Halloween Drop-In Party Ideas
Games, Favors, Food and Fun that will Treat the Whole Family
Invite trick-or-treaters to stop over for some kooky, spooky fun.
Treat your friends and neighbors to the perfect ending to a night of trick-or-treating – a fun-filled Halloween party at your house.
Make your Halloween party fun for kids of all ages, as well as their parents. This is one party that can be as simple as you have time, since it caps a night of fun and festivities.
Send out invitations for this “drop-in” Halloween bash, asking your friends and neighbors to make your house their last stop on their trick-or-treat circuit, or throw a party as an alternative to trick-or-treat.
The Food
Serve finger-foods or, if the timing is right for dinnertime, serve bowls of chili and pumpkin bread for a late-night casual dinner.
Avoid party foods that are too sweet, since everyone will be digging into the fun-sized Three Musketeers bars soon enough.
For a Halloween party menu perfect for kids and adults, see Halloween Party Recipes.
The Mood
Get yourself a CD of Halloween songs – there are dozens of them at Halloween stores and music stores. You can even have a karaoke contest with Halloween songs like “Monster Mash,” “I Put a Spell on You” and “Purple People Eater.”
Halloween decorations can be simple and cheap. Replace some light bulbs with orange ones. Hang some rubber spiders from a ceiling chandelier. Put fake spider webs in the corners. String some orange lights over doorways.
A fun, easy ceiling attention-grabber is a giant spider, made from a stuffed, black garbage bag in the center and black crepe paper extending out for legs. Cut out duct tape circles for eyes.
Halloween stores have more props and decorations than you can shake a witch’s broom at. Browse the stores for ideas and use your imagination to make your own.
Games and Activities
Kids love to show off their Halloween costumes. Take photographs of each child in his costume sitting by a backdrop or scene that you’ve put together ahead of time.
Have some Halloween party games that kids of all ages can play together.
- Mummy Wrap – Partner up the kids and give each pair a roll of toilet paper (buy the cheapest). On your signal one partner starts to wrap his partner in toilet paper from head to toe until he’s covered like a mummy. Whoever gets to the end of the roll first is the winner.
- Pass the Pumpkin – Like the game hot potato, kids sit in a circle and pass a small pumpkin around until the music stops. The child holding the pumpkin when the music stops is out.
- Bobbing for Apples – This traditional favorite is a hit with kids today. It’s not as easy as it looks. Be prepared to get wet!
- Halloween Scavenger Hunt – If you have a small number of children at your party, set up a scavenger hunt by giving each child a clue on a piece of paper. That clue will lead them to a spot where they’ll find another clue, to another spot and another clue, and on until they’re led to a goody bag of candy.
- Scarecrow Build – Using old clothes and straw, have the kids make a scarecrow. Give them lots of supplies for maximum creativity!
- If you have the space, have a haunted house set up in the basement or section of the house, where guests can tour some scary scenes.
Halloween Party Favors
Fill clear plastic food-handler gloves (not latex gloves) with popcorn, but first place a candy corn in the fingertip of each finger to resemble a fingernail. Tie the end with curly orange and black ribbon, and place a plastic spider ring on the ring finger.
Ghost suckers can be made by covering a Tootsie Pop with a square of white cheesecloth or cotton fabric, tying off the “head” with black and orange yarn, and adding eyes with a permanent black marker.
