The holiday season is creeping up on us all. First to come is Halloween, and this year you’re hosting a Halloween bash. While you would like a party that all the boys and ghouls continue talking about for years to come, you’ll settle for an enjoyable time that goes off without a hitch. The only problem is that you have no idea where to start; you’ve never done anything like that before. You want your party to be creative and fun, with just a hint of spookiness and fright. But where should one begin? With a little time and inspiration, your party will be one of both taste and flair.

Fortunately, there’s a complete Halloween guide for you, called Party Halloween – go over there and check it out! I’ll wait … okay, did you buy it? Great! Here’s some more ideas …

Once you’ve decided on a Halloween party theme, it’s time to set the spooky mood with a fun party invitation. If you’ve gone all-out and turned your house into a specially decorated haunted house, you want partygoers to know your bash is going to be the real deal; spooky gatherings call for equally spirited invites. You can order custom invitations, use the variety of templates in the Halloween ebook, or access your inner artist and create some yourself.

Whatever you decide, consider some miniature plastic spiders inside the envelope for an extra surprise. If you can deliver the invitations yourself, have fun with props. Stick the invite in an apothecary-style bottle or have mini boxes filled with fake, gummy body parts. However, if time is of the essence there are numerous online retailers offering some great selections of spooky Halloween invites, Storkie is a retailer I have used with success.

Many people are under the impression that decorating for a holiday has to be expensive, but that could not be further from the truth. It is possible to find spooky décor ideas to fit any budget. Buy some plastic spiders and fake cobwebs and go to town on your house. Add a colony of bats to your walls, guiding guests to the main party area. Just find a bat template (or draw one of your own) and cut out various sizes of bats from black cardstock. Fold the bats in half and attach to your walls with double sided tape (or duct tape if they’re outside), keeping in mind that bats generally fly in a stream, following one another. For the exterior of your house be sure to find a lot of pumpkins. Add some fake ravens, found at many craft stores, to your front yard for an eerie entrance to your home.

Once you’ve got your decorations figured out and placed, it’s time to figure out party fare. Finger foods are generally ideal for Halloween parties, as they are easier to eat while in costume. Make some ‘bones’ out of pretzel sticks with mini marshmallows attached to each end and dipped in white chocolate. Create ‘mummy’ pizzas out of English muffin halves, topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese strips, with olive eyes peeking out. Serve salsa or pico de gallo with a sour cream ‘spider web’ over the top. Simply put some sour cream in an icing bag and draw a web over the top and be sure to add some plastic spiders for added effect. And no Halloween party is complete without some caramel, candied, or chocolate covered apples.

Of course all the devilishly delicious food will leave the goblins feeling thirsty. If you’d like to serve some apple cider, up the fright ante by adding some ‘shrunken heads’. Fill a large cauldron with apple cider, either homemade or store-bought, and add apples that have been peeled and have faces cut out of them. As you simmer the cider, the ‘heads’ will shrink.

For a bone-chilling drink, serve punch with a ‘hand’ inside. Fill a non-powder surgical glove with water and freeze. Remove the glove, and add your hand-shaped ice to the punch. This works best with ‘blood’, or red punch. If you’d rather serve bottled drinks halve a pumpkin, scoop out the insides, fill with ice, and use as a party cooler.

Andrea Boley is a writer, blogger and a mom to twin boys (who love Halloween!). Her educational and parental backgrounds given her a solid foundation from which to draw experience and expertise in an array of topics, and she is always happy to share her passion for life and experiences through her writing.

Halloween is a fantastically spooky time for both young and old alike. Whether you go trick or treating, host a costume party or just decorate for friends and neighbors to see, everyone loves to get in on the festivities. Choosing the right music for your festivities is easy and fun. Think of your favorite scary movie…what would it be like without a soundtrack? The intense music used for scary movies can make your heart pound and leave you at the edge of your seat. You can do the same for your guests if you take the time to seek out the music you need.

