Spooky to Sweet: 11 Fun Halloween Party Theme Ideas
No holiday does themed-parties quite like Halloween. Every year, we look forward to celebrating this crazy-fun holiday with a good old fashioned Halloween bash. Hands down, the best part about throwing a Halloween party is deciding on a theme. Whether you want to throw an adults-only party or are putting together a soirée fit for kiddos, we have 11 themes that’ll make your Halloween party a smashing success!
1. The Theme: Costumes and Cocktails: Quick, someone call the babysitter! This theme is just for the big kids.
Décor: Go with classic black and white decorations to create an elegantly spooky vibe. Invite with this oh-so-popular Costumes and Cocktails invitation. Cover the tables in simple black linens and pick up some faux skulls (check out the dollar section at your favorite store) and scatter them about. Next, search your house for clear glass vessels for candles – nearly anything from extra wine glasses to mason jars can serve as a candle holder. Drop in some votive candles, dim the lights, put on your favorite spooky playlist and you’re set!
Activities: An adults-only Halloween party doesn’t require much in terms of games and fun. However – every costume party needs a costume contest. Since this party is just for adults, awarding a top prize for best couples costume is a fun idea.
Food and Drink: Since the word cocktails is literally your theme name, you must create a signature Halloween cocktail to serve. Hop over to Pinterest and search your heart out. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s nice and boo-zy.
2. The Theme: Spooky in the Suburbs: Who said the ‘burbs don’t know how to party?
Décor: This is such a fun theme for a neighborhood Halloween party! Let this ghost-themed invitation inspire the décor theme for this family-friendly celebration. Our best tip: pull your cars out of the garage and create a scary-fun space for the kids to hang. Inside the house decorate with these DIY cheesecloth ghosts. These guys will be the talk of the party!
Activities: Use mini orange cones and pumpkins to create a Halloween-inspired obstacle course in your garage and driveway. The kids will be entertained for hours.
Food and Drink: Bring on the crock pots. Ask each neighborhood family to bring a dish to share. Better yet, turn it into a chili contest! Everyone loves a food-centered competition, right? Keep the drinks simple so you’re not stuck at the bar all evening. Ice cold juice boxes and beer will do the trick and feel like a treat.
3. The Theme: Hocus Pocus: A perfect theme for fans of the beloved classic Halloween movie.
Décor: This theme is so fun for tweens, teens or for those of us that grew up watching the cult-classic movie, Hocus Pocus! Forget spooky and instead create a whimsical vibe with colors inspired by our Hocus Pocus invitation. This party is all about the movie night (and food!) so gather some orange, purple and green containers from the dollar store to pull together this look on the cheap. If you love DIY, creating paper stars in the same palette would be so fun strung from the ceiling!
Activities: It doesn’t get much easier than this: Movie night!
Food and Drink: Go with classic movie themed treats but kick it up a notch. Think party popcorn with Halloween sprinkles. If you want to get extra-fancy, throw together a candy bar with an orange, purple and green theme.
4. The Theme: Pumpkin Carving Party: Throw a BYOP (that’s Bring Your Own Pumpkin) party!
Décor: Get ready for some ooey gooey fun. Kids and adults alike will love this fabulously-themed Halloween party and you can make decorating for it a breeze. Focus on making your carving work station colorful and fun with containers for your carving tools and plastic tablecloths covering the floor.
Activities: This is an easy one – pumpkin carving! Collect plenty of tools including conventional safety knives. Kick your carving skills up a notch with power tools like drills and dremels. Adult supervision required, of course. Be sure to print out some free pumpkin carving stencils to get everyone’s creative juices flowing.
Food and Drink: Pumpkin carving feels like fall so serve up some autumn-inspired treats to enjoy once the jack-o-lanterns are complete. Think hot apple cider for the kids and cider rum punch for the adults. Keep the food simple with treats like caramel apples, grilled hot dogs and hot cider donuts.
5. The Theme: Day of the Dead: A haunting theme with a whimsical twist!
Décor: The Day of the Dead, or Dia De Los Muertos, is often associated with Halloween since the Mexican holiday is celebrated on November 1st. This spiritual holiday honors and remembers loved ones who have passed away. Décor includes traditional ornate sugar skulls, like the o8ne featured on our Day of the Dead Halloween Invitation and bright color palettes.
Activities: Set up a face painting station for all to enjoy. Whether you hire an artist to paint intricate sugar skulls, or let your guests try their hand at their own DIY design, this activity will be a huge hit.
Food and Drink: Go all in with a Mexican-inspired menu. Set up a taco bar and pre-mixed margarita pitchers so you’re free to mingle with your guests! The icing on the cake is literally…a cake. Try your hand at creating these impressive individual sugar skull cakes! They’re easier to bake and decorate than you might think and will be gobbled up by all your favorite ghouls and goblins.
