Halloween Fancy Dress Party Tips

Halloween, unlike many other annual festivities really is the event that you can throw a party with a fancy dress theme. The roots of Halloween come from old Pagan traditions of the Celts or Ireland and Great Britain and has followed settlers as they have spread throughout the world. If you are going to have a successful party then there are certain things you should plan in advance.

Date

Halloween is traditionally associated with October 31st each year. However the majority of the time this will fall on a weekday. To have a successful party you really need to choose a day when people are not at work the following morning and preferably when they’ve had some time to prepare beforehand. Either the Saturday before or after the 31st October is normally the best bet and try to choose the closest. You will need to tell your guests of the party and invite them well in advance so that they will have time to arrange their costume for the evening. At least a month in advance is required for this.

Costume

The more people who come dressed as spooks, ghouls, ghosts, vampires, butchers the better. Halloween is traditionally the eve of when the departed spirits return to the earth so the theme of all costumes should really be the macabre. People can get their costumes from a variety of sources including buying, hiring or even making them themselves. As this is a popular event many fancy dress hire shops will rent out or have reserved appropriate costumes fairly early, so tell your guests about the party early. The advantage of making your own costume is that you don’t have to be so concerned about damaging it, e.g. spills of wine, which you might be charged for if it was hired. By careful shopping around at Bargain Stores or Second Hand Clothing Stores you will be able to find items to make a costume from very economically.

Decorations

You can really go to town on this one and decorate your whole house if you wanted to. Cobwebs, branches, ghosts, slime are all good. However one of the most effective changes you can make is changing the bulbs in your light fittings for green or red bulbs. This creates a real mood change and should get people into the spirit of the evening.

Food and Catering

Whilst pumpkins are almost mandatory for every Halloween party, you can really go to town with your imagination on this one. It is the one occasion where you can deliberately make the food disgusting (but try to keep the taste nice!). Armed with little more than some green, purple and black food coloring you can turn any food or drink into something appropriate. For novelty you could even have ice cubes using these colours. Many stores will sell Halloween themed snacks in October, however with a little forethought and time you can certainly outdo them.

Games

Apple Bobbing, where people try to extract an apple from a bowl of water using their teeth is the game that everyone thinks of. However there are other games that could be played. If you have some guests that have not turned up in fancy dress you could run a competition to see how quickly contestants can dress them as scarecrows. For a more sedate party, a murder mystery may seen more appropriate.

Music

Music can be a difficult one as different people have different tastes . Try not to have a play list of your favourite tracks, choose an eclectic mix of themed music – not a compilation of Marilyn Manson! If you are having a sufficiently large party you might consider using the services of a DJ who will be able to sort the play list for you, otherwise start this one early and keep listening to the radio and write down the names and artists of tracks that are played which would be appropriate. Burn the compilation to disc(s) for the party before hand so you don’t have to spend time searching for music on the evening, especially if you want to avoid those annoying guests who say, “could you just play ….”.

Generally

For a successful Halloween party plan as far in advance. Try to get as much as possible done before the event. Then at the event try to just let things happen and don’t over organize. The more relaxed the better and if things are prepared and to hand you will be there in having a winning event.

Paul Klein lives and works in Loughborough. He is currently undertaking the planning of a Halloween Party [http://www.inLoughborough.com/halloween/index.shtml].

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