Hosting the perfect Halloween party comes down to the details and ensuring it’s an unforgettable night involves the perfect planning. At Escapade we love Halloween and we want to make sure that your Halloween party is truly unforgettable which is why we’ve put together this little set of Halloween tips that will guide you on your way to creating the perfect party. With tips on everything from how to haunt up your house to tasty spook inspired treats and an unbeatable Halloween play list. Create your perfect Old Hallow’s Eve night with our Halloween Party Guide.
Know the Holiday
While we all love dressing up during the festive season do you really know why we celebrate Halloween? Halloween is an ancient British festival that dates back thousands of years and has roots in Pagan, Roman and Christian traditions. We’ve put together some really fun facts on the History of Halloween for you to be able to impress and amaze your friends with your Halloween knowledge - check it out.
Getting Your Costume
Back in the day, well relatively speaking as back in the day in this case was over 2,000 years ago. The Celts celebrated the ancient Holiday of Samhain (now Halloween) and wore costumes not to celebrate the event, but rather because they believed that during this period the dead came back to the earth to visit the living and in order to protect themselves they had to be disguised. A lot has changed in 2000 years but the fact that October 31st first remains the world’s biggest costume party means that first and foremost when creating the perfect Halloween party it’s important to ensure you have the perfect Halloween fancy dress costume. Luckily for you we have thousands of them!
Adding a touch of Halloween horror to your house can make all the difference in the world to your Halloween party and we have 6 simple tricks and tips that will turn your abode into a dwelling of Halloween doom. It’s fun, you can do it on the cheap and you’ll be guaranteed to have an unforgettable night.
1. Plan
Decide on a budget (a lot of these tips can be done for no to little money), pick and then sketch the area you want to add your own touch of Halloween horror to and just let your imagination run wild with the kind of things you want to do with this space. As you go along you can revise your plan and add or remove features along the way. Making sure you have a plan is the difference between making your Haunted House horrifying or just down right horrible!!!
2. Set the Atmosphere
When it comes to creating a haunted house you need to start with the basics. First things first make it dark; close all the curtains and pick up a set of ambient coloured light bulbs. Orange and Red bulbs will create the most dramatic effect. Drape a few bed sheets over the furniture and over the walls and you’ll have a very good basis to build on.
What you need:
- Coloured Lightbulbs
- Bed Sheets
3. Use Props
A few Halloween props can really make all the difference in the world for your haunted house. Check out our five seasonal favourites below:
The Bloody Carpet: gory and an amazing prop for the entrance that will ensure the horror scene is set from the start and keeping your party on theme.
Spider Web: An essential prop for any haunted house! Guaranteed to maintain the spooky vibe of your Halloween party, this super stretch spider web will cover a wide surface and looks very effective draped down a staircase.
Bloody Plastic Tablecloth – This fantastic accessory will provide the goriest spread for the party food.
Haunted House Wall Decoration Kit – If you want to go all out this Halloween than having this Wall Decoration Kit will certainly do the trick with it's ultra creepy design.
Jack O’ Lanterns – This is the most important prop for any haunted house. Our Pumpkin Light is a must have and much safer than candles.
Check out our Halloween props
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4. Halloween Music
Once you’ve haunted up the house prepared the perfect collection of beverages it’s important to set the tone. We’ve gone to great lengths to put together three fantastic Halloween Play List which will suit whatever your taste in music, weather you like cheese, the classics or are a fan of hardcore horror there is the perfect play list for everyone on our Halloween play list page.
5. Enlist the help of friends and family
Even with the perfect props and the spookiest atmosphere in the world what really makes a haunted house scary is the people involved in the process. Whether your partner is hiding behind a doorway dressed in a scary costume or your little ones are popping out of cupboards getting the whole family or friends involved in the night will help to make it truly unforgettable. A great tip for providing the perfect scare for your guest is to blend in with your surroundings. Use props and hide amongst them, this will ensure your Halloween haunted house becomes the thing of legend.
6. Add Special Effects
The following list of special effects aren’t the easiest to get your hands on, or the cheapest for that matter but they are guaranteed to add an amazing dimension to your haunted house.
Dry Ice: If you can get hold of it, dry ice can provide an amazing Halloween effect, creating the appearance of real bellowing steam. However, please not that it must be handled with great care and placed in an area that is completely safe and out of reach of party guests – especially the kids!
Strobe Light Machine: For a truly amazing effect rent out a strobe light machine. If you place it in a dark Hallway or corridor adorned with your Halloween decorations it will provide an amazing effect. You can rent one of these out short term.
Fog Machine: A well placed fog machine can add an awesome fear inducing appearance to any house. They aren’t too expensive to buy and worth the investment if you’re looking to host Halloween parties on an annual basis. An investment in something like a fog machine will ensure your Halloween party is talked about long after the event.
If the people at your Halloween party are starving, let them eat cake and many more of our festive themed treats with our fantastic Halloween recipes. We have put together a huge list of Halloween treats for party goers to enjoy but below you will find links and a short description about our five favourites. Check out our full range of Halloween recipes for more great seasonal treats.
Pumpkin Pie: It’s the Halloween seasons undisputed favourite recipe and what’s more you can even use your hollowed out Jack O’ Lantern to make it. Delicious and somewhat nutritious the pumpkin pie is one of our favourite seasonal treats.
Serial Killer Cupcakes: If you’re looking for a Halloween treat that looks murderous but is delicious to boot than you can’t go wrong with our fantastic Murder Cupcake recipe as pleasing on the eye as it is on the stomach.
Mummy Pizza Bites: These delicious treats will be perfect for the palate on Halloween. The easy to follow recipe is sure to be a hit with kids and adults alike.
Vegetable Skeleton: While Halloween is a time of over indulgence with all the sweets flying around during the spooky season it may be a good idea to ensure your guests get a few of their 5 a day. The veggie skeleton is easy to throw together for the culinary artistic among you.
Ice Cream Eyeballs: Delightfully delicious, gory and easy enough for kids to make the fantastic Ice Cream Eyeballs make for a perfect Halloween treat.
With this selection of ghoulish Halloween drinks you’ll quench the thirst of all the ghost and goblins at your Halloween party to perfection. Whether you’re looking for some non alcoholic drinks for the kids or a collection of the most ghoulish cocktail ideas on the market there’s something for everyone in our Halloween drinks list.
Zombie Brain Punch (Kid Friendly):
As the name suggests the Zombie Brain punch looks utterly disgusting but trust us when we say it taste delicious. Drinks don’t come much sweeter than this so be warned its not for the faint of heart.
Cannibals Punch (Adults Only): This concoction is border line horrifying both in appearance and alcohol strength. We encourage you to drink this in moderation but the severed doll arms that will adorn your beverage may be discouragement enough for your guests to be heading back for more.
Blood Lust Martini (Adults Only): This berrylicous martini drink is perfect for the vampires among you this Halloween looking for a more sophisticated and less scary alternative to blood. Down right delicious and stylish as well this is the perfect Halloween cocktail.
The Devils Furnace (Adults Only): We would warn you to drink The Devils Furnace in moderation but it is so potent that we don’t know anyone who can handle more than one of them. Literally this is one hell of a drink for one hell of a night.
A Handy Drink (Can be made with or without alcohol):This fantastic cocktail recipe will allow you to add a unique centre piece to Halloween party. The drink is delicious and aesthetically it’s the most impressive on this list. It can be made with or without alcohol.