Halloween Dance Ideas – Music, Food, Activities, and Decorations

Try our formula for a Halloween dance that Dr. Frankenstein could appreciate: music, food and atmosphere, with a little structured fun.

Halloween Decorations for Dances
We like to set up one or more large Halloween decorations that will be seen as soon as the guests arrive and will be a focal point all evening. Consider starting with a standee. The Haunted Manson Standee, for example, at 10’ tall and 9’8” wide, will fill even a gymnasium wall but will stand only about 1’ deep. Silhouettes and Halloween backgrounds meant for hanging will take up even less floor space.

Tape down a cobblestone patterned flat paper in front of the large decoration and throw a few tissue grass mats randomly on top. Spooky trees, tombstones or other three-dimensional decorations will round out the display.

If you have the room, you could hardly go wrong with the 8’X8’ Spooky Balloon Tree, shown at right, placed in the center of the room. Put radiant LED lights for balloons in some of the silver balloons attached to the tree, and some in loose balloons that you scatter about the room.

Spooky Food for Your Dance
Fill a Halloween refreshment table with interesting finger food (insert Halloween ladyfingers joke here). Make easy, fun appetizers and drinks such as pumpkin-shaped cheese balls, dubious dips and brew-ha-ha punch by selecting from a collection of 15 recipes at Southern Living.com.

Here’s their recipe for bone-shaped crackers for dipping:
1. Stir together ¼ cup melted butter, ½ teaspoon coarsely ground pepper, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
2. Cut 5 (9-inch) wheat wraps with a 3-inch bone-shaped cutter (or cut bone shapes freehand). Place them on baking sheets and brush them with the butter mixture.
3. Bake the crackers at 350° for 8-10 minutes until crispy. Cool them on wire racks about 15 minutes.

Dance and More
Music doesn’t have to be all Halloween or horror-related, but do remind yourself what’s out there. Especially if you are creating your own mix for the party, we recommend starting your research with the 101 Best Halloween Songs site before heading to your subscription service.

Since it’s a dance, the primary activities will be about music and, well, dancing. However, most guests of any age appreciate a group game or other activity as an ice breaker.

Did you know that the song “Monster Mash” turned 50 years old this year? Recruit a couple of friends to lead a group line dance to celebrate. The dance has been choreographed many ways including Zumba versions, so be sure everyone’s practicing to the same video. You can turn it into a contest if you like, or just concentrate on drawing as many participants as you can.

We have several photo op stand-ins in Halloween activities that you can personalize, and you can hold a Monster Vogue contest in which costumed guests can demonstrate their most frightening – and, hopefully, their most hilarious – fashion model poses. These activities call for designated photographers or perhaps a supply of single use cameras for everyone.

Decorating for Halloween 2012

Decorations change with times and tastes, but the basics remain the same. Evaluate the room you’re decorating for size and setup, then select your pieces working from large Halloween decorations down to the accents. Be sure to incorporate Halloween party supplies that are new for 2012 as well as those that are just new boo to you!

Halloween Walls
Your choices in decorating walls range from fabrics to patterned papers to murals. Think about covering the wall that stands opposite the entrance, and placing free-standing Halloween decorations in front of it for depth. One setup we like this year is to hang a Cemetery Gates illustration in the largest size the wall (and your budget) allows, and placing a pair of zombie silhouettes or tombstones in front of it. Silhouettes work even in a smaller room – some might eat brains but never a lot of precious floor space! Experiment with different illustrations and silhouettes.

Halloween Entrances
Another spot for a large decoration is the main entrance. For 2012 we like a spider web door topper/entrance or a five-foot corex lighted skull from our collection of outdoor Halloween decorations. Keep in mind that just because something is tough enough to withstand October weather doesn’t mean it can’t be used indoors! Think about using them on the inside of the doorway so guests can enjoy them all evening long.

Halloween Centers
If your space is large enough, you’ll want a large decoration right in the center that everyone can see from anywhere in the room. This could be a chandelier or other large hanging decoration, a large free-standing decoration, or both. We really like trees for Halloween 2012 because there is such a wonderful selection of styles and materials, and sizes go all the way to the magnificent Spooky Balloon Tree from Halloween Props that is 8’X8’ when fully assembled.

You can incorporate trees into smaller spaces as well. Just choose skinnier trees, put them in corners or flank doorways with them.

Halloween Lighting
A Halloween party is one of the events where we usually are looking to provide subdued and/or flickering lighting. Find Halloween-themed lanterns, string lights and a darling lighted ghost (which would look terrific in a grouping with one of the above-mentioned trees) in Halloween Lights, but do visit Boo-tique for some imposing and deliciously creepy tabletop candelabra, too.

Halloween Finishes
Finish the rest of your walls and windows with cutouts, garland, or drapes of spider-patterned gossamer.

Try to incorporate little surprises into your decorating, such as customized bottle labels that coordinate with the décor, or radiant balloon lights (which cannot be seen in black balloons, but work fine with other colors of latex balloons).

