Throw the ultimate homemade Halloween party!
Planning on throwing a Halloween bash this year, but don't have a huge budget? We've got loads of great tips to make your homemade party the spookiest, most entertaining soirée around!
Devilish decorations
Image source: Orhan
You don't need a whole load of dosh to transform your home into a terrifying haunted house - just make use of these common household items!
• Pull apart cotton wool into long strings and hang it from doorframes, ceilings and mantelpieces as creepy cobwebs.
• Cut eye shapes in empty toilet rolls and pop fairylights or glow sticks inside to make spooky glowing eyes.
• Pin string to your wall in the shape of a spider's web, and add a cutout paper spider!
• Drape white bedsheets over your furniture for a scary 'abandoned house' theme.
• Cut out Halloween paper shapes (bats, cats, spooky faces) and stick them inside your lampshades to make frightening nightlights.
Fearsome food
Image source: dulsita
With just a few simple tricks you can turn your regular party food into a haunting feast for your guests.
• Serve only red drinks (red wine, grape juice), and call your drinks table 'The Blood Bank'.
• Cut slices in frankfurter sausages and put small pieces of onion on the ends, to make fingers. You could even add ketchup!
• Turn regular chocolate cupcakes into spiders, by adding black liquorice legs!
• A dollop of vanilla ice cream can become a scary eyeball with the simple addition of a berry as the pupil and a touch of strawberry sauce.
• Take an ice cream cone. Turn it upside down on a plate, add some chocolate button eyes, and you have a witch with a cone hat!
Ghastly games
Image source: karenfoleyphotography
Your party can only really get going if there are some cool games to play.
• Apple bobbing is a classic - get a bowl of water, throw in some apples and try to fish them out with just your teeth.
• Into performance? Lie down on a table with a bowl of cooked spaghetti on your stomach and cover yourself with a sheet. Invite guests to reach under the sheet and feel your intestines!
• Forget the donkey and his tail! Instead cut out eyes, noses and mouths from black paper and pin them on a pumpkin, blindfolded.
• Put sweets in your balloons, blow them up, and have guests throw darts at them to get at the goodies inside!
• Give the classic game of charades a Halloween twist by only using horror books, movies and TV shows.
Spooky surpises
Image source: Jay Ondreicka
Still need more cool ideas? Here are some extra surprises you can throw into the mix to make your party a real horror...
• Have a scary story session. As you're telling your tale, get quieter and quieter until, right at the end, your friend jumps into the room and shouts, "Boo!"
• Have a pet? Don't forget to get them involved! Dress your dog in a funny costume, or have your black cat walk across everybody's path.
• Why not record yourself making spooky ghost noises and play it at the party to freak out your guests?
• Get your hands on a brain-shaped jelly mould and make pink jelly in it, so you can all be brain-munching zombies!
• Finish off your evening with your favourite scary movie and some popcorn (adult partygoers only!).
Happy Halloween! We hope your party decorations go down in Halloween history.