5 Steps to Halloween Success Step 1: Halloween Theme and Party Ideas

To throw a successful Halloween Party, one needs the following ingredients:
- a wild imagination
- the desire to have fun
- an even bigger desire to impress one’s guests
- a bit of a macabre side

Not everyone can throw a successful Halloween Party. It takes skill, creativity and an unfaltering need to go WAY overboard! If you’re one of the few, or have decided this year to take the plunge, you’re in good company! There are plenty of great resources to help you, including one of my faves, www.halloweenforum.com, and our 5-part series entitled 5 Steps to Halloween Success starts now! And you thought summer was a vacation!

There are five essential points you need to address to host a Halloween Party for the History books. Here they are all at once, although we will break them down individually, so just take it one step at a time.

Choose a Theme
Themes are never more important than on Halloween. Themes can include things like a murder mystery evening, Vamps and Vixens or a family friendly Jungle Animals evening. Your theme will determine how much gore is involved in your party, the music you play, even the food you prepare and serve. No wonder we put it at the top of the list!
Your theme will be individual to your party intentions and your guests, but here are a few Halloween Party Theme Ideas to get you started:

Murder Mystery
Of course it’s at the top of our list! Murder mystery games are easy, quick and perfect for every occasion – especially Halloween! Your guests take on roles of suspects in a murder, and everyone, including guests who aren’t suspects, gather clues to figure out the identity of the killer. These games also come in the kid-friendly variety with no murder. Visit www.shotinthedarkmysteries.com to pick the perfect game for your Halloween Party!
Haunted House
Your house is done up as a haunted house complete with ghosts, spider webs and things popping out from dark corners. Your guests come dressed as spirits from beyond.
Zombies
A zombie-themed party is a great way to give your guests an idea of what to expect while leaving the door open for them to express their creativity. Guests can make the zombie theme their own by arriving as zombie prom dates, zombie bride and/or groom, zombie angels – pretty much any costume one can imagine can have “zombie” put in front of it to fit into the theme of the party.
Vamps and Vixens
Not for the kiddies, this is one of our favourite types of Halloween themes, just because everyone really seems to embrace the challenge. It’s like a spooky version of the traditional Tarts and Vicars parties, which were so popular a decade ago. Really want to spice this theme up? Make it a gender reversal and have the women dress as the vampires and the men as the vixens!
Magic
We love this idea for the same reasons we love the zombie theme – the guests have the opportunity to dazzle you with their creativity. You do up your house with all things magic, and then tell your guests to come as something relating to magic. The person who suggested this theme said they had wizards, illusionists, dark cultists, witches, professors from Hogwarts, fantasy characters, enchanted creatures, faeries and spirits. Wow, what a turn out!

Literary or Theatre Characters
This is a fun one for sure! Everyone comes as a literary or theatre character, depending on which theme you choose. You could have Roxy from Chicago chatting with the Phantom of the Opera!
Horror Movie Characters
To add that bit more gore, have all of your guests dress up as a bad guy from a horror movie. You’re sure to have Michael, the Scream face and at least one or two mutants. Go the extra mile and make each room of your house an homage to a different horror movie by replicating a scene.

60’s, 70’s, 80’s or 90’s Theme
Pick a decade and have your guests dress up as something or someone from that era. Your decorations and music are pretty easy after that – line your walls with pin ups from the era and music everyone can groan over.

Once you’ve determined your theme, some of the details will fall right into place. The next step is, of course, getting the word out about your party, which we will discuss in the next Host On The Run issue, so stay tuned!

Leigh Clements, the Shot In The Dark Mysteries / Your Date With Death Mystery Maiden, writes murder mysteries, non-murder mysteries and custom mysteries for Shot In The Dark Mysteries, and coordinates, hosts and facilitates local events both for Shot In The Dark Mysteries and Your Date With Death Murder Mystery Speed Dating. She can be contacted at mysterymaiden@shotinthedarkmysteries.com or mysterymaiden@yourdatewithdeath.com. Aside from plotting murder, she enjoys yoga, reading and hanging with her golden lab.