Plan a Pumpkin Carving Party

Oh, October.  It’s such an animated time of year with bustling ideas, parties, and fun.  Childhood-like energy vivaciously radiates through joyful smiles.  Adults passionately reminisce their childhood days as they blissfully entice little ghosts and goblins with both tricks and treats.  Pumpkins and scarecrows eagerly collect their sweet treats with spooky smirks. Everyone – young and young at heart, finds enjoyment in the frightening fun of happy hauntings and petrifying parties!

Host a Pumpkin Carving Party!

October is adorned with straw, warm colored mums, gourds, and pumpkins. What better way to decorate your haunted house than with a pumpkin, perfectly carved out by your munchkin. Watch the faces of your favorite little ghouls light up with excitement when they come to your pumpkin carving party!

Get as creepily creative as you’d like!

Carve Out Your Invites:

When planning a pumpkin carving party, it is important to set the date to your evening of thrills.

• Consider a night when the weather is not too brisk, you’ll likely want to host the fun in your garage for easy clean up, and you’ll avoid the hands of your little ones getting too cold while they are playing in the pumpkin goo. The weather may be unavoidable in the event you want to show off your creativity at Halloween; pumpkins don’t last long once they’ve been carved.
• Purchase and prepare your Halloween party invites with details. Don’t forget to include RSVP information; you’ll need it to prepare your party.
• Send out your party invites to all of your guest goblins.

Planning For Your Party:

Give your little werewolf something to howl about!

After your guest goblins have returned their RSVPs, it is time to prepare for your party.

• Stop by your local Farmer’s Market and purchase one carving-size pumpkin for each of your guests. You may want to have a couple extra on hand, too. If you don’t use them at the party, you can always place them out to embellish your home during the holidays.
•  Pick up some pumpkin carving kits – remember to have enough carving utensils on hand for each of your guests.
• Decorate your garage into a Halloween scene with fun room transformers such as Jack O Lantern Scene Setters or Pumpkin Paper Lanterns.  Let your creativity be your guide!
• Add some fun to the party and lay out some pumpkin shaped goodie bags for the guest goblins.  Include nose glasses and Halloween party favors.
• Jazz up your party with some eerie edibles – try your bones at making a pumpkin cake (you can add some fun with an iridescent Jack O Lantern pan). Remember your Halloween themed plates, napkins, tableware, and plastic ware if you will have edibles.
• Let your heart go wild; just don’t let the vampires in!

Your Pumpkin Carving Party:

• For easy clean up, lay a large tarp down on your garage floor. When the evening is over, you will have less gooey pumpkin guts to worry about.
• Consider decorating a corner of the garage with little hay stacks and straw or potting plants of mums. Place the pumpkins in a pile to create a pumpkin patch. Let the kids have fun picking their favorite pumpkin.
• You may even want to set the mood of the party by playing a Halloween CD.
• Let your guests have a gooey good time carving their pumpkin!

After your little goblin guests have finished with their spooky carving fun, let them take their personalized pumpkin home as a party favor. You will likely be the hit of Halloween!

Happy Haunting!

Organize a Zombie Prom School Dance

Zombie Prom Charity Dancing

It has never been cooler to be a zombie. Zombies made a major pop culture appearance in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video in 1983 and have made a huge splash in recent years on AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Move over ghosts, out of the way witches… zombies are what’s hot.

So forget the traditional Halloween dance and instead organize a zombie prom school dance or charity dance.  It’s sure to draw a lot of attention and people will be just dying to attend!

Spread the Word

Guests will need to know in advance of your zombie prom. Some people will really want to go all out with their costumes and makeup, so give them plenty of notice about the event. Make sure to advertise the event in every way possible:

–          Have your zombie prom mentioned as often as possible in the school announcements.

–          If your school has a newspaper, see if it will do an article on the event.

–          Make posters and flyers and put them all over the school, especially focusing on the cafeteria, commons and restrooms.

–          Send out invitations in the mail or deliver them to students in class.

Deadly Decorations

You can’t expect to decorate for a zombie prom like you would any other school dance. The mood has to be set with zombie decorations. One of the most important things you’ll need is fog. After all, zombies have to hobble through graveyards in a rolling fog. Use a fog machine throughout the night to create a seriously spooky effect around the room, especially on the dance floor.

Your guests, who will hopefully all be dressed in zombie attire, won’t be enough to fully set the zombie scene. Consider purchasing some zombie silhouettes to place around the venue, or use zombie scene setter room rolls for the eerie appearance of zombies coming out of the walls.

If you have access to a projector, show old zombie movies on a big, blank wall. Even though you can’t hear what’s being said (zombies don’t say much anyway), it will create a cool effect. Some of our favorites are “I Walked with a Zombie,” “The Plague of the Zombies,” “White Zombie,” and, of course, “Night of the Living Dead.” Be sure you check with the school’s video policy before showing any video to students.

Morbid Music

Most students will want to dance to modern music that they know and love, but feel free to mix things up. Tell your D.J. to throw in some old-school tracks every once in a while that fit with your zombie theme. Some examples would be “Zombie” by The Cranberries and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.

Freaky Food

Zombie prom attendees are likely to get tired from all the zombie dancing they’ll be doing. Make sure you have refreshments available, and keep with the theme as much as possible. A simple red fruit punch can be served as “blood punch,” and a gory brain mold can be used to make a gelatin treat. Cupcake icing can also be made to look like brains, which are a zombie’s favorite!

If you can fully commit to the zombie theme and get people involved by dressing up and wearing zombie makeup, a zombie prom school dance has the potential to be the most memorable dance of the year!

Ghost Decorations for a Spooky Halloween Bash

Ghosts are a must-have for Halloween festivities. ShindigZ has tons of ghost decorating tips, costumes and party accessories perfect for haunting your Halloween party.

Create a big first impression for guests to your home this Halloween with a ghost lawn globe or a Ghost Ranch Decorating Kit. Visitors will be in awe of your awesome decorations and you’ll have the coolest yard in the neighborhood. To really set the scene for spooky, check out our tips for a Haunted Porch. The Ghoulish Graveyard Kit or Spooktacular Cemetery Kit also make awesome choices.

String a set of ghost lights across your porch, doorway, or around your railings to create a spooky glow. The ghost lanterns are another great option.

Transform an entire room of your home in a snap with our Halloween Insta-Theme Kit. It’s perfect for instantly boosting your spooky party décor. Adding ghosts to the wall is sure to add that extra Halloween flair.

If you like pirates, add a little sea-faring touch to your walkway by lining it with a ghost pirate fence. It’s the perfect decoration for pirate fans and Halloween.

Add the finishing touches with our hanging ghost decorations. String a ghost garland around the room. Add a giant ghoulish ghost to a corner to spook guests. Don’t forget Adrian the Ghost. He’s an awesome addition to your party décor!

Don’t forget to decorate yourself with a ghost costume!