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27th October 2018
08:50am BST
Trust us when we say that the entrance is key. You gotta set that mood. If your house has a laneway, use it. Light some candles so people can see but try to keep it dark so it's still creepy. Have hands sticking out of bushes, cobwebs that people need to walk through, giant spiders that make noise when someone hits against it, whatever you can think of. Go wild.
We'll get the obvious one out of the way. It's Halloween and this is a Halloween party. There has to be sweets. End of. The more the better. Try to make toffee/chocolate apples. They're so tasty and they look great on a table too. Very Halloweeny.
Now we are not into those "you don't have to dress up" parties. This night happens once a year and once a year, yes, you DO have to dress up. For people who don't like costumes, they can pick a character who wears normal but recognisable clothes. No excuses.
To encourage dressing up, have a prize for best dressed. Or if you want to go hardcore, set an entry price for people who haven't dressed up. It's tough but it works and, hey, you can give the profits to charity.
Again, you can never to go too heavy with Halloween decoration. Stick cobwebs up everywhere, hang bunting in the doorways, dangle bats from the ceiling. Cover everything.
Now, this is the only thing on our list that is negotiable. We know that at a party people might want to dance or listen to songs other than creepy Halloween music. But if you have the option of setting up two speakers, consider playing various scary noises on a loop, such as screaming, doors creaking, evil laughing, you know the type. It won't interfere with the other music but it will add to the atmosphere perfectly.
These can take time but they're so worth it. A carved pumpkin with a candle inside honestly just looks super. If you have a champion pumpkin carver on hand, force them to put their skills to use. You want really evil-looking pumpkins for this.
Nothing sets moods better than candles. They can be romantic, calming, or scary. Keep it fairly dark at the party and use candles as your main light source. Go wild with them outside but you might want to invest in a few electric candles for inside. It is a party after all, accidents will happen.
To put the finishing touch on the whole dark and scary mood, throw on a scary movie to play in the background. If you pick the right movie, this can even double as your scary music/noises. For one of our parties, we managed to get our hands on a projector and had a scary movie projected onto one of the wall. The best.
Now it's up to you. Go forth. Set your scary mood, terrify your guests. It's not a proper Halloween party unless everyone is truly horrified.
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