How do you celebrate Halloween when you get too old to go trick-or-treating? Well, you throw a party, of course. And we all know the best Halloween parties are a little bit spooky and a whole lot of fun.
You don’t have to be Wes Craven to create a delightfully dark atmosphere that kids and adults will love. Here’s our guide to putting together a Halloween party for the ages, organized by creepy category:
Tablewares
What’s a party without a little gluttony? Keep your spooky theme going strong with these fun means of serving your guests food and drink.
1. Halloween Nocturne Skull Paper Plates
Serve your human brains and bat-wings in style. These paper plates hold up to any amount of ichor and they add plenty of creepy ambiance with a vintage-style skull and a border of autumn leaves.
This pack of eight paper plates is part of Target’s Hyde and Eek! Boutique collection. It’s full of spooky Halloween-themed decor that’ll make your party memorable for all the most frightening reasons.
Give your hors d’oeuvres a terrifying touch with these plastic toothpicks. Pro tip: They also add a little Halloween spirit to dessert when you use them as cupcake toppers.
This package of 72 Halloween picks includes a mixture of ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, spiders, and vampire bats. It’s enough to make anyone howl in terror, at least until they get a bite of your delicious hors d’oeuvres!
It really isn’t a Halloween party without a brain-shaped gelatin dessert. Treat your guests to some strawberry gelatin that will really give them something to think about.
This gelatin mold makes a frightfully realistic looking edible brain! It’s even just about the right size at nearly 10 inches long. This is the perfect centerpiece for a zombie-themed party, if you have the courage to throw a zombie-themed party, that is.
4. Glow-in-the-Dark Soda Bottle Labels
You can’t serve regular soda this time of year. Instead, dress up your two-liter bottles with these scarily funny labels. They even glow in the dark!
See if your guests would like a sip of Nosferatu Vampire Blood, or just a little taste of Poison. They can chug Wicked Witch Brew or refresh themselves with Zombie Brain Juice.
No matter what they choose, they’re sure to get a thrill from these terrifyingly fun soda labels!
Serve party drinks with a wicked flair. These imitation blood bags include a plastic syringe so you can fill them with your favorite fluids. They’re perfect for the season, and for vampires everywhere.
This package of 10 ships empty, of course, so it’s up to you what you want to fill them with. Sip from the attached straw. The anti-leak design will keep soda, juice, or blood safely inside the bag so your party doesn’t get too messy.
Games & Decor
Create the perfect Halloween environment with these decorations, and turn up the fun factor with a few great party games. These activities and decorations represent fun for all ages, so parents and kids can enjoy them together. It’s party time!
Throw a couple of these realistic cat skeletons on the shelves and watch your guests shriek in terror. It looks just like the real thing…not that we’ve seen the real thing. We hope we never do.
This is another item in the Halloween-themed Hyde and Eek! Boutique collection from Target. It’s got a movable jaw so you can set the fanged mouth however you like. Frighten and delight your guests!
2. Inflatable Spider Ring Toss Game
Who can get the rings around the spider legs? This creepy inflatable spider provides tons of fun for party guests. It includes four rings. The goal is to toss them onto the upturned spider legs, which is harder than it looks!
At just two feet tall and nearly a foot wide, this Halloween party game won’t take up too much room in your darkened parlor or on the chilly lawn. But it is plenty big enough to grab some attention and give kids and adults alike a fun challenge.
Set the table for a terrifying dinner with this skull-print tablecloth. It’s all cotton and machine-washable in case your guests get a little messy.
The level of detail in this skull-and-vine print is pretty amazing. In fact, you might want to leave it on the table all year. That option is probably reserved for goths, but hey, maybe it’s time to go there.
Set up a Halloween photo booth at your party and have a blast while you’re preparing it. This kit contains everything you need to make 19 hilarious Halloween photo props. Even better, you get to enjoy the DIY thrills of putting them together yourself.
This kit contains everything you need except glue, tape, a hole punch, and scissors. Get the kids involved in preparing for the party with this DIY paper props kit.
Get it from Paper Source here.
5. Haunted House Decorating Kit
Get all the decorations you need in a single pack. This set include a chandelier plus 16 other frightening paper skulls, spiders, ravens, and bats to give your home that haunted feel.
It’s all black with glitter, which perfectly captures the creepy fun of the holiday. The skulls might be a little scary for very small children, but this is the perfect decoration kit for older kids and adults.
Jenga is a great party game, but it’s a little tame for Halloween. That’s where Stack the Bones comes in. It’s basically a Jenga set with bones instead of blo
cks. It’s just as fun as its inspiration, and a little bit spookier.
See how high you can build this skeleton without the whole thing tumbling down! Leave this set up on a table at your next party and people will line up to play.
Get it from Paper Source here.
Invites & Favors
The party really begins with the invites, and it ends with favors your guests can take home. Here are some of our favorites.
1. Family Friendly Halloween Invitations
You can’t have a party if you don’t invite the guests. These cute paper postcards tell your friends and family what they’re in for this Halloween.
This package even comes with Halloween-orange envelopes and ghost and pumpkin stickers to seal them shut. These cards are the ideal way to get the guests to save the date! A total of 20 invitations are included.
2. Glow in the Dark Halloween Bouncy Eyeballs
These rubber bouncy balls capture the spirit of the season, and this package of 12 gives you plenty of perfect Halloween party favors. They may look like eyeballs, but real eyes don’t tend to glow in the dark like these…or do they?
Kids love these classic party favors, although they probably aren’t appropriate for the very little ones. Make sure kids are old enough to know they shouldn’t put these things in their mouths before handing them out.
Wind them up and watch them zip around the table. These haunting toys are fun for all ages. In fact, you might want to order extra for the moms and dads in attendance.
These come in blue, pink, and white, and with a variety of cute expressions. One grins at you, another grimaces in embarrassment, and a third sticks its tongue out cheekily.
Get them from Paper Source here.
4. Meri Meri Halloween Friends Party Bags
You can’t send your guests home with favors if you don’t give them treat bags, and these are ideal. Each small paper sack is adorned with a cute Halloween ghost or witch.
The cheerful shade of Halloween orange will put everyone in the holiday spirit, and they’ll be talking about your party until this time next year!