Halloween Party - Ghost Party Theme
When my son Tom was five, we decided to celebrate his favourite holiday with a Halloween Ghost Party. The party theme was so easy to do and all the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The invitations were the first glimpse into a ghostly good time. I bought lollipops and some cheap white cotton fabric. I cut the fabric into squares large enough to cover the lollipop and most of the stick. With a black pen I wrote the invitation in a spiral around the edges, making sure the middle was left white. When finished I wrapped it around the lollipop and fastened it with some thin black ribbon at the neck. I made two small black dots for eyes with a felt tip marker, and presto, a ghost invitation was born. I posted the party invitations in padded envelopes that Tom decorated with ghost stickers.
Tom wanted the gathering to be a costume party so we asked everyone to come dressed as a ghost. Even my husband and I were planning to dress for the occasion. I went out and bought cheap white sheets for us to wear and at the same time bought extras to drape over the furniture at home.
We decided to confine the party to primarily one room so that is where I put most of the party decorations. I replaced the light bulbs with blue ones to give an eerie glow. I made small signs that said “Boo!” and taped them on the walls. The white sheets covered all the settees and chairs with enough left over to hang on the walls. I used a staple gun at the place where the walls and ceiling join to keep them in place. I bought several white pumpkins and painted black eyes on them. They were situated in corners, on the coffee table and in the center of the dining room table. White and black helium balloons loomed above at the ceiling, covering it almost entirely.
I set the table with a white cloth and used black paper plates for each guest. I placed small bubble gum ball machines full gum at each place setting, covering them with white cloth. I used a black marker to draw eyes on each disguised machine so it looked like a ghost was sitting at each plate. My husband and I served the kids ghost sandwiches and bright green jelly. I made the sandwiches by toasting a slice of bread and letting it cool. I cut out each slice with a ghost cookie cutter, spread on cream cheese and adding two eyes with chocolate chips. For dessert I made ghost shaped fairy cakes. I was able to buy a muffin tin with ghost shapes at a party shop and simply baked them, frosted them with white icing and put on two red sweets for eyes. The kids ate the lot.
After eating, it was time for some party games. I played the Ghostbusters song while kids walked into the party room. The atmosphere was made even better by the smiles on the kids faces as they were introduced to the first game….. titled Spider Web. I had bought several coloured balls of yarn which were now strewn around the entire room. At each end I tied a large plastic toy such as a spider or bat and hid it in a drawer or behind a door, etc. I unrolled the yarn around objects in the room – around the chair, over and under the coffee table – you get the idea. When finished I tied a balloon the same colour as the yarn to the end and let it hang. I handed each child a balloon and told them to find the other end. The kids had a great time following their string while trying not to get tangled with others. The children were thrilled when they found their prize.
The next game was the mummy wrap. I divided the guests into teams of two. Each team received a roll of toilet paper. On each team, one person wrapped the other. The whole roll of toilet paper had to be used and whoever finished first, won. This game is a little messy and you may find pieces of toilet paper days after, but the kids love it.
Our last game was another kid favourite, freeze dancing. I put a ghostly twist on it though. I purchased glow sticks through a Halloween web site and gave one to each child to wave in the air (these doubled as another party favour too.) I turned out the lights so that all we saw were the glow sticks. My husband did the music, I did the lights and the game began. The music was from a Halloween music cd and included songs like 'Flying Purple People Eater' and 'The Monster Mash'. When the music stopped, everyone froze in position. I turned on the lights and if anyone moved, they were out. The last person left won.
After the games I served a delicious chocolate cake made in the shape of a bat. The kids had no problem polishing that off as well.
The kids decorated handled white paper bags with stickers before they left so that they would have something to put their goodies in. The Halloween party was a huge success and every child had a ghostly good time.
