Tips On How To Host A Great Halloween Party

In this post, I’ll be addressing both, so irrespective of what you plan to do as a host, you’ll be getting more treats than tricks.

1. Halloween Party Genre

As I mentioned earlier in my intro, you must establish the angle you’re going for and make sure you stick to it. You’ll need to make sure that the theme is well conveyed in your invite and throughout your event. You do not want workplace fashionista showing up in Halloween couture while the office clown turns up in a giant pumpkin. And while you can throw caution to the wind and let everyone show up dressed in whatever they want, some people might take this opportunity not to dress up at all!

2. Halloween Décor

The best way to create the mood you are looking for is with décor. I cannot stress the importance of décor enough. Besides enhancing your event’s theme, decorations also help add the wow factor for guests and help get your Halloween event known. Cool and interesting decorations create a certain aura that makes it hard for people to forget. And when people remember your event, they will talk about it and share the pictures they took at the event with others. This is a good thing for you as you get to earn cool points amongst your friends, and if the event was a corporate one, you get an opportunity to promote your company. This is an excellent time to add a few details (more on this later) that help nail in the unique aspects of your Halloween event.

3. Venue

This is one aspect that, if gotten right, could help create the perfect vibe for your party. While planning to host the event at your home is more than perfectly okay, there are a couple of things you can do to make the space spookier and more themed. Home Halloween parties can be further enhanced by attaching marquees to your house – something like a scary cave where guests can file into a tent and enjoy the music and ambiance. Apart from creating more space for guests to have fun, it also helps keep people out of the house. At the same time, it provides even more space for decorations.

Since you are hosting a Halloween-themed party, consider enhancing the tent with black sides to make the space even darker, which, if you plan on having the place well lit, could make the marquee stand out. The good thing about marquees is that they offer more open space, which means you can host games, including those that involve water and other messy bits, inside one of them. This should save you from the pain of cleaning your floors, sofas, and carpets once the event is over.

For higher budget events and corporate events, however, manor houses and hotels can really add the creepy factor and authenticity to your party – things that can be easily achieved using decorations, lighting, and other details that help personalize the event to your company or brand, or for individuals, to leave a good impression on their guests. Fortunately, many hotels do offer bespoke packages that suit different clientele and often have Halloween-themed decorations and props on-site for clients who need them – which is a great bonus!

4. Halloween-Themed Food and Drinks

Suppose you are planning to host a corporate Halloween party. In that case, catering is one of the things you need to make sure is on point as guests – before they’ve had a few drinks – prefer staying in safe zones (that is near the bar and food stations) where they can mingle with others while having snacks and enjoying a drink or two. This helps break the ice between strangers and allows people to feel more at ease. As the host, make sure you put more thought into your food and drink choices.

We’ve worked with a few professional mixologists who specialize in mixing cocktails and are renowned for making signature drinks like neon cocktails. Mixologists are a great addition to any event, and their skills are definitely crowd thrillers. We usually provide themed food at most of our events, and we have found that this is one the best ways of adding details and a personal touch to any party, especially festive ones.

Center-piece cakes can be an excellent addition to both corporate and private events as they are something that can be offered to attending guests as a gift of appreciation or to sit there and look pretty. Shape cutters and food dye can be godsent for amateur cooks – while they are basic and easy to use, they provide fantastic results (as long as the food’s been cooked properly and the final product is palatable!)

5. Music

Music is what makes or breaks a party. You do not want anything that is too unrelated to Halloween, but yet again, you do not want to take your guests on a trip to Cheeseville and end up stuffing Halloween down their throats either. Striking a balance is key. It’s best to start with a couple of classic Halloween songs like off with your head and thriller as they stick to the theme and help guests get into the mood.

After about 30 to 45 minutes have passed, you can start involving other tunes that are considered party classics that will get your guests pumped up like oops upside your head, cha-cha slide, and macarena. We work with various professional DJs that you can give a list of songs to play at some point or at a specific time during the event. Alternatively, you could have your DJ create a playlist for you, which offers you more freedom to have a say or just let them do their thing.

6. Projecting Halloween Images

This idea allows you to take control of your event, and we’ve used it in so many parties. The good thing about projecting Halloween images is that it’s diverse and can suit private or corporate events! With projection, you can display pictures, motions, or constant screens of your choice throughout the event.

This idea is perfect, especially for Halloween-themed parties. It allows you to showcase snippets from classic scary movies like the elevating girl scene in The Exorcist and bathroom scene from The Shining. This is a great visual and awesome spooky extra for guests at your party to look at and talk about their favorites.

You can also use it to display photos that are being taken of your guests throughout the party. aThis allows everyone to see the ideas and costumes of other guests are wearing. lThis can help liven up the atmosphere and is a great way to help people remember your event.

7. Halloween Ice-Breaker Games

Games serve as great icebreakers and are a perfect addition to any corporate or private Halloween party. Competitions like ‘crack the skull’ (a pinata skull of course) or ‘poison apple bobbing’ are a great way to keep your guests entertained and busy. Fortunately, there are so many fun games and activities that hold to the Halloween theme. Light up bouncing balls, wands gloves and more are available to order as fun party props. Furthermore, we have hundreds of Halloween props that we’ve accumulated over the years. However, you still can make most of these games with household items – all you have to do is ‘gorify’ them with some clay, decorations, or paint!