Top 10 Tips to Throw a Halloween Party
“Get prepared for spooky season with our ultimate guide on how to host a scarily good Halloween party.”
Halloween is big occasion across America, with kids and adults alike dressing up in the most impressive costumes for trick-or-treating, people visiting haunted houses and decorating their porches and homes with scarily good decorations.
Where to throw a halloween party
You can throw a Halloween party at your own house or backyard, allowing you to decorate and create a spooky atmosphere. Alternatively, you can rent a venue such as a community center, banquet hall, or even a haunted house for a more immersive experience.
Things to bring to a Halloween party
- ???? Costumes: Encourage guests to come dressed in their best Halloween costumes.
- ???? Halloween decorations: Bring additional decorations to add to the party atmosphere, such as fake spider webs, bats, or themed banners.
- ???? Halloween-themed food and drinks: If the host has requested potluck-style contributions, consider bringing Halloween-themed dishes, snacks, or drinks.
- ???? Party games and activities: Bring any supplies needed for the Halloween party games or activities you plan to organize.
- ???? Music and sound effects: If the venue allows, bring a portable speaker and a playlist of spooky music or sound effects to enhance the ambiance.
To help you plan for the big night, St Pierre has put together top 10 tips and tricks on how to throw a scarily good Halloween party no matter who you are celebrating with
Check out our Halloween occasion page for more ideas of what you can do this Halloween, including lots of delicious recipes.
ST PIERRE’S TOP 10 TIPS – HOW TO THROW A GREAT HALLOWEEN PARTY
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How to decorate for a halloween party
Get into the Halloween spirit and make sure your house is fully decked out with lots of spooky decorations. Think Jack-o’-lanterns, graveyards and ghouls with lots of black and orange. You can even make your own decorations, such as black paper bats that can hang from the ceiling or your very own banners and garlands to hang round the house.
Halloween party color combination:
You can’t really go wrong using black and orange as a classic color combination for Halloween party decorations. In recent decades, purple and green have become part of the Halloween color palette. It is believed that the inclusion of green may have been influenced by the portrayal of witches in movies, such as Margaret Hamilton’s portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” This association with witches and their emerald complexions may have contributed to the incorporation of green into Halloween decorations and themes.
White bed sheets are also great for making ghosts that lurk in the corners. If you’re looking to stock up on Halloween party supplies on a budget, why not pick a simple color theme – orange & black or purple & green are good color combinations – and pick out decorations and tableware in those colors.
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Create a Halloween party punch
Make sure your guests don’t go thirsty with a ghoulish Halloween punch. Try mixing cranberry juice and lemonade for a blood red punch, although you can mix any juices and soft drinks together you like. Add in some Halloween candy like gummy worms and eyeballs for a truly spooky drink. For the adults, why not try making a frightfully good cocktail punch bowl.
For other Halloween drinks ideas, why not think about spooky versions of drinks like Jell-O Shots (you could simply use food coloring to make them Halloween themed) or even decorate your drinks with scary accessories like glow-in-the-dark stirrers or straws.
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Hunt for Candy
It’s not truly Halloween without lots of chocolate and candy, so if you’re not planning on going trick or treating why not create a scavenger hunt in your home and have your guests hunt for candy. You can have clues leading to the hiding places and prizes for those that find the most, however you choose to do it, all you definitely need it lots and lots of candy.
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Make Halloween party Sweet Treats
A fun treat for kids and adults alike is to make Halloween cake pops. Make them beforehand or turn them into a fun party activity and let your guests show their creativity. All you need to do is stock up on some Halloween-themed sprinkles and you can have your own cake pop creation station that all your guests can enjoy.
You could also transform some St Pierre products into Halloween sweet treats: our Chocolate & Hazelnut Rolled Crepes into mummies with drizzles of melted while chocolate along with a couple of candy eyes, or used toasted slices of our Brioche Loaf to make French Toast Fangs – a dish you won’t be able to help but sink your teeth into.
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Serve warming snacks for after trick or treating
It can be cold this time of year, and if you and some of your guests do decide to go trick or treating, make sure to prepare this warming snack when you all return as a delicious treat. These Mummy Toasted Pizza Brioche Bagels are great for warming fingers and toes after an evening of hunting for candy. You might want to make extra as these will certainly have people reaching for more.
