Fun Halloween Party Themes and Ideas

Halloween is the day of the year that has the most parties thrown in its honor. Everyone loves to dress up and attend Halloween parties with their friends. Most people end up getting several invitations to different Halloween parties that are often on the same night. If you are planning to throw your own Halloween party, how can you get all your friends to head to your shindig and not someone else's? You need to come up with some unique and fun ideas that will get everyone on your list so excited about your party they won't even consider going anywhere else.

Not Just Any Old Theme

Many people don't bother thinking of a theme for their Halloween party since it seems to be somewhat of a theme already. But rather than just putting up some Happy Halloween banners and fake cobwebs, why not come up with a great theme party idea? You can do anything from a haunted house or graveyard to a monster mash or horror movie bash. Once you've chosen your theme apply it to everything from your invitations to your party food. Guests will love some guidance on what to dress up as, especially if you do something a little different.

Your Halloween party invitations are one of the most important aspects of your party. Invitations are the best way to get your guests excited about your party. Many people don't even send invitations anymore so even sending out simple ones will help your party stick in people's minds. Be sure to apply your party theme to your invitations. If you can't find any invitations at your local party store that go with your theme you can always use invitation templates that you can download for free from the Internet.

You can totally customize invitation templates and add colorful pictures as well. Guests will love to receive these fun invitations in the mail. You should send your invitations out approximately three to four weeks before your party to give everyone time to make plans to attend. If you're running short of time sending electronic invitations is a great idea too. You can add animation and sound to e-invitations and even check guest's responses online. Be sure to contact anyone who doesn't respond via telephone since not everyone checks their email often.

Spooky Decorations

Everyone will expect to see your house decorated to the nines on Halloween so be sure not to disappoint. Your decorations should match your theme, so give them plenty of thought. For instance, a haunted house theme should be complete with low lighting, smoke, a spooky soundtrack, and even live ghouls to jump out and scare the guests as they arrive. A horror movie bash might include retro horror B-movie posters stuck on the walls which you can find on the Internet and print off at home.

Decorations can be found just about anywhere in the months leading up to Halloween. Even grocery stores carry a wide selection. Start shopping early so you can get the best selection possible and take advantage of any sales. If you can't find just what you're looking for you can always rent decorations from a local party supply shop or even purchase decorations from the Internet. The Internet has an almost endless selection and you can find just about any party supplies or decorations you'll need.

Music is an important aspect of any party as well. While some spooky tunes are fun at first, you'll want to switch over to some more upbeat music once the party gets going. People love to dance so have plenty of high energy songs ready to go. If you are inviting a variety of different people have several different types of music so no ones gets bored.

Tasty Halloween Treats

Food is an important part of any party. While you don't need to provide a full meal, some creative and tasty snacks and treats will help keep your guests fueled for the night's festivities. Turning simple party food into ghoulish culinary delights will surprise and please your guests. Try making some bewitching cupcakes, and put out snacks such as gummy worms and other Halloween candy treats.

Costumes are a given, since this is Halloween after all. If you are having a Halloween theme of some sort, let your guests know on your invitations that they should dress to fit the theme. For instance, if you're throwing a horror movie bash, you can simply say, "come as your favorite horror movie star". Don't expect all your guests to comply with your request. Some people have been thinking up their Halloween costume since last year!

Don't forget about the party favors! Depending on how many people you're inviting and how much you're willing to spend, the possibilities are endless when it comes to party favors. A simple idea is candy bags full of traditional treats such as candy corn. Something more substantial might be a pumpkin carving kit that comes with cutouts and tools. Your guests will love having a little something to take home with them.

Endless Costume Possibilities

If you really aren't into the scary aspect of Halloween, you can always break with tradition and hold a different type of Halloween party. Have a famous couples party or a crazy hat party instead. Guests can still dress up but might be more creative then a white sheet with holes cut out of it. Dressing up for Halloween is something that both adults and kids can enjoy so great creative and have fun with it!

Having games at your party isn't a necessity, but can be a great deal of fun for your guests. Games act as an excellent icebreaker if everyone doesn't know each other. Any games where you can break people off into teams will help to get everyone talking. Pumpkin carving contests are a good idea, as is bobbing for apples. Be sure to give a prize to the best costume as well.

Your Halloween party is sure to be a success if you take the time to plan. Leave yourself plenty of time and don't forget it's all the little details that help to make a fabulous party. Enlist the help of family and friends if you're feeling overwhelmed, and remember, planning is half the fun!

John Lenaghan writes about party planning and other tips for the Party Ideas 4u website, where he provides valuable tips and advice about Halloween party ideas, birthday party ideas and other party planning topics.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

In this photo provided by the United Nations, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, confers with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, left, and Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh prior to a meeting of the Group of Arab States to discuss the situation in Gaza Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009 at UN headquarters in New York. At right rear, is U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad. (AP Photo/UN Photo, Evan Schneider)AP - The U.N. Security Council has approved a resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces now fighting in the Gaza Strip. Thursday night's vote was 14-0 with the United States abstaining.



