A how-to guide on the perfect Halloween garden party!

A how-to guide on the perfect Halloween garden party!

Halloween is a spooktacular time for a party! Vampires, witches, goblins, ghosts and every creature imaginable are crawling out from their graves and are dying to get their monster mash on! Why don’t your ghoulfriends a devilishly good time by throwing one of these fangtastic themed parties in your pumpkin patch!

What to tell guests ahead of time

One of my favourite parts about Halloween is the wicked costumes and what better time to see some scary good monsters then at a costume party! Make sure that you indicate on your invitations that costumes are mandatory and you can even specify the theme if you want. Of course, you can always let guests come as whatever they want, spooky or not, but why not go the extra mile? Here are a few common but sure to be a crowd pleaser costume themes or you can always make up your own:
Zombies
Monsters
Gothic masquerade
Vampires
Werewolves
Dates in history

Spook up your garden

There are many different ways to make your garden into the perfect Halloween party location. For starters, you can’t go wrong with jack-o-lanterns so be sure to get your carving knives ready and stock up on as many gourds as you can and candles too if you plan to party into the witching hours of the night! Tombstones can make any graveyard a smash as well as cobwebs and both of which can be easily found at a local store or online.

If you choose to set up tables then make sure you have table clothes such as gauze or burlap for a spooky effect or you can get a normal tablecloth with Halloween themed images. You should also pick Halloween themed cutlery and dishes as well as a scary centrepiece to finish off your decorations. A cauldron would be a perfect addition for any witches brew-ha-ha and classic monsters, cats and rat decorations would also spook up your monster mash too.

Make sure your guests don’t get the monster munchies!

For the menu, get creative! Some monsters need an all sweet diet so make sure that you have enough candy to please your hungry goblins. You might choose to trick and treat your ghouls to a full course meal and if this is the case then we highly recommend dressing up your meals to match. This can be simple such as “blood” fruit punch and "finger" cookies, but you can also whip up a devilishly good “pasta” brain,” cemetery” green salad, “maggot” mac-n-cheese chocolate “dirt” pudding, “blood” tomato soup “slime” jello or anything else that gets your fangs watering.

An entertained ghoul is the best ghoul

The great thing about monsters is that they love to compete so make sure to grant awards to the scariest costumes at your bash! You can also have good old-fashioned Halloween themed games such as pin the arm on the zombie, bobbing for apples, a candy scavenger hunt, bloody Mary, or even a stroll through your own, homemade haunted house or hay maze if you have space in your garden to do so.

The witches at your party might enjoy some authentic frights such as tarot card readings and ouija board circles. And, for your creative critters, feel free to have arts and crafts tables full of pumpkins, paint, foam shapes, colouring pages, markers, pencils, crayons or anything else to keep those claws going. Horror movies are a fangtastic addition too.

And, whatever you do, don’t forget the loot bags or you will have nightmares that will haunt you forever! Happy Halloween!