Birthday Party Depot

Planning parties for little ghouls

Planning a children’s Halloween party need not be bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Here are ideas and recipes for a unique party that your little witches and warlocks will talk about for months to come.

When planning a Halloween party, the first thing on your list is to send invitations. You can make invitations very easily using your computer and, if your children are old enough, they may like to design and print these themselves.

To avoid the frustration of people turning up at your party who have not RSVP’d, a good tip is to purposely omit the party’s commencement time from the invitation. Instead, try adding the line, ‘Please RSVP to know the party’s start time’ – this should significantly decrease the number of ‘gatecrashers’.

Costumes are next on the ‘to-do’ list and to children this is one of the most exciting aspects of Halloween. Before talking with your children about the options, bear the following in mind:-

• Select a costume for your child that won’t disintegrate before the night’s festivities are over and one that won’t make the child feel too hot or cold.

• For safety’s sake, ensure the costume will not hamper your child’s movement.

• Face paint is a safer alternative to a visibility-impairing mask.

• If the costume is elaborate, dress your child in simple clothing underneath. This way they can easily step out of it to play games, to take a break or even visit the toilet.

Costumes can be purchased, hired or home-made. If you’re considering the latter, there are hundreds of websites with a glut of unique ideas – head for Google!

As with any party, you can choose to either keep the décor simple with streamers and balloons or go all out and create your own Haunted House. When planning the party’s décor, make sure you consider the ages of the children attending. Younger ones may find just a few hanging bats sufficiently scary, while most teenagers enjoy a heavily themed venue with scary ambient music and sound effects.

Store-bought cobwebs and dimmed lights are wonderful additions to the Halloween atmosphere too. Older kids will absolutely delight in sitting down to eat at a themed party table. All you need is a black or purple tablecloth, a vase of dead flowers, tealight candles and a scattering of small party favours to set the scene for a ghoulish supper. If the table is not large enough to accommodate all your guests, use it to display your food and beverages and provide a buffet meal.

Now….what would a party be without food? A quick search online will result in many Halloween recipes for some superb but gruesome sounding food including Kitty-litter Cake, Baked Bones and Dracula’s Blood Pudding. You can really get creative when it comes to Halloween food but it’s best to keep it simple and not too gross-sounding for the younger elementary ages.

When it comes to quenching thirst… a Halloween party isn’t complete without a bowl of punch. Maybe you’d like to try a Blood Bath? This is made by mixing 64 ounces of cran-raspberry cocktail and four cups of apple juice with four cups of vanilla ice cream. Or perhaps you would prefer a Toxic Punch? For this combine four litres of chilled green lemon-lime soda, 24 ounces of orange juice concentrate, two packets of blue Kool-Aid and a few drops of green food colouring.

When planning your Halloween children’s party, prepare two to three games ahead of time. It’s also a good idea to have an extra game or activity ready just in case. Children can be unpredictable (no way – I hear you say!) and you need to be flexible – so, if a game is not working or is not being enjoyed, having a back-up means that you can easily substitute one with another.

Many favourite party games can be given a new Halloween twist – for example Pin the Hat on the Witch and Pass the Pumpkin. Halloween’s classic game however is Bobbing for Apples in a bowl of water. At our parties we quickly follow this (while faces are still wet) with a good game of Bobbing for Marshmallows – on a plate of flour.

Making ‘Ectoplasm’ is always a big Halloween party hit. This eerie substance is made by combining two cups of cornstarch, one cup of water and a few drops of green food colouring. It is made in just seconds, is a great consistency to play with – and guests can also take some home in a sturdy zip-lock bag!

It’s always a good idea to provide a calmer and quiet corner at parties for children who are not into games. Crayons and some colouring-in sheets along with a batch of play dough and a few biscuit-cutters will keep little hands occupied. At sites like Hello Kitty Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Emo Hello Kittywhile little boys would perhaps enjoy the coloring sheets at Pokemon Coloring Pages.

As an extra activity, fill a plastic jar with sweets and have each guest write their best guess as to how many are in the jar. This is a good game to play at the beginning of the party, as guests filter in. Announce the grand- winner at the end of the party – the champion wins the jar! As your guests leave, surprise them with some spooky treats to take home.

One of the simplest and most effective additions to the traditional goody bag of sweets and chocolates is the Ghost Pop. Place a square piece of white tissue over a lollipop, tie with a small elastic to make a head and then use a black marker to draw eyes on the ghost. These small treats also make great prizes for games.

Finally, remember to charge up your camera and your trusty camcorder and capture each spell-binding moment.