A Halloween party is a great way to celebrate this festive holiday. You can plan a party that is traditionally pagan, a party that is festive and childlike, or one that is macabre and scary. Regardless of the type of party you plan, however, the fact of the matter is that parties can be expensive. To combat the potentially high cost of a Halloween party, here is a look at some tips to help you keep the cost low and the fun high.
Make your Costumes
As the party host or hostess, you should be wearing one of the best costumes in the house. To achieve a great costume on a budget, you may need to get creative or crafty.
A decade or two ago, most people were making their own costumes, or they were blending a combination of homemade items with store bought items. Now, however, the Halloween costume industry is worth close to 3 billion dollars per year, and countless costume stores are likely to appear in the abandoned storefronts of most cities as Halloween approaches.
Luckily, it is possible to avoid this racket by buying used costumes or making your own. A trip to your local thrift store is one of the best ways to find a cheap costume. Charity shops like Good Will typically have at least one fifty percent off sale per month. These sales which usually occur on a Saturday are a great place for you to stock up on costume essentials.
If you do not find what you want in the costume aisle of your local charity shop, you might consider how the other products for sale may help you. Old clothes make great new costumes while a cheap pair of drapes can be repurposed into a cool new outfit as well. If you are creative, you will succeed.
Shop ahead
Once you have your costume ready, it is time to focus on food. If you are worried about facing a tight budget on the week of the party, you may want to shop ahead. If you buy a little bit of party food with each paycheck leading up to the event, you will have what you need on the day of the party.
Another innovative idea to consider regarding food is the possibility of foraging. A surprising number of people have apple or other fruit trees that they never harvest. If you see a tree dropping fruit, you can knock at that person’s door and ask if they are willing to share. In most cases, they will be happy to let you have a bucket of the fruit that they are not using. This is a perfect way to get low cost apple pies, apple sauce, or even jams made from ornamental berries. Since the fruit is free, you will only need to pay a little money for other ingredients like sugar, flour, and butter.
Plan Old School Activities
At Halloween, apples are not just for pies. They are also for apple bobbing. Old school activities like apple bobbing are perfect for your Halloween party entertainment. The spider web game and the mummy game are also great ones to play at a Halloween party.
In the mummy game, party goers place themselves into groups of two. Each duo has a mummy and a wrapper. The wrapper’s job is to bind the mummy in toilet paper or crepe paper. The first pair to complete their mummy is the winner.
In the spider web game, the host hides several small objects. These could be expensive gifts, food items, or simple thrift store trinkets. Each gift is tied to a stand from a ball of yarn. If you want to save money on the yarn, you may want to search for that at a thrift store as well. Then, the ball of yarn is wrapped around the room. Each player is given one end of the yarn that they then follow to their prize. This fun game may result in a lot of laughing and more than one jumbled set of legs and arms.
To give party goers a break from the games, you may want to set up one area as a screening area. Classic horror movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon or an old zombie movie are idea. These types of movies will create the scary but funny environment that you and your guests will be sure to enjoy.