Did someone say Halloween Party?
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is the one time that no matter how old you are you can still dress up and play pretend. You can be whoever or whatever you want to be. Halloween used to mean dressing up in my sexiest costume, dancing the night away with my girlfriends and knowing the next day I will be completely useless and recovering from a massive hangover. Planning a party in my early twenties, when I was kid-less, was pretty easy. Just make sure there was a lots to drink, some good snacks and I would know the party would go off without a hitch.
Now that I am a mother of three, Halloween has become a bit more complicated. As a new member to a mums group I just joined, I was looking the perfect opportunity to get a more involved. So when the Halloween party was presented and they were looking for a chairman to take on the planning, I immediately put my hand up. Here was my opportunity to really get to know some of the ladies and make new friends.
I imagined I would throw this fabulous party and all the ladies in our club would swoon with admiration and be super impressed by my creativity. Little did I know that I had gotten a bit over my head. Planning a party for kids and their parents’ takes a bit more effort and lot more advance planning. I realised that I no longer could get by with just music, drinks and snacks. Here is my best Halloween party planning tips straight from my own past experience:
1. Timing is everything! Keep it nice and short. Kids don’t want to party all night – a good 2 -3-hour window is perfect. The goal is to prevent “witching hour” – when all of a sudden those little angels who were playing so nicely before, suddenly turn into little monsters because they are either bored or tired.
2. Have a few activities. Children are not going to be happy with just drinking their juice and socialising with friends. They need some sort of planned activity. Giving them something to do is also a nice ice breaker for them. Sometimes they need a little something to warm up to playing with the other kids. Activities for a Halloween party could be a craft, such as painting a pumpkin or a fun game like bobbing for apples. A fun craft that we did was making your own caramel apple. We let the kids dip their apples in the caramel and let them decorate it with toppings of their choice such as chocolate chips, sprinkles and nuts.
3. Take your scary décor into consideration. If you are planning a party for young children, it may not be best to put up those awesome zombie heads that have dripping blood hanging that you usually put in your entryway. A little “boo!” is fine but you don’t want to give your little guests nightmares… or something they may need to talk to a therapist about later in life. Decorate with fun friendly ghosts and huggable monsters.
4. Don’t go sugar crazy! Have you ever been in a room with 15 kids who are all on a sugar high? It is downright terrifying. So if you are looking for a good scare this Halloween, then by all means, have tons of candy there. Otherwise, for a more tame party, remember some of the healthier snacks. You can make ghosts out of bananas, just dab a bit of chocolate frosting for the eyes and mouth. You can also make pumpkins out of oranges. Not only will your guests swoon with your creativeness but the parents will be even more thankful they don’t have to bring home a child who is bouncing off the walls.
And remember, have fun and take lots of pictures!!
Diary of is a regular blog, by a regular Greenwich mum. Sharing experiences as a local parent (and member of this website) she’ll be writing about everything and anything. And being completely anonymous – you never know – you could have stood next to her in the Post Office or behind her in Cafe W…
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