How to Plan a Kid’s Halloween Party: Tips for Spooktacular Fun!
Planning a kid’s Halloween party can be a delightful experience filled with creativity and fun. But planning and organising – not so fun. So if you’re holding a children’s Halloween party this spooky season and don’t know where to start, relax – this post has got you covered!
Deciding on a Theme
Selecting a theme for a kid’s Halloween party is a fun and essential aspect of the planning process. It sets the tone, guides decoration choices, and inspires costume ideas. If you’re struggling to think of a theme, go with your child’s interests first and foremost.
Here’s some popular kid’s Halloween party theme ideas:
- Classic Monsters: Themes like vampires, mummies, and werewolves provide room for creative costumes.
- Witches and Wizards: This theme allows children to explore their magic side with fun hats and broomsticks.
- Superheroes: Many children love dressing up as their favorite heroes, making this a popular choice.
- Animals: Cute animal themes, such as cats or bats, are also well-received by younger audiences.
Of course, even if you choose to theme the party decor on one of the above, be flexible with rules about costumes. It’s more important for children to dress in the costume of their choosing than to fit in with a theme so they are comfortable and can enjoy the party.
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What’s Included:
- 13 Halloween games bundle
- 20+ page Halloween activites
- 8 Halloween Fortune teller bundle
- Indoor Halloween scavenger Hunt
- Outdoor Halloween Scavenger Hunt
- 12 Halloween color in bookmarks
- 25+ activities in total
- 83 pages!
Creating Invitations
Invitations set the tone for a child’s Halloween party, creating excitement and anticipation. Bright colours, playful fonts, and spooky illustrations grab children’s attention. Your child may wish to help create home made physical invitations to send to their friends and build excitement, such as these Make A Monster paper crafts that could have the party details written on the back.
To ensure all information is conveyed clearly to parents, (and not lost at the bottom of a school bag) you may also wish to send out a digital invitation. These can be made quickly and easily using a design tool such as Canva, or head to Etsy for a range of done-for-you invitation templates like these:
Organizing Decorations
Indoor Halloween Decor
When decorating indoors, start with a themed approach. Use halloween banners depicting friendly ghosts, pumpkins, and other cheerful Halloween icons. Soft lighting can enhance the ambiance; consider using string lights shaped like bats or pumpkins.
Tables can be adorned with tablecloths featuring Halloween designs like this. Centrepieces can include small pumpkins, skulls or jars filled with candies. For an extra touch, hang spooky spider webs from the ceiling.
Creating a mini haunted house in a corner can be an exciting attraction. Use black cloth to drape over furniture, and add spooky sounds for effect!
Outdoor Halloween Decor
Outdoor decorations can make the entrance feel inviting yet festive..
Pathways can be lined with lit pumpkins or pumpkin lanterns to guide children to the main party area. Adding spider webs can create a playful yet spooky vibe.
Garden decorations can also include floating ghosts or LED lights on bushes. Ensure all decorations are safe and weatherproof. This attention to detail will make the outdoor space truly magical for young guests.
For more Halloween decoration inspo, head to our curated Halloween Party Amazon List.
Planning Party Games and Activities
When organising a kid’s Halloween party, selecting engaging games and activities is crucial. Some children will love taking part in physical activities like a dance contest, while others may prefer to do quiet crafting activities.
Halloween Party Games Bundle
Our Halloween Party Games Bundle is great for keeping kids busy in between other activities and features 13 fun games including Truth or Scare, What’s Your Halloween Name and Halloween Match. Games can be played as a group or individually.
Halloween Dance Contest
Encourage kids to come in costume ready to dance. Consider having a “best dancer” competition with small prizes. Creating a playlist in advance can also help maintain the mood. Include a mix of Halloween-themed songs and kid-friendly tunes.
Set a schedule for the activities, allowing time for dancing between games or other activities. Keeping the dance portion lively and interactive with games like freeze dance or limbo can engage children more. A Halloween dance party should be memorable, so sharing highlights with parents later can be a fun touch.
Kid’s Halloween Party Playlist suggestions:
- “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
- “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.
- “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell
- “Monster Mash” – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
- “This Is Halloween” – The Citizens of Halloween (from The Nightmare Before Christmas)
- “Witch Doctor” – Cartoonz
- “I Put a Spell on You” – Bette Midler (from Hocus Pocus)
- “Time Warp” – Richard O’Brien (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
- “The Addams Family Theme” – Vic Mizzy
- “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” – Theme Song
- “Halloween Sharks” – Pinkfong
Costume Contest
Give prizes for categories like scariest, funniest, and most unique costumes. These games keep the atmosphere exciting and cater to the interests of various age groups.
