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!

10 Alternatives to Giving Out Candy at Halloween

For decades, children have gone door-to-door on Halloween night, collecting sugary sweets that they’ll devour in the weeks that follow. If you’d like to stand out in a crowd of candy bars, lollipops and caramels, consider one of these 10 alternatives to giving out candy at Halloween:

Rings

Jewelry is always fun and can be worn for the entire Halloween season for years to come! For example, Skull Rings are adjustable rings in bright silver, and Crawlie Rings looks like black spiders crawling up your finger.

Temporary Tattoos

Kids love temporary tattoos. They’re easy and safe to apply and last for a couple of days. Simply apply to cheek, arm, or hand with water. There are a variety of styles to choose from, and it won’t cause anyone to get a cavity!

Glow Sticks

Trick-or-treaters might want to use this treat right away! Glow Sticks will light up their night in colors like blue, orange, purple, green, pink or yellow. Parents will appreciate their glow and help them keep a better eye on trick-or-treaters after dark. Alternatives to sticks are Glow Bracelets.

Healthy Snacks

If you insist on handing out some sort of edible treat on Halloween, it doesn’t have to be candy. In order to be safe though, make sure your snacks are prepackaged. Some healthy treats that come prepackaged are raisins, pretzels, dried fruit, granola bars, trail mix, and sugar-free gum.

Vampire Fangs

Give kids some Vampire Fangs to see what it’s like to be Dracula for the night. The white fangs will fit the mouths of most children. They are also available in glow-in-the-dark.

School Supplies

When purchased in large quantities, school supplies are low-cost. Some ideas are Crayon Erasers, pencils, or pens.

Bouncy Balls

Kids love to throw and bounce things. Have them channel their Halloween energy into a marble bounce ball. They have the look of real marbles and come in a variety of colors.

Coins

No matter the amount, children are always thrilled to get money. Have a big jar of change just sitting around? Pass it out at Halloween. Some trick-or-treaters might get a penny and others a quarter. It will be part of the surprise!

Coloring Books

Coloring books are a great alternative to candy at Halloween. Not only is it a non-edible item, but it also gives children a chance to be creative.

Mini Bottles of Water

Help keep trick-or-treaters hydrated by passing out mini bottles of water. Large quantities of mini bottles can be purchased at a wholesaler near you.

Whatever you pass out this Halloween, make sure it is safe and appropriate for the many ages of trick-or-treaters.

Personalize Your Home & Brew

Create a signature event (almost literally!) of an Oktoberfest bash, Halloween haunting, homemade autumn brew and more with personalized products from Shindigz.com.

Personalized Fall Party Supplies
Fall events call for beautifully photographed country backdrops like our autumn photo background illustration or the Fence in the Fall backdrop from Fall Party Supplies. These gorgeous backgrounds come in six different sizes. Imagine one behind a head banquet table and for photo op possibilities. You can use them outdoors if you order vinyl versions.

Add up to three lines of text to a backdrop — or none at all! Coordinate it with personalized fall banners for advertising your autumn event, and party favors in sweet candy corn designs.

Be sure to pick up a few sets of handy banner bungee cords for securing backdrops, banners, or anything else sporting grommets.

Personalized Halloween Party Supplies
If you can give a pretty sure estimate of how many neighbors will show up on your doorstep on Halloween, why not kick up the trick-or-treat scene a notch or two? Toss personalized Halloween party favors such as candy bars or lollipops into their bags, or pick out Halloween favor boxes to customize with a neighborly Halloween greeting. You can fill the boxes with edibles and other treats such as stickers, magnets and decals.

Speaking of greetings, welcome the little goblins to your home on the big night with a Halloween yard sign or made-to-order, personalized Halloween tombstones.

Personalized Oktoberfest Party Supplies
Oktoberfest celebrations typically showcase Bavarian food and drink, so if this is true of yours, take a look at the brat-, beer- and pretzel-embellished Germanfest entrance arch. A colorful, amusing entrance for Oktoberfest guests, the arch is topped with a sign that looks like an accordion and has three lines of room for your special Oktoberfest message. Hand beer steins to arriving guests underneath the arch and snap photos of them to share on Facebook afterward.

Personalized tableware items are naturals in this setting. Personalize beverage labels, coasters, travel mugs and beer mugs – including our very popular LED mug.

Consider custom beverage and dinner napkins for Oktoberfest, too. Just select the type of imprint you want (metallic, holographic, etc.) for your custom napkins, add an order to the cart and customize by adding your wording and choosing an Oktoberfest graphic. Just remember to keep the contrast high (i.e., dark napkin with light imprint or vice-versa) for the best results.

Personalized Home Brews
We know a hobby wine maker who always bottles up a batch of a special red he calls “Witches’ Brew.” If you’re an at-home vintner, brew master or autumn bottler of Swedish glögg, come browse our bottle labels to find customizable labels for your home brews to match most any theme or occasion.

10 Ideas for Halloween Event Supplies

Plan An Amazing Haunted Halloween Event
Whether you’re in charge of this year’s community haunted house or you’re planning a spooky sock hop, we’ve compiled a list of ten unique ideas for Halloween event supplies:

• Put the finishing touches to howlin’ good Halloween hootenanny plans.
  Enhance the spookiness of your Halloween decorations with a fog machine.

• Pick a peck of Pick Your Poison beverage napkins for the bar.
• Add cemetery personalized candy bars to your Halloween favors list.
• Create-a placemat with past Halloween photos or children’s art to complement orange, black, or themed event tableware.
• Select a couple more traditional tombstones to round out a haunted graveyard scene.
• Can you possibly have too many cobwebs in your Halloween event supply arsenal? We think not – especially at this price! Stretch them ominously over picture and doorway corners, chandeliers and table skirts.
• Organize a neighborhood Halloween parade. Deck out truck beds, cars, and pull-behinds with parade supplies themed with these Halloween event supplies.
• Ask actors to dress in Halloween costumes at your haunted house or carnival party event.
• Hire a square dance caller to teach your guests a few moves at your Halloween cowboy party. Set up a section of party games in the corner for kids.
• Borrow an ice cream truck. Decorate it with Halloween banners. Wear a headscarf with braids and carefully roll thru your festival handing out bulk candy and freeze dried, astronaut ice cream.

Enjoy this year’s Halloween festivities and do tell us your favorite Halloween ideas!