Planning a Halloween Party for Adults

If you think trick or treat is just for kids only, wait till the little imps lapse into sleep before you have your own version of celebrating the annual event by throwing a Halloween party for adults who are not too old for ghoulish stuff.

Unlike Easter or Thanksgiving, Halloween is not a holiday that demands partygoers to be too formal. There are no rules to follow when it comes to hosting a Halloween party for adults. While some hosts will go for a classy Victorian theme, others prefer to hold traditional spooky themes to boost a macabre spirit of fun. You can have the party without spending huge amounts and still allow your guests into the mood by following these basic tips.

Choosing the Party Theme

It seems like a no-brainer when conceptualizing the theme for a Halloween party. You can put up traditional props like pumpkins, skeletons, skulls, and even a bloodied light up devil’s spawn around the venue. However, if you want to bring it to another level, you need to be more creative to come up with nothing like those oft-repeated themes during this part of the year. You may consider any of these Halloween theme party ideas that will surely delight your guests:

• Mystery Series: Choose a top-rating TV series that you and your friends are closely following. Ask them to come as one of the characters in the popular mystery series. Of course, you have to reserve the main role for yourself, not unless it requires you to be dead at the end of the show.

• Celebrities for Eternity: Roll down the red carpet for your “dead” guests in the likes of Michael Jackson, Cory Monteith, Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities who went to the far beyond in their prime. Use police tape to cordon off the venue and give the party place an eerie ambience.

• Scary Potluck Dish: Pave the way and let the most ghoulish-looking main dish take center stage. If you’ve been thinking of what food to serve, let your invited guests do the thinking for you when you ask them to bring in their scariest dish. Lay out all the entries in buffet style and vote for the gooiest salad, creepiest appetizer, most bloodcurdling dessert, and bloodiest drink. The only thinking left is what prizes to give to all the winners.

Invitation Galore

Some events have clearer guidelines on sending out the invites. Formal occasions call for mailed invites while for other occasions it is acceptable to send invites through e-mail. Halloween falls in between these two situations. Because it cannot be categorized as formal, you can send the invites online. Nevertheless, with the abundance of great invitation materials or ready-to-fill-in frightful night Halloween invitations either in bookstores or in the Internet, it really doesn’t make a difference if you mail the design you fancy.

Arriving in Costume

We’re talking about Halloween party for adults, so regardless of how dull and boring the entire setup is, the party will spark to life if everyone arrives wearing a costume. Whether you allow the guests to choose how they eerily dress up for the party, or dictate the costume according to a prescribed theme, it is more fun to reward them for their effort. Apart from the grand prize, think of many categories so that there are more winners for the night. As for those too lame to fit in their costume, perhaps a sign that says so will fit right through their head.

Serving Adult Foods and Drinks

A Halloween party is not the time to get too formal. It is ridiculous to prepare a seating plan for ghosts and monsters. Take the finger food route to serve hearty appetizers and filling main dishes that anybody will love dipping their hands into. Browse for some easy Halloween recipes that you can prepare yourself such as creepy pastry intestine and bloody ladyfingers. Set up a bar of all the scariest cupcakes you can make. You can bake them yourself, or buy your favourite goodies from the local bakeshop and create your own designs using a variety of ingredients to make them sinister-looking.

To quench thirst, concoct strange-looking refreshments with the most bizarre color of blood, slime, or mud by adding in a few drops of food color to the iced punch. Have some black licorice sticks for guests to stir their drinks.

Halloween Fun Activities

If you think Halloween games are childish, it’s time to change that view. No one will mind the adults going out of the bounds of maturity. Still, if you insist to act your age, try pumpkin carving inside a big box. Imagine how the kids will love to have all the curved pumpkins when it’s time for their trick-or-treat tradition. If you don’t have the budget to hire a real tarot-card reader, get into the costume and start inventing your guests’ future. You could also try smashing a vampire coffin piñata for a change.

These ideas for a Halloween party for adults are great ways to remind everyone that Halloween is not just for kids. Try them and have a happy Halloween.