Pumpkin Decorating Contest
A pumpkin decorating contest can be a highlight of the party. Provide several pumpkins and decorating supplies such as paint, markers, and carving tools. It’s essential to differentiate between carving for older kids and painting for younger ones for safety reasons.
Display all pumpkins prominently during the party, allowing guests to admire each other’s work. This not only encourages a sense of pride but also makes for great photo opportunities.
Creative Ideas for Halloween Crafts
Crafts can enhance a Halloween party by allowing kids to express their creativity. Set up a dedicated craft station with materials such as coloured paper, glue, scissors, and markers. Activities like making spooky masks or decorative ghosts can be a hit.
Painting pumpkins
Provide small pumpkins and a variety of paints, stickers, and glitter for decoration. The kids can create their unique designs, which can serve as decorations for the party.
Halloween fortune tellers
Also known as cootie catchers or chatterboxes, children love making these paper folding games! Our Halloween cootie catcher bundle comes with 8 designs including blank templates where children can write their own fortunes. These also make great party favors to take home.
Color in Halloween bookmarks
Our instant download color in halloween bookmarks come in sets of 12 and are perfect to give to friends and family after the party. Coloring them in adds an extra layer of creativity and again they make great and inexpensive party favors.
Setting Up a Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt adds excitement to the Halloween celebration but can be complicated to put together. Our Halloween Indoor Scavenger Hunt and Halloween Outdoor Scavenger hunt both come with 16 pre written clues and full instructions so you can hide each clue in a common household location.
Ensure there are small prizes for everyone to celebrate their efforts. This engaging activity keeps kids active and provides an opportunity for them to work together while enjoying the Halloween spirit.
Arranging Food and Treats
Planning the food and treats for a kid’s Halloween party can be both fun and creative. By presenting a mix of healthy snacks and themed party foods, hosts can ensure the event is enjoyable for children and easy for parents.
Halloween Party Food Ideas for kids
Mummy hot dogs: Wrap hot dogs in strips of puff pastry to create a mummy-like effect. Add ketchup or mustard eyes for an extra spooky touch.
Witch’s brew soup: Serve a hearty pea and ham soup with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of black pepper to create the look of a witch’s cauldron.
Monster mash guacamole: Add green food colouring to your guacamole and use black olives to create a monster face on top.
Spiderweb pizza: Use mozzarella cheese to create a spiderweb pattern on top of your pizza. Add black olives or pepperoni slices for the spiders.
For dessert, one popular choice is Spiderweb Brownies, which are simple to make. Just drizzle white icing over brownies to create a spiderweb effect.
Halloween Candy Bark: So simple to make and suitably spooky, Halloween Bark is an easy pleaser for any party.
Adding themed decorations like ghostly napkins or Halloween-themed plates can enhance the festive atmosphere while the kids enjoy their food.
Halloween Party Favors
Unique party favors can enhance the festive spirit of Halloween. Here are some ideas:
Halloween themed Activities
Print out wordsearches, mazes and more from our kid’s Halloween activity pack so children can carry on the fun at home.
Halloween-themed treat bags
Glow in the dark toys like these are always a halloween hit, or go for these ghoulish sticky stretch toys. Add assorted candies, chocolates, and place into halloween themed party bags. Custom labels can add a personal touch.
Save Money with our Kid’s halloween Party Mega Bundle
Get all the kid’s Halloween digital products from our shop featured in this post for one low price with our Mega Value Kid’s Halloween party bundle. Details below:
What’s Included:
- 13 Halloween games bundle
- 20+ page Halloween activites
- 8 Halloween Fortune teller bundle
- Indoor Halloween scavenger Hunt
- Outdoor Halloween Scavenger Hunt
- 12 Halloween color in bookmarks
- 25+ activities in total
- 83 pages!
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About The Author
Melissa is an Educational Consultant in the UK with over 25 years teaching experience. Through her expertise in creating educational resources for children she opened her Etsy shop, Gin&Gemini, in 2022 and quickly expanded her offering into the party planning niche, offering a range of physical and digital products for children’s parties, family celebrations, holidays and the bachelorette / hen party niche. She lives on a farm with her husband, young daughter and cats.