Children’s Parties

For a child’s costume party, you don’t want it to be too scary. Depending on the ages of the kids, choose music that will make it scary, but still fun. “The Monster Mash” has always been a big hit with the kids. Use soundtracks of different scary noises such as witches cackling or bubbling cauldrons. Even the sound of the wind blowing and creaking doors is enough to make the little ones get goose bumps.

Adult Parties

Halloween Party by RaviN/Flickr

For an adult party you can go for the really creepy Halloween decor. If you have an organ in your house, put it in a secluded spot and have someone play strange music very loudly. You can use recorded CDs or other music to play music throughout the house. Have people hide throughout the house and occasionally let out a blood curdling scream. They can also be outside the house by a partially opened window, or behind trees to scare people as they approach.

Recordings that are backwards are always especially macabre. A good one to check out is “They’re Coming To Take Me Away”, or the backwards version, “Yawa Em Ekat Ot Gnimoc Er’yehT.” As a child I remember being scared to death by this in a darkened room.

Check out this article on using Sony Vegas to achieve your own scary effects.

Sometimes silence is the scariest music of all. Hearing nothing at all but perhaps heavy breathing, or a very loud clock ticking can make your heart race. And the evil laugh is always great for giving people the shivers. If you know someone who has the perfect skin crawling laugh, let them greet guests or just laugh from a darkened room. It’s enough to give anyone the shakes.

Outside The House

Scary house, by Ali West/Flickr

Perhaps you want to have a haunted walk. It won’t be the same without the perfect setting. Whether there are lots of trees to walk through, or a deserted path, make sure the sounds are there. An owl hooting, yowling cats, and don’t forget the chainsaw. Nothing makes your hair stand on end like being alone in the dark and hearing a chainsaw start up behind you.

Creepy laughter is always good in this setting as well. Ghosts moaning and the howling of wolves will keep you watching your back.

Set up speakers throughout the yard if you have a walkway where people walk to your house. This can be done for trick or treaters as well. It makes the advance to your door much spookier.

Sometimes the unexpected can be scarier than playing what your guests expect. For instance, a solemn flute player slowly playing a dirge on the flute, or maybe a record that just keeps skipping and skipping. The footsteps of someone running through the woods screaming and out of breath will make anyone move a little faster toward safety.

The options are endless to how you can incorporate the perfect music into your setting. Just look around you and think what would make it super scary to YOU, then have fun with it.

Jonathan McDonald is a choir director and loves to write content for holiday sites. He recommends www.christmassongs.org as a great reference for all Christmas song lyrics, including funny Christmas songs.

Halloween theme parties can be a huge success, especially if you take a little extra time to plan. There are so many different types of spooky decorations, if you’re not careful, the party can end up looking like a jumbled mess! Try picking one classic Halloween character and base the entire party around that. In this article, we give you some tips on how to throw a kid-friendly Frankenstein bash. Read at your own risk!

Decorations

• Jack-o’-lanterns. Instead of the traditional toothless grin, carve your pumpkins using a Frankenstein pattern. This stencil can be printed off and used to create all your pumpkins. Place them on the walkway up to the door or put them in front of windows to welcome guests to the party.
• Frankenstein’s Head Tin. This handmade craft can be used as spooky-but-cute centerpiece. These directions explain how to use an empty tin can, paint, felt, hot glue, and a few more art supplies to create a cartoon Frankenstein head suitable for a kid’s party. This project is a fun Halloween craft for ages 7 and up.
• And More! There are plenty of common Halloween decorations that you can use for the party that you might already have. Just ask yourself: would I find this in the lab where Frankenstein was created? Some ideas are spider webs, cauldrons, laboratory beakers, and other creepy crawlies.

Treats

While we’re not entirely sure if Frankenstein’s monster actually ate, your party guests mostly likely do! Here are a few monster-themed snacks for the party.

