For all you hostesses out there, the key to any successful Halloween motif for parties obviously centers around where people are most likely to congregate. That’s at the table, of course.

Now you could draw some wonderful ideas from a movie like Beetlejuice, of course, but let’s face it: you don’t have the budget of a major Hollywood film. Plus, you never know who—or what—might show up at your party…

First things first, some smooth modern “trees” can adorn your table, giving it a hip yet oddly spooky look as a centerpiece. Also, keeping your eyes on the clearance area at places like Pier One might find you some nifty orange plates! If you don’t want to shell out for these beauts, you can make your own accent plates by going to the home improvement store and cut some down to the desired size, finishing with some orange paint.

Shiny silver bone hands, put the final touch on a very scary Halloween table. Orange napkins can be procured anywhere, as well as orange soda bottles. Just look for ones that don’t have writing on the cap.

Have fun!

Want to play some great Halloween games for adults? The holiday isn’t only for kids, you know. One fun game is ‘Tangled in the Spider’s Web.’ It’s a lot like Twister, but with a Halloween theme. You can also have a video scavenger hunt and dress up in costumes, running around the town and finding a pre-agreed-upon list of Halloween-themed things. This is especially fun if you video tape them as proof that you found them instead of having to purchase them.

You can also play games that are even more adult-themed, but that have a little less to do with Halloween itself. These include things like blindfolding one girl at a time and having each man at the party touch her arm, hand, or cheek. The girl who can correctly tell which man is hers wins the prize.

Another adult game like that is one that’s similar to the newlywed game, where questions are asked for points and the winning couple gets a prize. You can make the questions Halloween-themed if you want to.

Trying to think of a spooky and fun cocktail for your Halloween party?  Make Satan’s Whiskers!

SATAN’S WHISKERS

3/4oz Bombay gin
3/4oz Dry Vermouth
3 /4oz Sweet Vermouth
1 /2oz Grand Marnier
Splash orange juice
Dash bitters

Directions:

Nutrition facts for drink shown: 173 calories

Halloween parties can be a blast and a great time to let loose and have some fun.  From my own parties in the past I have one suggestion of something you may want to be careful with or avoid entirely.

Alcoholic Punch:  This is extremely tasty, and looks awesome displayed on the table, expecially sitting in a container filled with dry ice for that creepy fog rising effect. 

The problem with the punch is that it’s sneaky.  Sneaky booze is booze that everyone loves to drink and you can barely taste the alcohol in but it’s extremely powerful.  Before you know it, your house is full of overly intoxicated adults spilling and yacking in your yard or worse all over your bathroom toilet.

That’s not even the worst part.  The worst part is the next morning, because you will have sucumb to the beast of the punch bowl yourself and have no clue of the mess in which you are about to receive.

You stagger down the stairs knowing a mess is what you are about to see, but are totally unprepared for the horror and smells you are about to attain. 

You groggily take a step off of the stairs onto the kitchen floor and your foot sticks like a fly to fly paper.  Your nostrils fill with the odor of old fruit, rum, and beer mixture. 

You wonder to yourself “What the hell is this?”  Then the previous evenings events begin to flood your pounding head.

Your floor is covered in a sticky, icky mass that once was shiny and clean.  The sparkle of the linoleum floor is gone replaced by stagnant fruit juices and alcohol that once were a hauntingly beautiful table display. 

You will have to scrub your floors several times and open the windows immediately.  That smell isn’t going anywhere for quite awhile.

So think twice before you serve alcoholic punch.

I remember playing this Halloween game when I was 10, it was gross and tons of fun.  This is the perfect game for a childrens Halloween party, and I’d bet some adults would like it too.   This Halloween game is an oldy but a goody.  Using regular every day items to gross out your kids and your kids friends is what Halloween is all about. 

Gather everyone in a circle on the floor.  Lighting should be very dark (only candlelight at the most), you don’t want the kiddies seeing the actual contents.  Weave your tale of terror of a young boy or girl who went out trick or treating alone.   Jamie was her/his name.  Jamie had ventured out from his neighborhood, cutting through the woods to get more neighborhoods.  Jamie’s parents had no idea their child had gone so far.  As the night loomed on Jamie’s parents became frightened and headed out to look for him.  When morning came all they found were these remains.

Here is his brain, which now feels no pain.
(a peeled squishy tomato)

Here are his eyes, still frozen with surprise.
(two frozen peeled grapes or olives)

Here is his heart. Be careful lest it start!
(a large lump of uncooked liver)

Now we have his hair, which once was so fair!
(a handful of corn silk or wet fur or yarn)

Feel these drops of his blood. All the rest turned to mud.
(a little ketchup thinned with warm water)

One hand all alone, just rotting flesh and bone.
(a damp plastic glove filled with red gelatin or ice)

Now touch his ear. He nevermore will hear!
(a dried apricot)

This is his nose. It will never smell a rose.
(a pickle, a hot dog or a soft chicken bone)

These worms are all that’s left to feel. For this little boy was
a lovely meal!
(wet spaghetti)

Of course you can change the story and say absolutely anything you want.  I just think the kids find it scarier if they are thinking this could be them.

There isn’t a Halloween costume mask in creation that can look as realistic as a good makeup job.  However, getting that special Halloween undead look can be a trick for anyone that hasn’t used costume makeup or prosthetics before.  I know in my youth I had spent numerous hours sticking icky sticky stuff all over my face.  Desparately trying to get the desired ghoulish look for my costume and always ending up looking more like a circus clown gone bad than the horrific ghoul I had invisioned.

The problem isn’t that you don’t have the correct  costume make-up or materials, it’s just that no one ever explained how to apply the make-up.  Directions on the back of bottles and the prosthetic makeup packages leave just about everything to the imagination.   It doesn’t matter if you’re making a tiger, pirate skeleton or an undead zombie face, sometimes a little direction goes a long, long way. 

This first video is without prosthetics and just costume makeup.  Using a simple costume makeup kit you can make one creepy undead zombie.  I will be listing more halloween how to videos on using prosthetics, so stay tuned.  Be sure to let me know of your halloween costume worries and I’ll try my best to help you out.

Just because you are not a little kid doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Halloween. You do not have to go trick or treating or even go to haunted houses if you are not up to it. You can always throw a costume party to celebrate the occasion.
 
A costume party is a great way to allow yourself to be creative and enjoy Halloween’s most appealing aspect, which is to be someone else for the day and set your inhibitions free for a couple of hours. Well, my first costume party was quite fun. The theme was “Imaginary and Mystical Creatures.”

The party had a contest for the most creative costume. I decided to dress up myself as “The Queen of the Damned” a vampire queen.  I had on fake fangs and blood on the corner of my mouth which ran down my cheek. My face was as pale as I could make it along with dark and shadowy facial makeup. I had on a jet black wig with the hair in a tight bun on the top. I was also wearing a deep dark crimson color dress it was fitted at the top and it formed to my body all the way to my waist then it begins to flow losely. The costumes at the party were very creative and everyone looked horrifing.
 
The party area was well decorated with candles to light the room with numerous props such as a witch’s caldron with the fog rising from it rapidly. There was howling and other typical halloweeen noises being played along with great party mixes. The food was named in accordance to it’s appearance, with spagetti molded into the shape of a brain and other disgusting looking (but tasty) food.

In one room, there were clips of scary movies playing such as “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Jason”, and many more classic horror films. The night continued until sunrise when the guests began to disperse. My adventure at my first costume party had came to an end.

Buy Queen of the Damned Costume