NORTH CAROLINA – Your friends have designated you to throw the annual Halloween party at your home this year. Although it seems like a simple idea, you realize your worst nightmare has come true: it’s the night before Halloween and you're gravely in debt. Not to fear, Spectrum News has all the tips you need to throw an easy Halloween party on a budget. It’ll be to die for!
Decorations
- In your yard you can find long branches to stand beside your doorway. Make them a bit more eerie by spraying them with black spray paint.
- Use faux cob webs for $1 or cheesecloth that can be draped on the corners or opening of doors, or any place you see fit.
- Carving pumpkins can be a hassle. Instead, decorate them with black paint, fake spiders, and mesh fabric. If you insist on carving them out, put tea lights in them to give the jack-o’-lantern a spooky glow.
- Have white balloons blown up, tape white streamers to them, and decorate the balloon to look like a ghost’s face with a Sharpie.
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Snacks
Let’s be honest, most people come to parties for food so make sure they leave stuffed.
- Halloween Nachos: Assemble the nachos in a circle with your favorite ingredients and swirl on sour cream or Greek yogurt in the shape of a spider web. Top it off with a fake spider.
- Hot Dog Mummies: Pigs in a blanket but spooky. Wrap the hot dogs in your favorite dough or crispy phyllo, bake and plate. Add black sesame seeds for eyes, and have different dipping options.
- Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cups: Layer clear plastic cups with crushed Oreos, chocolate pudding or ice cream and top with chocolate sprinkles, gummy worms and candy pumpkins.
- Halloween Cookie Eyeballs: A pack of Oreos goes a long way. Open up the cookie, put a brown M&M on the cream filling, and create veins in the eyes with red gel frosting.
- Witch’s Brew Halloween Punch: Mix ginger ale, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and lime sherbet into a punch bowl. Add dry ice for extra flair.
- Spiked Jolly Rancher Punch: Mix pineapple juice, cranberry juice, ginger ale, sparkling apple cider, and one bottle of your favorite liquor.
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Games/Activities
Don’t let your guests die of boredom. Have games and activities throughout the night to keep them entertained.
- Halloween Feel Box: Fill a box one at a time with items like spaghetti noodles, cashews, olives and any other weird-feeling things you can think of. Let your guests take turns guessing what each item is.
- Scavenger Hunt: Split your guests into two teams and give them a list of things they have to find by the end of the night. The items can be scattered around your home, on someone’s costume, and even outdoors if you’re feeling daring.
- Don’t Say Halloween: Pin your guests with three safety/clothes pins at the beginning of the night. Provide them with two or three words they can’t say (Halloween, night, etc.). The trick is to use words that typically come up in casual conversation. If someone hears another person say one of the words, they can take a pin. At the end of the night, whoever has the most pins wins a goody bag.
- Keep it simple by popping some popcorn and watching Halloween classics on TV or Netflix.
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