Vice President Dick Cheney pauses during an interview with the Associated Press at the White House in Washington Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said. In an interview with The Associated Press, Cheney also said that Bush has no need to apologize for not foreseeing the economic crisis.



Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) votes to recommend the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the House during an Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment putting the matter before the full house.  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.



President-elect Barack Obama speaks about the economy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.,  Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.



In this Jan. 5, 2009 file photo, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)AP - The many Bernard Madoff investors who withdrew money from their accounts over the years are now wrestling with an ethical and legal quandary. What they thought were profits was likely money stolen from other clients in what prosecutors are calling the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Now, they are confronting the possibility they may have to pay some of it back.



Directors of the BART transit agency listen to public comments on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. Speakers criticized the agency for its handling of a New Year’s Days incident involving a BART police officer who shot and killed unarmed 22-year-old Oscar Grant. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)AP - In grainy cell-phone videos played over and over on the Internet, police officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him face-down on a crowded train platform. Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun and fatally shoots the man in the back — then looks up.



U.S. General David Petraeus, the commander overseeing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, talks during a conference in Rome December 9, 2008. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)AP - U.S. policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its intertwined relationship with U.S. terrorism-fighting ally Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander in the region said Thursday.



AP - An 82-year-old businessman was charged Thursday with running a Ponzi scheme that took in at least $17 million from a clientele gleaned largely through ads in Catholic newspapers.

AP - A funeral home might be a place for eternal rest, but police say an Arkansas man saw an opportunity to build a methamphetamine lab undisturbed by the living. There was just one problem — the funeral home was across the street from the sheriff's office.

Florida's Tim Tebow reaches back to pass during the first quarter of the BCS Championship NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Miami on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)AP - Two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks couldn't produce a point in the first quarter of the BCS championship game. Tim Tebow and No. 1 Florida and Sam Bradford and No. 2 Oklahoma were scoreless after the first 15 minutes at Dolphin Stadium on Thursday night.



Israeli soldiers take their positions during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip January 8, 2009, in this picture released by Israel's Defence Forces (IDF). (Doron Keren/IDF/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Recovery teams ventured into battlegrounds of the Gaza Strip on Thursday to gather bodies from the rubble, and Hamas officials said the Palestinian death toll in Israel's 13-day-old offensive had risen to 765.



President-elect Barack Obama at a news conference in Chicago, December 7, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama warned on Thursday the U.S. economy could stay mired in recession for years without bold action and he urged lawmakers to work day and night to pass a massive stimulus plan.



People taking the Long Island Foreclosure Tour arrive at a foreclosed home for sale in New Hyde Park, New York in this May 17, 2008 file photo. Citigroup could soon agree to principles that would let troubled borrowers save their homes through bankruptcy, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, while industry groups are easing their opposition to the plan. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.



Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich gestures as he announces former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris as his choice to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama during a news conference in Chicago, Illinois December 30, 2008. (Frank Polich/Reuters)Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.



U.S. General David Petraeus, the commander overseeing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, talks during a conference in Rome December 9, 2008. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)Reuters - The United States and its allies share some interests with Iran when it comes to stabilizing Afghanistan, Army Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. military's Central Command, said on Thursday.



Bernard Madoff is escorted from Federal Court in New York January 5, 2009. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)Reuters - Accused swindler Bernard Madoff had signed checks totaling more than $173 million in his office desk ready to be sent out before his arrest, U.S. prosecutors said in court papers on Thursday asking a judge to jail him.



Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (L) delivers remarks after being announced as the new Democratic National Committee chairman by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, January 8, 2009. (Jim Young/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama named Tim Kaine as head of the Democratic Party on Thursday, rewarding an early supporter with a high-profile political post even as he continues to serve as Virginia governor.



A customer shops at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas, June 5, 2008. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other top U.S. retailers delivered disappointing December same-store sales and profit warnings on Thursday, sparking fresh recession concerns that hit stock and currency markets.



A wounded Palestinian is carried into Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital. Diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict intensified Friday with Western and Arab diplomats agreeing to call for an immediate ceasefire as the death toll from the two-week-old war rose past 760.(AFP/Yassr Saymeh)AFP - Diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict intensified Friday with Western and Arab diplomats agreeing to call for an immediate ceasefire as the death toll from the two-week-old war rose past 760.



A man carries firewood in the suburbs of Sofia, Bulgaria. Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.(AFP/Dimitar Dilkoff)AFP - Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.




Unique Gift Ideas -- The Gift Of Fitness

Well, it's almost that time of year again ? the holiday shopping... Read More

Secrets to a Stress Free Holiday

December and all the excitement that comes with it can either be... Read More

Holiday Times Are For Helping Those Less Fortunate, Think Holiday Cards

Every year I watch as advertisers begin to promote their products for... Read More

Why July 4th ?

