Spooky Season is here - how the year is marching on! Although Halloween falls on October 31st, we tend to revel in its fun-filled traditions pretty much from the beginning of the month with pumpkin carving, trick or treating and all sorts of ghoulish fun to look forward to. Halloween usually falls during October half term in the UK so lots of you will be heading off to one of our luxury large holiday houses for a happy multi-generational stay. You’ll have heaps of room to celebrate this time-honoured festival, so check out our guide to how to throw a Halloween party for a big family group.
Throwing a Halloween party for a big family group is all about balancing ideas for toddlers, teens and adults, so it's fun for all ages. Our tried and tested tips will bring you all together for a spectacularly spooky night in your holiday house, where large living spaces and open-plan rooms give you heaps of room to gather for a fantastic family party. With a little planning, it will be unforgettable!
Games
Halloween Balloon Burst
Split into two teams and tie an orange or black balloon to each player's ankle. The object is to burst the other team’s balloons without popping your own! Stomping good fun!
Mystery Feely Box
This is good for teens and adults. Fill a box with sensory ‘body parts’ – peeled grapes for eyeballs, a small cauliflower for a brain, dried spaghetti for hair, cocktail sausages for fingers. Take it in turns to delve into the box and guess what you’re feeling. Yuk!
Monster Freeze Dance
Have a playlist ready of classic Halloween tracks to dance to. When the music stops everyone strikes a monster, ghoul or zombie pose, with a winner picked for each round.
Pumpkin Bowling
Decorate empty plastic bottle ‘skittles’ as ghosts or witches, use small pumpkins as balls and set up your bowling alley in a long room or hallway. The most strikes wins.
Classic Halloween Games
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Pumpkin carving competitions: give each family a pumpkin and a time limit. Adults should handle the knives, and little ones can draw the design or scoop out the seeds.
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Apple bobbing– pick an apple from a bowl of water with your mouth – with your hands behind your back!
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Wrap the Mummy - divide into teams and race to wrap a volunteer head to toe in toilet paper!
Costumes
Costumes are an essential part of any Halloween party – just try not to frighten each other too much!
Halloween Monsters
Think witches, ghosts, mummies, vampires, Frankenstein’s monster, even pirates seem to be a thing for Halloween.
The Addams Family
Watch the movie together, then plan your costumes to dress up as the characters. Will it be Morticia, Uncle Fester, Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley or Thing?
Harry Potter
We did this last year, and it went down a storm. Inspirational characters from the films include:
- Harry Potter
- Albus Dumbledore
- Luna Lovegood
- Severus Snape
- Bellatrix Lestrange
- Professor McGonagall
Easy Ghosts or Pyjama Skeletons
Use old sheets for ghosts, buy skeleton pyjamas, or paint plain black t-shirts and leggings with luminous paint.
Get creative and make your own outfit, or if you’re pushed for time buy a costume from local shops or online.
Decorations
Make your family Halloween party extra memorable with themed decorations – set the scene, stream scary sounds.
Mad Science Lab
Set up a corner table covered with a dark cloth and decorated with cobwebs and spiders. Arrange ‘potions’ in old style glass bottles. Print labels like Poison, Do Not Drink, Witches Blood, Eye of Bat.
Spooky Lighting
Buy Halloween-themed string lights in the shape of pumpkins, ghosts, etc to hang up, and have battery operated candles in glass jars decorated with silhouettes of ghosts, bats, witches and pumpkins.
Creepy Crawly Cobwebs
Drape thin grey or black fabric over furniture, bookshelves and mantlepieces (cheesecloth or muslin is great for this). Decorate with spiders and bats.
Dress the Table
Use a Halloween themed cloth or black fabric as your base, scatter with fake spiders, skeletons, etc. and group small pumpkins, branches and antique style candlesticks as centrepieces. Think about placeware too – we love these googly eye cups and this ceramic ghost plate.
Easy Halloween Party Food
If you’re pushed for time, it’s easiest to head to the supermarket – they have a huge range of food for Halloween parties, like these cupcakes and Witches Brew cookies. A few simple touches will add atmosphere to your table and are quick to do.
Witches Claw Bowl
Make a bowl of fruit salad with chopped up ‘blood’ coloured fruits, like watermelon, red grapes and blueberries. Fill a washing up glove (not the flock lined kind) with berry squash and pop it in the freezer. When it’s frozen, carefully peel off the glove and position the claw on the edge of the bowl.
Creepy Candy Bar
Fill glass jars with Halloween-themed sweets in the shape of snakes, spiders, ghosts, eyeballs, and vampires’ teeth.
Halloween Cookies
Bake your own cookie dough or use a kit, and cut out shapes using Halloween cookie cutters. Decorate with icing and food colouring. What’s great is that the kids can join in.
Severed Finger Hot Dogs
These severed finger hot dogs look so gruesome, but are easy to do. Just imagine that on the table!
If, on the other hand, you’ve got the time and you love baking, check out these Halloween recipes. Eyeball Snot Trail, anyone? Eeerie Eyeball Jelly?
The key to throwing a good Halloween party is not to stress too much. Do what you can without putting yourself under too much pressure, because you know what matters most? You’re all there, together, in a lovely big house, enjoying a half term break and creating long lasting memories. Don’t worry, it’ll all turn out fine. You’ll have the happiest Halloween in years.