A Halloween Birthday Party
Doesn't Have to be Scary!
You can have a Halloween birthday party that is easy to plan and fun to give!
Keep It Simple Halloween Birthday Party Ideas
- It is very easy to go overboard on a Halloween birthday
party. Practice self-control when purchasing favors,
decorations, prizes, etc., because most items that you buy
during this holiday cannot be returned.
- A party such as this one is best for a large group of people. We have had much success with inviting the entire class to this party.
- This party theme is really best for 1st grade on up as sometimes very young children might find this a little too scary. However, at our house we tend to keep Halloween more cute than scary. I want my children to focus on the fun of dressing up and getting/giving out candy rather than on all of the evil things that are many times associated with this holiday. It doesn't have to be a scary party, only fun!
- This is a great party for a piñata as candy and toy treats are readily available in the stores at this time.
- Don't forget to take advantage of all of the great Halloween things for sale in the stores during and after this time. Also, if you know ahead of time what theme party all of your children will be having throughout the year, you can pick up great items at great prices after Halloween for other themes as well. One year, my children had a Halloween birthday party, a princess birthday party, and a Batman birthday party. At an after Halloween sale, I was able to pick up great princess dress-up items at a fraction of the original price and even picked up a few Batman candy buckets to use as part of a game for my son's Batman birthday party. This isn't anything more than thinking ahead and smart shopping. Just make sure that you don't forget you bought them. I do this all throughout the year especially with gifts for other people. I have been known to forget about things that I purchased months before. Keeping everything in one place (closet) in my house seems to help me not to forget.
Ideas for Halloween Birthday Party Games and Activities
Silly String- Silly string is fun at a Halloween birthday party. It is so much fun to watch the kids dressed up in their cute Halloween costumes running around spraying each other with silly string. Just make sure you don't mind picking all of this up as it does get extremely messy. Also, it is very important to set some ground rules before this activity begins. Little kids do not tend to like this activity nor do some girls enjoy having this sprayed in their hair.
Gross Guessing Game- I love preparing for this game as much as the kids love playing it. Before the party, peel some grapes, cook some spaghetti noodles, mush up a few very ripe bananas, and boil some cocktail wieners. Put these items in buckets or containers that are not see through. We used small Halloween candy buckets that were black witch's pots. I then just put some small kitchen towels over the top so that the kids could not peek in. Line the buckets up on a table. Let the kids take turns feeling inside each of the buckets and take a guess as to what might be in the buckets without looking at the items. Some of your very serious kiddos will guess the real food items, but the guests who are really into the theme of the Halloween birthday party will guess fun stuff like brains (cooked spaghetti) and eyeballs (peeled grapes). When the guests at our party felt the smashed banana, their only response was, "Oooh, gross!" Be sure to explain to the kids before they begin that this is all just pretend and silly.
Candy Corn Guessing Game- When your guests first arrive, have them guess how many pieces of candy corn are in the jar. Write each person's response down on a piece of paper. At the end of the party before you hand out goody bags, let them know who got the closest. Then give the winner the jar of candy corn to take home as a special treat. The kids love the suspense of this game, and I love the educational value of it. As a former teacher, I love to throw in as much opportunity for kids to use their math skills as much as possible.
Clay Monsters- One of my absolute favorite activities to do is the clay monster art activity. Before the party buy all different colors of clay that you can bake. I bought a pack of different colors for around $10.00 at Wal-Mart. Read the kids the book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak or any other fun (not scary) storybook about monsters. Then give them several pieces of clay. Tell them that they can make any type of monster or creature that they want to. Let them do this on top of their own small piece of aluminum foil with their name written on it in permanent marker. When they are finished, place all of the little monsters/creatures on a cookie sheet. Bake as directed on the package of clay. Be sure to do this activity at the beginning of the party so that you will have time for another adult to bake them and let them cool off and harden before you send them home in the goodie bags.
Eyeball Race- My kids love to do this activity, because they get to help me make the eyeballs before the party. Before the party, I give each of my kids a ping pong ball and a different color permanent marker. Their job is to make the ball look as much like an eyeball as possible. This game is very similar to an egg and spoon race that we all plaid when we were little. To play this game, divide the kids into equal teams. We always do 3 teams. You just need to make sure that you have a team for every eyeball that you have decorated. Set out a marker of some sort opposite each team. We used Halloween jack-o-lantern candy buckets. Give the first person in the line on each team a plastic spoon and the eyeball. The goal is to carry the eyeball on the plastic spoon down to the bucket, around the bucket, and back to your team without dropping the eyeball. If you drop it, you have to go pick it up and continue. When you have made it around the bucket and back to your team successfully, you pass the spoon and the eyeball to the next person in line to begin their turn. The first team to finish first wins the game. A fun prize to give to the winning team is some sort of candy eyeballs that are either gummy or chocolate. This type of candy is always easy to find this time of year.
