image is 6" x 10" and should be
'centered on page' when printing. hallface.gif
Cut pattern in half. Cut out eyes, nose and mouth on each face. Trim paper to fit the small windows in your front door.
(They can also be placed in paned windows.)
Tape pattern to windows. Below are the Patterns & the Link.
A fun way to decorate your Halloween table.
What You Need
An old white sheet
Permanent black marker
Scissors
How To Make It
Spread the sheet on the floor.
Draw the web with black marker, starting at the center.
Cut along the outer lines to make a wavy hem.
Idea for Table Decor & Setting
First, the table setting.
Take an old white sheet. Rip or tear or cut the bottom edge into tatters. Then get a package of spider webbing and pull out the web until it covers the whole table. Pull down the edges and hang a spider or two. Find wooden platters and bowls and dishes to serve up that "dark age" feel.
Get a bowl and fill it full of ping pong balls painted to look like eyeballs. Buy a couple of rubber rats and and put them between slices of bread on a plate. Pour fake rubber snakes and gummy worms into a salad bowl. Fix a bowlful of "Sticks & Stones" with pretzel sticks and candy that looks like rocks.
Now, take a piece of poster board and
write out your menu as follows:
Ghoulish Gourmet Menu
Appetizers (Decoration Only!)
Deviled Eyeballs
Roast Rat Sandwiches
Snake Salad
Add Your Real Ghoulish Food that you prepared for the occasion to the Menu. Use the Recipes Spooky Names.
What would Halloween be without a party?
Here are some theme parties and decorations
Witches, Wizards and Goblins
Invitations:
Buy several cheap plastic magic wands. Print out invitations on white paper with important information.
Scroll up around want. Tie with orange and black ribbon.
Decorations:
String Christmas lights around the entrance way. Hang silver and gold stars through out the party area. Mylar gold and silver balloons can also be hung. Cut out ghost shapes in Mylar and hang. Glow-in-the-dark tape attached to walls, doors, lamps etc. is nice when lights are low. Grave markers can be made from Styrofoam sheets - use felt-tip
markers to make inscription.
Cats and Bats
Invitations:
Cut out the shape of cats or bats in
construction paper. Write important party info on these.
Decorations:
Have guests enter through a cat door (place a dark blanket over half the doorway and let guests crawl through). Hang black crepe paper and cobwebs everywhere. Hang black silhouettes of cats and bats throughout the house.
Black balloons are a nice touch.
Nightmare at Haunted House
Invitations:
Cut out tombstone shapes on construction paper.
Write party info in the form of an epitaph.
Decorations:
Hang spider webs, plastic insects, phony tombstones, ghosts, balloons, witches and bats. Use back and white candles (out of reach of children). Hang ghosts made from white pillow cases. Use white balloons with black eyes drawn on them with markers. Ask florist to save dead flowers and wreaths that would be thrown away. Create a headless heathen by stuffing old clothes with newspaper and prop up at front door.
Dry ice makes a special affect at these parties.
Pass The Pumpkin Game
You need a Pumpkin Gourd or an Orange and
three or more people (the more people the more fun!).
Make the people stand around in a circle. Someone start with the orange under their chin (It would be too hard to do this with a pumpkin unless it's a really tiny one). The object of the game is to pass the pumpkin from your chin to someone else's! If you drop it, you're out.
