Planning a child’s birthday party can be stressful. What activities should you plan that will keep the kids entertained? What treats should you serve that won’t make them climb the walls and allow you to retain your sanity? If you have a child with a birthday in the month of October, you’re in luck. Halloween is a fun time for kids and they will love attending a Halloween-themed birthday party complete with costumes and tasty fall treats. Read on for some stress-free ideas for a spectacular party.
Invitations
Start your planning off right with some Halloween-themed invitations. You can make the invites yourself, or buy them at your local retailer. Either way, keep in mind that little children don’t like to be scared, so make the invitations age-appropriate. If you want to make the invites, an easy way to personalize them is to take a picture of your child dressed in his or her Halloween costume. Print the picture out and attach to cardstock. Include all the pertinent information inside the card and hand them out. You can get really creative with handmade invitations using glitter, spooky Halloween stickers, etc. so let your imagination run wild.
Decorations
Decorations are the fun part. Keeping things age-appropriate, decorate your house to make it look festive. Hang orange, black and purple streamers, balloons and other Halloween-themed decorations. Incorporate fall decorations like pumpkins, scarecrows, hay bales and corn stalks into the mix for a less frightening theme for younger children. Older children enjoy scarier things like ghost, witches and things that make spooky sounds. Include a black light or two for added fun. To keep in the theme of things and add the ultimate fun factor, look at a photo booth rental in Orlando. You can even customise your photo strips to suit your Halloween decor.
Food
Preparing the food is the most time consuming part. To save time, you can purchase the Halloween birthday treats at the store, but it’s a lot of fun to do it yourself, too. You might even want to hire a professional birthday party caterer like Matteo’s Gourmet Food Services to handle all of the food preparation for you. The sky is the limit when it comes to putting together a menu for a Halloween birthday party. Cupcakes decorated in festive colors are a hit with all kids, and spiced apple cider is a favorite fall treat. For a healthier snack, you could include pumpkin seeds and cheese and crackers. Cut the cheese with Halloween-shaped cookie cutters for added décor. You can have fun turning every day food into scary, gory morsels for older children and delight younger children with colorful, fun finger foods such as small sandwiches and cookies.
Activities
Ask guests to attend the party in costumes and hold a contest for the best costume. Hold a ‘Bobbing for Apples’ contest and give out prizes for both. Younger kids can participate in a parade around your neighborhood to show off their costumes, with the birthday child leading the way.
Set up a crafting table complete with paints, glitter and anything that can be used to decorate a pumpkin. Supply small pumpkins that guests can decorate and give out prizes for the best-decorated pumpkin. Older children can carve pumpkins instead. These activities might be best done outside if the weather permits.
By keeping kids entertained with various foods and activities, you will be less likely to pull your hair out and be able to enjoy yourself. Set a specific time for the party – 2 hours is usually enough time to get all the activities in, but kids won’t get bored – and encourage guests to use trash receptacles when finished with food so cleanup is easier. If the weather is good, having the party outdoors is even more fun because kids can be kids without having to worry about spilling or breaking anything.