Not So Scary Halloween Celebration Ideas

People of all ages love Halloween! While gruesome, scary décor and party themes are fun for older kids and adults, young children (and some fearful grown-ups) are often genuinely creeped out by frightening decorations. If this is you, take heart (but not literally), here are a number of not so scary Halloween celebration ideas:

Halloween Party Decorations-Outdoor and Indoor
Amazing outdoor and indoor Halloween decorations are readily available, even if you are catering to the lighter side of Halloween.

Outdoor
Start by placing a giant 3D lighted Jack O’Lantern on your front porch, or near your front door. Then hang a lighted spider web on your door or on your house. Dress up your steel garage door with the fun stix Halloween magnetic decorations, and stick the happy jack window wall graphic in your front window for added dimension to your outdoor decor. Stay outdoors or move to indoor decorating with personalized Halloween banners. Several suggestions for cute banners are: the personalized Halloween family banner, the candy corn personalized banner, trick or treaters banner, or the pumpkin personalized banner.

Indoor
Hang fun, colorful decorations from the ceiling at different heights. The fall fluffy hanging decorations are a great choice, especially in combination with the gruesome group hanging decorations. Then attach a mixture of decorations on your walls. In your entryway, the happy Halloween wall graphic with your family name on it is a welcoming sign to guests that this is a friendly Halloween celebration. Continue filling the walls with Halloween cheer as you put up the gruesome group glitter cutouts and the ghost felt cutout assortment. In the main party area, the stack o’Jack-O-Lanterns is a crazy and silly addition to the non-scary atmosphere.

Balloons
Halloween balloons are a friendly way to incorporate a light-hearted tone to your party setting. Group a bunch of black and orange polka dot latex balloons with some of these adorable mylar balloon choices: the black cat, the kooky bat, the giant witch hat, the haunted (or not so haunted) house, and the happy ghost. Don’t forget to have a helium tank at the ready to fill all of your balloons!

Halloween Party Activities
Capture the costumed guests by taking lots of photos! Provide exciting Halloween photo props and photo stand ins for the guests to indulge in a variety of poses.
Photo Props: Frankenstein, Scarecrow, or Witch
Photo Stand-Ins: Scarecrow, Mummy, Juggling Skeleton Child, or Pirate Photo Setting

Set up popular Halloween activities like the classic bobbing for apples, the pumpkin toss game, the inflatable pumpkin ball toss game, and the inflatable spider ring toss game.

Three adorable Halloween craft ideas are: assemble the Foamies candy corn bucket, put together the make a scarecrow craft kit, or paint the large paintable pumpkin.

Remember, when you want to please the crowd, you can’t go wrong with a Halloween pinata full of candy and other fun filler items!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Host a Halloween Ball – Ghoulish Ideas

Calling all ghouls, ghosts, and goblins to a grossly gruesome gathering! Royalty are not the only ones who want to go to the Ball, host a Halloween Ball. Create a creepy atmosphere with a variety of different types of Halloween party supplies to transform your home or party space into a ghastly Halloween bash.

Outdoor Halloween Décor
Start the Halloween haunting in the front yard with an assortment of outdoor Halloween decorations! Beckon the spooks with an eerie graveyard kit. Be sure to strategically place a personalized tombstone yard sign in the graveyard to declare that the guests have arrived dead on at the ghoulish get-together. Cover up front windows with plastic window scenes, window posters (Sinister Sid and Grim Reaper), and freak out your creepy guests with a motion detection haunted house 666 sign that spins the third number from a 9 to a 6, while it plays thunder and lightning sounds. Post a tattered “Enter at your own Risk” banner over the front door for an additional outdoor accent.

Indoor Halloween Décor
Put a spooky touch on every room that the Halloween Ball guests are going to haunt with fantastic Halloween party décor. In the “ball room”, deck out the ceiling with orange and black twirly whirlys, and give additional light to the room by adding a few Halloween LED lanterns. In the middle of the space, hang a spider web canopy to create a creepy chandelier look. This freaky decoration has gnarly posable legs and eyes that light up. To convert walls to match your Halloween décor, cover them with black gossamer fabric.The gothic mansion scene setter portraits are perfect for a main hallway or a large open wall. In the lavatory, give your guests a fright with the zombie hand peel’n place toilet topper. This vinyl low stick adhesive decoration looks like a zombie hand is reaching out of the toilet bowl filled with blood. You can even decorate the refrigerator with a disgusting Halloween refrigerator door cover. The cover features a freezer panel with a frozen head and assorted parts. The refrigerator panel pictures a mixture of unsavory decaying food, worms, and various specimens.

Halloween Tableware
Cover all of the tables with black gossamer and an overlay of spider web patterned gossamer. Place a haunted house glitter centerpiece in the middle of the tables, surrounded by dreary glitter leaf table sprinkles. The scary silhouettes dinner plates, napkins, and cups are a great Halloween tableware choice for your party. At the serving table, attach a bloody gauze panel to the top of the black gossamer, and then position a black tabletop Halloween tree as the centerpiece.

For a real thrill, put the meat market value pack of bloody body parts on a platter with a cover. Have guests touch the items without seeing them, and then try to guess what they are touching. Be sure to play fun music and include songs like the Monster Mash. Let your ghoulish creativity rise and be brought forth from your inner being!