The ultimate Halloween party survival guide
Gather your friends and family for a spooky celebration with top tips to throw the best Halloween bash for your guests.
To help you with your party prep, here we have put together a selection of Halloween party ideas, snacks, and cheap decoration ideas. So, if you are asking yourself, “How do I host a Halloween party at home?”, then hopefully our guide will answer this, as well as offering extra details to surprise and excite your mysterious guests!
Frightening food
You can have so much fun with your Halloween party food, and the key is to be as weird and wonderful as possible!
Simple savoury snacks such as mini cheese sandwiches are given a scary spin when cut out using bat cookie cutters and sprinkled with turmeric, and cheese straws look frightfully delicious when paired with a chunky tomato salsa to plunge into. Fill your table with bowls of crisps and popcorn – choosing spicy flavours such as chilli or red pepper for both colour and flavour. If you want to serve something a little heartier and warm, you could opt for a seasonal homemade pumpkin or butternut squash soup served from a big black cauldron!
Sweet treats such as ghostly cake pops and Frankenstein marshmallow pops will create an eye-catching centrepiece on your table, and are also very fun to make with the family in the run-up to the main day. Or why not make some poison toffee apples by mixing some black food colouring into your homemade toffee apple coating recipe!
Spine-tingling drinks
You can make your drink selection equally as eerie using all the right colours as well as some unusual serving suggestions.
Our Halloween bloodbath punchbowl is great for lovers of red wine, and can be served either from a cauldron, or a scraped out pumpkin shell. Those who prefer gin will appreciate our Gin surpr-eyes cocktail – complete with a mysterious eyeball in the bottom of the glass, and simple bottles of beer can be wrapped in tin foil or bubble wrap for an inventive way to serve.
Non-alcoholic drinks could include Fanta served from vintage silver tankards or bubbling monster hot chocolate made with vanilla extract, white chocolate drops and natural green food colouring.
Spooky décor ideas
You will want to make your home appear as ghostly as possible for the evening, so think about your guest’s journey from the road, and plan plenty of surprises along the way. Décor doesn’t have to be expensive and there are many cheap Halloween decorations that will give you amazing effects.
Fake spider webs will create an unnerving approach to your home, and can be easily draped over gates, hedges, and trees. Attach a few giant homemade spiders and bugs dangled down from low-hanging branches or gate posts to increase that scare factor!
You can guide guests to your front door with flickering lantern torches and use our Co-op carving pumpkin kit to create a family of glowing lanterns to mark the entrance.
Inside your home, continue the spider web theme draped over staircases, door frames, and pendant lights, and turn the lights down low, lit only by candle lights and further pumpkin lanterns.
Creepy costumes
Your Halloween costumes will complete the final atmosphere of your party, so tell your friends and family to be as creative as possible. You could even arrange a small prize for the winner of the best dressed, voted for by all your guests.
If you are looking for inspiration for homemade costumes that are cheap and imaginative, then take a look at our latest guide featuring easy DIY Halloween costume ideas.
Hopefully our guide has filled you with plenty of ideas and inspiration to organise your Halloween party. And remember to take a look at our recipe hub – home to hundreds of delicious and easy-to-make dishes and drinks.