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Create some frightful Halloween party food
Get creative with your Halloween sandwiches and burgers and make some terrifying creations such as monster burgers. A fun activity to do with your guests to see who can come up with the most frightening food, check out some of our ideas below of what you could make using St Pierre Brioche:
Sausage Monster Sandwich
Featuring beady olive eyes, melted cheese fangs and ketchup blood, these Sausage Monster Sandwiches are great for little and big kids alike and will please even the fussiest of eaters.
Monster Burgers
Devilishly good in appearance and taste, these Halloween-themed burgers use classic ingredients – ground beef patties, cheese, salad and ketchup – alongside some terrifyingly good extras to bring this burger to life.
Peanut Butter & Banana Coffins
A hauntingly good recipe idea from beyond the grave, these treats are a simple-to-make idea. Either use a coffin-shaped cookie cutter, or carefully use a knife to shape slices of our Brioche Loaf filled with peanut butter and banana slices to make these mini sandwiches for you Halloween party guests.
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Easy to serve Halloween Party Dinner Ideas
It can be hard to know what to cook when you have lots of guests coming over, especially when you aren’t planning to have a sit down meal. So, we have come up with a couple of dinner ideas that are easy to make in big batches, and can easily be served up to all your guests.
Slow Roasted Pork and Apple Sauce Baps
These Pork and Apple Sauce Rolls are ideal for your Halloween party and will definitely be a favorite amongst your guests. The long cooking time of the pork means you can prepare this during the day, and get on with decorating your house and getting everything else ready whilst it is cooking.
Serve with St Pierre Brioche Burger Buns and a big bowl of apple sauce and allow your guests to build their own Pork and Apple Sauce Rolls.
Firecracker Chicken Bagel
Add some spice to the night with these Firecracker Chicken Bagels. Marinated with an explosion of flavors the shredded chicken is great for serving in a large bowl and allowing guests to fill their own Brioche Bagels.
Don’t forget to have a bowl of jalapenos on the side for those that like a little extra spice.
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Quick and Easy Halloween party Dessert Ideas
With so much to prepare for your Halloween party, you don’t want to be worrying about the dessert, so keep it simple and make something that is quick and easy but equally delicious. Here are a couple of ideas using St Pierre Brioche that are easy to make but guaranteed to wow your guests:
Pumpkin Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding
A classic dessert with an fall twist. Adding in some pumpkin puree and mixed spice to the traditional bread pudding recipe, you can create a delicious dessert that is bound to have everyone coming back for more this Halloween.
Maple & Pecan Croissant Pudding
Similar to a bread pudding but using St Pierre Croissants instead. Top with crunchy pecans and sticky maple syrup for an extra sweet and nutty burst of flavor.
Serve with a jug of maple syrup for those with an extra sweet tooth who may want more.
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Jack-o’-lantern contest
When most of us think of Halloween, we think of carving pumpkins and transforming them into Jack-o’-lanterns. So why not host your own contest to celebrate this tradition! Have you guests compete to see who can create the best Jack-o’-lantern within a certain amount of time.
Don’t forget to stock up on tea lights so you can see the spooky faces glow.
Why do we carve pumpkins for Halloween?
Carved pumpkins or Jack-o’-lanterns’ were placed on people’s porches and windows to ward off evil sprits on the night of Hallows Eve, as the souls of those that had died that year would pass on during this night meaning that ghosts and spirits would be more present.
Why are pumpkins associated with Halloween?
In the 1800s, when a lot of Irish people moved to go and live in America, they took their traditions with them. One of these traditions was using vegetables, particularly turnips, to scare unwanted spirits away. In America, a new vegetable was discovered, the pumpkin, and so it became the tradition to use pumpkins on Halloween.
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Play some spooky Halloween party games
Keep your guests entertained with some spooky party games that everyone can enjoy. Here are some ideas of what you can play:
- ???? Murder mystery game – host your own murder mystery party as your guests try and discover who the culprit is.
- ???? Candy Corn Pinata – find a suitable spooky pinata for your guests to have fun bashing open to get some extra Halloween candy.
- ????????♀️ Apple bobbing – host this classic fall activity but with a Halloween twist using witches’ cauldrons instead of bowls.
- ???? Donuts on a string – tie several donuts onto a string somewhere high up and then try to retrieve the donuts without using your hands.
- ???? Eyeball Dig – have several bowls filled with slimy contents (this could be something like spaghetti or Jell-o) and hide some eyeballs within them. Then blindfolded, someone has to find them.
We hope you find these tips and tricks useful in helping you throw a scarily good Halloween party. If you do use any of these ideas, be sure to snap a picture and share it with us @stpierreeurope on Instagram and Facebook.