On July 4th 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.... Read More

Decorating for a Victorian Christmas

Berry Manor Inn owner, Cheryl Michaelsen wouldn't admit it, but with all... Read More

A Simple Little Holiday Plan

The Thanksgiving leftovers have all been eaten and the gift-buying season has... Read More

An Easy Gift For Many Occasions

It can be very hard to find that one perfect gift for... Read More

Spend More Time With Your Family This Holiday Season: Host A Caroling Party

Too often we forgo entertaining because of the mere thought of all... Read More

Its Party Time - Lets Decorate!

Holidays are here and so is the spirit of partying. Here are... Read More

A Mothers Day Prayer! Mamma Whispered Softly!

Patty Lovelace Country MusicVerse #1 Through the back window of a 59... Read More

Christmas and New Year Celebrations: How Significant?

I remember vividly as if it were yesterday when I was only... Read More

Fun Halloween Ideas

Looking for interesting Halloween ideas? Perhaps you are looking for something new... Read More

Easy Costumes Kids Can Make

The kindergarten class I was teaching was scheduled to perform a dramatic... Read More

Birthday Gift Guide

A birthday gift is the opportunity to show your loved one precisely... Read More

Tips For Singles on Surviving (And Enjoying) The Holidays

Here you are, facing the holiday season alone. Have you been thinking... Read More

A Priceless Birthday Gift

Kelly was a very wealthy Hollywood actress, who was used to a... Read More

10 Ways to Keep Your Expectations From Making You Crazy This Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time! Everyone is full of good cheer, the... Read More

Beyond All Tied Up With A Bow - Great Tips for Creating Beautifully Wrapped Holiday Gifts

No matter what the season, packages make a statement even before they're... Read More

Tips to Save Time & Money; Christmas Shopping Online

So Christmas is a few months away. Seems like a lot of... Read More

Making Gifts A Pleasure

As we reach the time of year when Christmas items start to... Read More

Get Organised for Christmas... NOW!

Hasn't time flown? Only six weeks to Christmas!Now you may think that... Read More

Unique Gift Ideas for the Holiday Season! Go Digital!

Instead of scouring the mall for gifts this holiday season why not... Read More

Anniversary Gift Ideas Year by Year, the First Nineteen Years

It's impossible to remember what gift is traditional for each anniversary. This... Read More

Is Buying a Gift for Mom as Difficult for You as it is for Me?

I have walked through a countless number of stores searching for a... Read More

Ultimate Army Themed Games & Activities for Your Childs Birthday Party

Are you looking for the Ultimate Army Themed Party Games and Activities?... Read More

Jeweled Shamrock Pendant

March 17th is St. Patrick's Day and according to tradition if you... Read More

Ten Tips for a Real Holiday Season

Holidays and the start of a new year inevitably make us think... Read More

Mothers Day Love Letter ? The Best Way to Express Your Gratitude and Appreciation for Mom!

Abraham Lincoln said ? "All that I am, or hope to be,... Read More

Christmas Lights Add Sparkle To The Holidays

Electric Christmas lights have been around since the 1880's. It is no... Read More

Top 50 Christmas Quotations

"Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a... Read More

The Rose

Lifestyle is style over amount. And style is an art - the... Read More

The Cheapest Christmas Ever!

Have you ever said "I wish we didn't have to spend so... Read More

The Evolution of Christmas Ornaments

Things have come a long way since a Christmas ornament was likely... Read More

Make a Golden Christmas Tree

Several Years ago while I was shopping for Christmas I stopped dead... Read More

The Gift of Failure

During this Thanksgiving holiday, we are reminded to reflect on the bounty... Read More

Holiday Candy Canes Are Festive and Fun

Candy canes are everyone's favorite holiday treat. Just think about how versatile... Read More

Gift of the Month Clubs: The Lazy Mans Guide to Gift Giving

If you are like me and are a very lousy shopper and... Read More

Romance on a Budget

Valentine's Day is often synonymous with lush velvety looking red roses and... Read More

A Valentines Day Story

Valentine's Day...the day of love right? Many years ago, 22 to be... Read More

How To Choose The Hotel Thats Right For You

Getting the right hotel to spend one~s vacation at is one of... Read More

Reduce Waste This Christmas

- Christmas is responsible for more waste and consumption than any other... Read More

Outside the Box Gingerbread Houses

Beyond trees and wreaths, there are few symbols of the holidays so... Read More

The Only Way to Turn New Year Resolutions Into Reality!

So you ate, drank and spent too much over the Holidays. Now... Read More

7 Tips For Defusing Holiday Stress

KNOW THYSELFThe first key to creating a peaceful holiday season is identifying... Read More

Make Every Day a Mothers Day!

The word mother and mothers day are simple, yet powerful little words... Read More

What Are You Doing This Halloween?

When it comes to Halloween there's no lack of variety in the... Read More

Aran... Where the Sweaters Come From

Aran Sweaters. The Aran sweater takes its name from the islands from... Read More