Halloween Party Ideas

Old-Fashioned Halloween Party Ideas Make Halloween Special

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Halloween (October 31st) as a party night, grows more and more popular every year. And why shouldn't it, since in our dull, everyday world of work there is often too little simple, wholehearted, and wholesome fun? Both children and older folk should enter into the spirit of Halloween because it is one night when realties can be laid aside and all is delightfully make-believe.

Here are some Halloween party ideas to make your party a night to remember.

Homemade Costume Ideas

Everybody who is young in heart loves to dress up, and Halloween is a fine time to do it. The simplest party becomes an event when we have special costumes to wear. They need not cost much. There are always odd lengths of fabric to be had cheaply, or perhaps the sewer's piece bag can supply the needed materials.

An old cretonne curtain will make perfect skirts for the Dame of other days. A stunning clown suit can be quickly run up on the sewing machine if you can find two good-sized remnants preferably black and white, and leftover gingham or chambray makes a cute little Pierrot dress, cut on romper lines.

Exploration of a storeroom and attic yields rich gifts to the youngsters' delving. The styles of other days are joyfully seized and exploited by the present younger generation in their zeal for odd or comic costumes. A glance at the fashion pages of an old magazine of twenty years ago or even less shows us a world clothed in styles now forgotten.

Tiny black or silver masks are very becoming and may be worn with any homemade costume. They add a touch of mystery very appropriate for the occasion.

Halloween Decoration Ideas

Real pumpkins and golden cornstalks, bright autumn leaves, pine cones, and ripened stalks of grain make realistic decorations; and sharp scissors and black paper are all that are needed for conjuring up shadowy bats, spitting cats, and menacing owls, while yellow and orange paper leavens the mixture with mellow full moons, pumpkins, and grinning jack o' lanterns.

These colors form the traditional color scheme, but some silver paint and paper add to the brightness. An amusing note of change is to have cubistic jack-o'-lanterns in ultramodern fashion. These may be made from square cardboard boxes covered with bright orange tissue or crepe paper. They show up beautifully in shadowy corners of a room and are a great Halloween party idea that costs very little.

Party Ice Breakers

Games should be made ready beforehand so that there will not be any ice to break after everybody arrives. First-comers should be engaged in some game or silly stunt at once, and others as they come may join in. Try these Halloween tongue twisters: "Jolly, Jack jokes about Jack-o'-lanterns" and "Pretty Polly pecks pumpkin pips." Later, familiar board games like checkers or snakes-and-ladders are popular and fun.

Party Refreshment Ideas

The summons to supper may be the rat-tat-tat of a toy drum or the piercing whistle -- something loud and sudden.

Refreshments may be served cafeteria style. The food is arranged attractively, and each guest serves themself. This method is easy and adds a cheerful informality.

Spread the table with a white cloth bedecked with owls, cats, and bats cut from black and silver paper.

The table centerpiece may be the last bright flowers from the garden, or field; or half a pumpkin scooped out and lined with leaves to form a bowl for apples and nuts; or any other seasonable arrangement which suggests itself to us and pleases our fancy.

Burnished red apples make creative candlesticks by using an apple corer to form a hole into which to thrust an orange or white colored candle.

Halloween Party Recipes

Skyscraper sandwiches with ginger ale, root beer, or lemonade would be enough to serve, but we may add other novelties or even serve a complete supper. The sandwiches are served one on each plate and are of several kinds, with varying sizes piled one on top of another. The base is a sweet sandwich made of three thin slices of white bread, the two bottom ones spread with jelly.

On top of the base sandwich is a smaller one made of nut bread filled with a thick layer of cream cheese, then comes a smaller one still, made of white bread or brown bread filled with chopped ham and sweet pickles. On top of this is a square of cheese and a pickle slice. Beginning with the ham sandwich and finishing with the sweet one makes a meal in itself. The fillings may be varied if the order of hearty to sweet is followed.

Apple pie may be served whole, each guest helping themself and putting a spoonful of homemade ice cream from a chilled bowl on the table, on top of the still-warm piece.

Warm, buttered popcorn, apples, pumpkin pie, and doughnuts play a prominent part of this night and as they are simple and cheap, they earn their popularity. Fresh gingerbread with fruit salad is a very good combination. Coffee, cocoa, and lemonade are the popular beverages to offer.

Halloween Party Games

After refreshments, we should not neglect to try some of the time-honored and always thrilling Halloween stunts. Fill a clean washtub with fresh water and duck for apples. Or, with hands clasped behind the back, guests attempt to bite a chunk from an apple suspended by a string.

The old games make great Halloween party ideas, and they are always popular, but a little novelty at the beginning of the evening gives your party a touch of the new and unexpected.

Party Outdoors In The Shadowy Dusk

Hosting an outdoor party is a great Halloween party idea. Children of all ages will enjoy a spooky Halloween party outdoors in the shadowy dusk, weather permitting.

For outdoor Halloween decorations, have pumpkin lanterns on fence posts or tables, and if not already costumed, garb each merrymaker in an old bed sheet. Costumes add to the occasion and put zest into the games. By the light of a jack-o'-lantern everyone bobs for apples in a tub of fresh water or tries to bite an apple suspended by a string from a tree branch.

Finally, a white sheet in a dusky corner of the garden is lifted to reveal a big basket of tasty sandwiches, a jug of hot cocoa and one of fruit punch, a Halloween cake with coins baked in it, or a crock of homemade doughnuts and molasses cookies, apples, and chewy molasses candy.

Thus, high spirits are not confined in the house and the very essence of Halloween seems distilled for the children who are fortunate enough to have such a party planned for them.