6. Friendly Ghost: There’s nothing ghastly (or ghostly) about this delightful theme.
Décor: A not-so-scary ghost themed party requires a few friendly ghosts! Invite with a ghost-themed invite then use the classic white, black and orange color palette to deck out your house in spookily sweet style. Trace the shape of the ghost on our invitation design onto white construction paper and string them together to make adorable Halloween bunting banners. Drape classic crepe paper streamers from the ceiling for décor on the cheap that the kiddos will love.
Activities: Create some simple ghoulish games that young children will stay busy with for hours. Favorites include pin the boo on the ghost and the forever classic game ghost in the graveyard.
Food and Drink: Keep the menu super simple and kid-friendly with pumpkin shaped pizza, orange soda and mandarin orange cups dressed up for the party.
7. Eat, Drink and Be Scary: Themed-food and fabulous drinks for the Halloween-win!
Décor: Pick up the gold and black accents on this Eat Drink and Be Scary themed invitation to create a ghoulishly glam ambience that centers around your buffet tablescape. A can of gold spray paint is going to be your B.F.F. as you pull off this look. First, instead of using a tablecloth, create an elegant base with piece of black velvet fabric. Purchase some white mini pumpkins and spray paint them shiny, bright gold. Scatter your golden pumpkins amongst your serving dishes to create a custom buffet in a snap. To dress up the rest of the house, gather some gold and black candles and dim the lights to set the tone for a spooky evening.
Activities: Food and drink are the stars of this party so don’t worry about planning a bunch of extra activities. There is one contest-based activity though, that is going to save you time, money and will be a huge hit with your guests. Hold a contest for the best Halloween-themed appetizer! Your friends will love creating a dish to pass and you’ll be delighted to pass of the food prep to everyone else. Win!
Food and Drink: Since your party guests are bringing the food, go all out with Halloween themed drinks. Our favorites include this apple butter old fashioned, this witch’s heart martini and this non-alcoholic witch’s brew complete with dry ice!
8. Boos and Brews: Come for the Boos, stay for the Brews!
Décor: A boos and brews Halloween party is all about adult-style fun so keep your décor simple. This Boos and Brews party invitation has a great typography style reminiscent of a chalkboard. Carry it through to your party decorations by creating mini chalkboard menus for your food and beer selections. Even better – create DIY chalkboard pumpkins that can be used all season!
Activities: It IS an adult’s only theme, right? Three words: Halloween beer pong. Grab some orange cups and a sharpie to create jack-o-lantern faces and turn a plain old ping pong ball into a creepy eyeball. The over-21 crowd will find it frightfully fun!
Food and Drink: Beer is a must for your Boos and Brews theme. Don’t be basic though; grab seasonal brews instead and create a beer buffet. Support local and snag local microbrew favorites. For an extra wicked good time, create beer flights!
9. Tricks, Treats and Spooky Sweets: Family-friendly with a focus on your sugar tooth.
Décor: A word of caution: sugar buzz ahead. This kid-friendly theme is going to be a hit with your munchkins and their buddies. Focus on creating a Halloween themed candy buffet complete with their favorite sweets. Provide Halloween treat bags from your local craft store so each kiddo can bring home a little sugar buzz too!
Activities: Creating Halloween party games for kids is fun and easy! This boo bowling DIY game is simple and inexpensive to make. Another classic game is wrap the mummy. The giggles will be worth the wasted toilet paper! And lastly, set up a pumpkin painting station and let them be creative (and messy!).
Food and Drink: They’ll love the candy buffet but they’ll really enjoy this activity-meets-treat: a DIY sugar decorating station. Did you know you can order plain cut-out cookies and frosting from your local bakery? Simply set them out, along with some spooky sprinkles, and let each child create a plate of custom Halloween sugar cookies.
10.Wicked Good Time: An enchanting theme for a Halloween costume party!
Décor: Take a nod from our Wicked Good Time Halloween party invitation and bring the night sky inside! Sounds hard, right? It’s not when you purchase a star projector. Since the lights will be dim, light up everything from tables to your fireplace mantle with safe, battery-operated votive candles.
Activities: A wicked good time must include a costume contest. Hand out prizes for categories like spookiest costume, funniest costume, best couple costume and best homemade costume.
Food and Drink: For this wicked-themed party, we’re going…dark. Stick to a desserts and drinks menu and keep the theme scary and spooky with these decadent desserts. This black magic cake has us drooling. These raspberry dark chocolate truffles make a perfect bit-size treat. Stock the bar with black Halloween cocktails that hair-raising to say the least!
11. Black Kitty Cat: The wee ones will adore this puuur-fect Halloween party theme.
Décor: One look at your cute black cat party invitation and your creative juices will be flowing! Since this sweet theme is perfect for young kids, keep the décor friendly and fun with Halloween classics like pumpkins, friendly ghosts and of course, plenty of black cats.
Activities: Keep the kids busy with a color contest. Print free printable Halloween coloring sheets and hang up their creations to be admired and voted on by all the party-goers.
Food and Drink: Create a whimsical menu that’s kid-friendly and brings oodles and fun to the party! These chocolate covered ghost strawberries and delightful, hot dog mummies will be devoured and these black cat cupcakes tie in your theme with style so cute, they’ll all freak!