Lights Out- This game is so fun to play. Divide the guests into two groups. Each team will need a spray bottle filled with water. This is a great game to play on a driveway. Place a jack-o-lantern on a small table or chair in front of each team. Place a tape line in front of the leader of the team so they know that they can't cross this line when shooting the pumpkin. Place a small tea light or candle inside the jack-o-lantern to light it up. The object of the game is to see which team can spray out the candle the quickest. This is a game that can easily be played a few times in a row as it goes pretty quickly, and the kids love to play it.
Mummy Wrap- This is a fun game that my kids seem to always play in school at their fall parties, but it is so much fun to play at a Halloween birthday party as well. Divide the group into two teams. Pick someone from each team to be the mummy. When you say go, set a timer to specific time depending on the age of your guests. Give each team member a roll of toilet paper. The object of the game is to see which team can make their person look most like a mummy in the given amount of time. It is fun to watch how different groups of kids work together. Some work together nicely and use teamwork and other groups hardly dress their mummy at all because they can't seem to work together as a team. This is a great group activity.
Decorate or Carve Pumpkins- At one Halloween birthday party that we went to, the kids were very little so the parents stayed with the kids. The mom gave each family a carving kit and a pumpkin. We got to carve our own pumpkin and take it home to enjoy for Halloween. At our party, where the kids were a little older, not a lot of parents stayed. Because of this, there was no way that we could carve so we gave each child a miniature pumpkin and some paint. Each child painted a pumpkin and took this home as one of their party favors. This is another activity that you will want to do early in the party to make sure that the pumpkins have time to dry.
Pin the Nose On the Mr. Jack-O-Lantern- This is
played just like the pin the tail on the donkey game that you and I
grew up playing at birthday parties. It is very fun and great for
your youngest of guests.
Halloween Birthday Party Food Ideas
This is definitely a party where spending time on the birthday party food preparation is well worth your time. At my son's party, I made bloody fingers out of miniature wieners and ketchup, witch's fingers out of carrot sticks and almond slivers, witch's brew with lime kool aid and gummy worms, and tons of gummy candy body parts. I even served the punch in a big witch's kettle.Halloween Birthday Party Cake Ideas
Making my son's Halloween birthday cake is so much fun, because it
is not actually a cake. For this party, I always make cupcakes.
Before the party I make chocolate cupcakes in Halloween holders. I
then ice them with white or chocolate icing. Whatever flavor your
child likes best is fine. Then sprinkle Halloween candy confetti on
each cupcake. The final step is to place a gummy candy body part
right on top of each cupcake. It sounds kind of gross, but it is so
much fun! The kids love eating these cupcakes. When I put these on
the table, I put them in a cupcake tree and then place the extras
all around the table. There is nothing like a table set with these
cupcakes and all of the other fun food mentioned above. Don't forget
to take a picture of this table before the kids dig in. Very cute!
Halloween Birthday Party Invitation Wording and Ideas
Even the invitations are easy to do for this party. You might not think so initially if you want to buy them at the store. It is nearly impossible to find store bought invitations for a Halloween birthday party, but you can find some adorable Halloween printer paper at your local print shop. For my son's last party, we found the cutest spider paper to print his invitation on. You can jazz any paper you buy to print on with some fun Halloween stickers as well. Just type out the invitation on the computer, print it on this paper, trifold the invitations, seal them with a Halloween sticker, and send them on their way. Very cute and very simple for you too!Halloween Birthday Party Favors
Everything about this party just seems to flow nicely and falls together. This is what usually happens with the party favors as well. Please see the "activities" section for this theme, because many of the activities will produce treats to stick in the goody bags for your guests to take home. Some examples of these are painted jack-o-lanterns, clay monsters, eyeball candy, pinata treats, etc. If you need additional treats, go no further than your local discount store as the Halloween aisles are overflowing with possible treats for the goody bags.
Return from Halloween birthday party to Holiday Birthdays.
Return from Halloween Birthday Party to Home Page.
Copyright © 2007-2012, Birthday-Party-Resource.com. All rights reserved.