Every year for her birthday Emma asks me for a Halloween themed party; it doesn’t feel quite right to have a Halloween party in April, but like Christmas in July it may eventually catch on.
When she asked me again for a party this Halloween, I really couldn’t deny her a little bit of spooky fun. After all, Halloween is a great excuse to dress up and play silly party games with a few little friends.
It’s taken a while to catch on, but Australians are starting to embrace Halloween, maybe because we have no real tradition of our own where kids and grownups can dress-up.
In Europe and South America Carnival/Mardi Gras season is a really big deal and is part of the religious and cultural fabric of those communities.
Purim falls at a similar time of year, and is a holiday in the Jewish culture where adults and children masquerade and dress up.
Whether you like it or not, it seems Halloween is becoming our default festival for hijinks and dressing up in fun costumes.
I was reluctant at first to embrace the Halloween hype, but seeing how much fun the kids had at our little shindig this weekend, I’m a convert. Who am I kidding, I love any excuse to wear a fun Halloween costume!
You may also like: The Ultimate Harry Potter Party
How to throw a stress-free Halloween Party for Kids
Emma and I had a super fun time planning her Halloween party together. Thanks to Pinterest, we got lots of easy ideas for Halloween party food and fun party games. The party was held at home, and we decorated the courtyard with a few inexpensive party supplies.
The Halloween party decorations mainly consisted of spider tissue paper garlands and a life-sized skeleton cut-out. Need more inspiration? Get 13 Modern Halloween Party Decorations Ideas here.
To make sure the kids Halloween party was as stress-free as possible, I limited the number of invitees to just 6 kids, and set a budget for the whole party of around $30 for everything.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have fun! I’ve got lots of Halloween Party Ideas that the kids will love, and best of all, they’ll make your party planning a breeze.
Halloween Party Invitations
I created the digital Invitations for free on Canva and emailed them to the guests. There are plenty of pre-made templates available where you only need to change out your details and then download the file.
There are also lots of editable and downloadable Halloween party invitations on Etsy if you are looking for something a bit different. Browse the printable party invitations here.
Halloween Party Food Ideas
Our spook-tacular party food was simple and fun, with lots of healthy options.
Here are 5 easy Halloween party food ideas for kids that can be prepared quickly. In fact I threw this whole table of food together in under an hour.
Mini Jack-o-Lantern Mandarins
These mini Jack-o-Lanterns make great lunchbox treats and only require a permanent marker. Just draw on a Jack-o-Lantern face on mandarins to create your own mini pumpkins.
This fruity and healthy Halloween treat can be prepared well ahead of time and they also make a great addition to a lunchbox.
Pile up your mini Jack-o-Lanterns high and they double as awesome table setting decorations.
Original inspiration from A Designer Life.
Monster Booger Jelly Cups
The kids loved the booger jelly cups. Just remember to prepare the Lime jelly the night before. I made 2 packs (1000ml). Just before the guests arrive, break up the jelly and spoon it into little bowls or paper cups.
Ghost Boo-nanas
Another healthy Halloween food idea that kids love. I used chocolate icing that comes in a prepacked squeezy tube similar to this decorating gel in a tube, but you can also use melted chocolate or choc chips instead.
These need to be prepared just before guests arrive or risk the bananas turning black. Original inspiration from One Little Project who uses choc chips for the eyes and mouths.
Mummy Cup Cakes
I totally cheated with this party treat and bought a pack of mini muffins from the supermarket rather than baking my own because I was a bit busy leading up to the party day. Just pipe white icing across the cup cakes, and leave room for eyes.
The eyes can also be piped on, or you can use ready-made candy eyes like these ones from Wilton.
Go ahead and prepare these ahead of time if you don’t want to leave all the preparation till the last minute.
I decorated them about an hour before the party. Minimal cake decorating skills are required as the mummy’s bandages don’t need to look very neat. I’m sure the kids would have fun giving this one a go.
I used a decorating kit from the supermarket which had interchangeable nozzles and 3 colours of pre-made icing in a tube. You can purchase similar pre-made frosting tubes here. You can also use strips of fondant to create the bandages if that’s what you have on hand.
Original inspiration from Sugar and Charm.
Severed Finger Hot Dogs
Out of all the frightful food on offer, I think Emma was most excited about these realistic looking severed finger hot dogs. Just cut long frankfurters in half and slice off the tip to mimic a nail. Squirt with sauce on the severed end to look like blood and have fun watching the reactions.
Halloween Party Games for Kids
Emma and I had so much fun planning the Halloween party games. I had a few pre-organised Halloween themed activities, and then we ended the party with an old fashioned dance-off because everyone loves to dance!
I’ve got 4 easy to organise Halloween part activity ideas for you, that require minimal pre-planning.
Wrap the Mummy
Give the kids a few rolls of toilet paper and get them to wrap each other up like mummies. They had a ball doing this and it entertained them for a good half an hour. Such a lot of fun and you should have seen the smiles – hilarity all round!
After it was all done the kids had fun throwing the paper up in the air. Clean up was quick, everyone helped collect it all and put it in the bin.
Original inspiration Ther House.
Halloween Themed Colouring Activity
I picked up some fun cardboard cut out characters from a craft store for a few dollars and it helped the kids calm down after all the toilet paper madness.
The kids liked a bit of colouring in and they could take their creations home. Find similar colouring craft kits here.
You could also print out my free Sugar Skull Halloween colouring page from My Poppet MAKES if you don’t want to buy pre-printed ones.
Pass the Pumpkin
This kids Halloween party game was improvised on the day. The kids kept asking when we were playing pass-the-parcel, so my sister came up with the great idea of using a pumpkin bucket filled with sweets instead.
How to play: Just like pass-the-parcel, the kids sit around in a circle and pass the pumpkin bucket around the circle while music plays. When the music stops, the child holding the pumpkin gets to choose a treat. The game continues until everyone has had a treat. You’ll need an adult to control when the music stops and starts to make sure every child gets a treat.
Pin the Bow tie on Mr Bones
Mr Bones was our party mascot and quite the card. I bought him at Aldi for only $3. He was a very dapper skeleton and we played Pin the Bowtie on Mr Bones.
I made a paper bow tie, and each child took turns to be blind folded an have a go of pinning the bow tie on him (just like you play, Pin the tail on the Donkey).
I didn’t take any photos of the activity as I was busy running the game, but you get the idea.
Halloween Costumes
Everyone came in their scariest costumes. Trick-or-treating down the street is not really a thing in many neighborhoods (including ours), so having a Halloween party was really an opportunity for Emma and her friends to have fun dressing-up!
Emma was a Vampire of course. Just a thrift store bought cape over black clothes and some eyeliner was all that was required for her ghoulish transformation.
My sister looked amazing in her Day of the Dead face decals.
I dressed as a witch inspired by Endora from Bewitched. Sadly I don’t have her flaming red hair, but loved an excuse to wear one of my vintage chiffon party dresses.
I hope you are inspired to throw your own party now that you’ve seen my easy kids Halloween party ideas.
Happy Halloween!
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