Hallowe'en Party

Hallowe'en is fast approaching and there is no better excuse for a party! Go for a truly frightful theme and have a spookily good time.

Your Budget

Before you make any plans you need to decide how much you want to spend. If you're sticking to a tight budget, you can ask guests to bring their own drinks and nibbles.

Getting Started

Start with a guest list and make your own invitations with a hallowe'en theme. Get creative and shape your card into a pumpkin, bat or a phantom's mask.

Decorating

Get the atmosphere just right and decorate the party room with cobwebs, bats, skeletons and bugs!

Keep the room dark using candles for lighting and, if you really want to make things eerie, why not use special effects like a screeching door and blood curdling screams and get some dry ice to complete the creepy theme!

Here's an idea for candles with a difference:

Bloody Candles

Wrap red candles with sheets of white beeswax. As the candle burns, the red wax will drip over the white beeswax

Don't forget those pumpkins - make Jack 'o Lanterns to greet your guests at the front door.

Fancy Dress

It's not going to be a proper party unless everyone makes an effort with their costumes. If you are stuck for ideas, here are a few suggestions for the party goers:

Dracula - For the classic Dracula look go for the big black cape, suit , top hat and walking stick. Use face paints to re-create the pale face and blood dripping fangs . Wear a black slicked back wig to complete the look.

Elvira - Get vamped up with a long, dark, ghoulish dress, fishnet stockings and high heels. Use face paints to re-create the pale face, wear smoky eyeshadow, lots of black mascara and red lipstick. Don't forget the long black wig!

Vampire Victim - This is an easy costume to create and is a great solution for those who really don't like to get dressed up.

All that is required is some pale make up and a little scar tissue and blood, which you will find at your local fancy dress hire or joke shop.

Vampire Slayer - Go vampire hunting with your strings of garlic and stake. Don't start chewing on the garlic though, or you will be an unpopular guest!

Bat - Another easy costume to assemble. Just gather together lots of black. Trousers and top with bat wings made out of cardboard on your back and you are ready to go.

Little Devil - get yourself a big red cape and wear black underneath it and you are almost sorted! Complete the look with plastic horns and fork from your local fancy dress or joke shop.

Ghost - By far the easiest costume to put together. Get yourself a big white sheet, cut a couple of holes out for the eyes and you are ready to go!

Mummy - Gel back your hair and pull it away from your face. Use white face paint to take away the healthy glow. Wrap strips of muslin or cotton around your body.

Skeleton - Black leotard and tights for the lady skeletons and black polo neck and trousers for the men. Use white insulating tape for ribs and bones. Whiten your face and blacken circles round your eyes with face paints.

Witch - Get cackling in your witches costume with a pointy black hat , a black raggy dress and a pair of old black shoes.

Use green and black face paints to finish off the look and you are ready to get on your broomstick and get up to some wicked witch behaviour.

Food

Take a bite out of hallowe'en and enjoy some fang-tastic finger foods. It will make life much easier for you if you lay the food out on a table and encourage guests to help themselves.

Try out some of our devilishly good hallowe'en recipes.

Entertainment

So now you have everything set, guests will be arriving in costume, your house will look appropriately scary, the food devilishly tasty and you have warned the neighbours to expect an onslaught of ghosts and ghouls in the neighbourhood.

What are you going to do to make sure that the party keeps going through the night? Here are a few ideas that you might like to consider:

Ask your guests to come prepared for a story telling contest, strictly ghost stories and other spooky tales.

Think about music with a chilling theme, what about the soundtrack to your favourite horror movie?

How about keeping the lights low and watching a scary movie.

What about "Interview with the Vampire", "Blair Witch Project" or one of the "Hallowe'en" series? You won't be stuck for choice down at the video shop.

Another option would be a Murder Mystery evening.

You can buy packs which include all you will need for the evening, from invites and recipes to character profiles and mystery clues. Murder Mystery games can be found at most major toyshops.

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