• Frankenstein’s Bolts. Follow this recipe to make a sweet dessert that looks like the bolts that stick out of Frankenstein’s neck. What you need: JELL-O No Bake Peanut Butter Cup Dessert mix, milk, orange and black sprinkles, popsicle sticks, and some cups.
• Frankenstein Brownies. Buy a box of brownie mix, and bake as directed. After they’ve cooled, cut them into even rectangles. Then, frost each brownie with the frosting you like best, adding green food coloring. Use piped icing to create the face and sprinkles for the hair. Lastly, add a piece of candy corn on each side of the brownie for Frankenstein’s bolts.
• Science Experiment Punch. Be dramatic and add some dry ice to your punch bowl, so your beverage station looks like a bubbly, messy concoction. Here are some tips and directions on how to (safely!) use dry ice at your party.

Costumes

If you are the one throwing the party, the honor of dressing as the classic monster should be yours. Tall, green skin, flat top – you know what he looks like. These Frankenstein costumes pretty much have you covered. Not everyone can be the big guy, though, so here are a few other ideas for party goers:

• Frankenstein’s Bride. Even monsters can fall in love, even if their partners have to be specially created just for them. Bonus points if you don’t need a wig to get your hair to look like that.
• Mad Scientist. There would be no monster without Dr. Frankenstein himself.
• Frankie Stein. A great way to get a tween girl excited about a “really dorky” party? Monster High. Just sayin’…

Kid’s Activities

• Zombie Walk-Off. Set up a runway and see who has the best zombie stagger. Spectators can judge the monsters on their limp walks, expressionless faces, and chilling groans.
• Frankenstein Marbles. To setup for this game, find an empty shoe or cereal box. Cut teeth out of the edge and flip it upside-down, so the teeth touch the table. Use paint, construction paper, googly eyes, and screws to decorate the box to look like Frankenstein. Then, place the box on the ground and mark off a starting line with masking tape. Give each kid a handful of marbles to flick into Frankenstein’s mouth. The player who gets the most wins!
• Franken-Tag. Now is the time to use what you learned during the zombie walk-off! The rules of Franken-Tag are the same as the playground game, but in this case, if you’re tagged as “it,” you can only walk like Frankenstein.
• Frankenstein Puppets. Set up a table for party guests to make their own monster, just like the evil doctor did. Supply craft materials like paint, markers, googly eyes, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, scissors, glue, and paper plates. Make a few puppets in advance by following these instructions and lay them on the table so kids can use them for inspiration.

It’s almost that time of year again – Halloween is almost upon us! While most of the world thinks about dressing up in costumes or going trick or treating, there are other uses for this holiday … like weddings! If you are into ghosts, goblins, and all that is ghoulish, this is one wedding and reception nobody will forget!

This is a great way to welcome in the spookiest aspects of your personality. Though you may not think of Halloween as a time for a wedding, it can be really fun. If your personality is geared around this theme then you can create the perfect “undead wedding reception”. This obviously will depend heavily on the right party decorations to pull it off … as well as the cooperation of the, urr, undead wedding party (had to use a double entendre here!) If you’re having a “normal” wedding beforehand, have your wedding party then dress as zombies and ghouls for the dinner reception! The groom can dress in an elaborate Victorian costume with top hat, and the bride can change into a dress that looks like it’s been buried for far too long.

Dark But Special Decorations

Awesome wedding cake, by noblerobinette @ Flickr

For the reception, start with the tables and work your way out. For table decorations, you may find that using elements such as table crystals really take things up a notch. However, instead of the traditional clear crystals, look for black ones. Continue the theme with black tablecloths, black napkins, black flowers, and even black, Gothic chair covers. This needs to not only set the tone for the wedding and the theme but drape the venue in that perfect shade for the undead. If you believe your guests to be comfortable with this “not quite traditional” wedding reception, continue with a centerpiece of jellied eyeballs at each table.

Try some other subtle hints to add to each table: glue small skeletons to the place card holders. Even better, instead of simply numbering the tables, give each one a ghoulish name – “The Skeleton Table,” “The Shaun of the Dead Table”, etc. Each table can also feature something distinctive, such as a Shaun of the Dead action figure for that table, (which you can find at Amazon.) You can also make a contest where someone at the table will win the centerpiece.

Glamorously Dark

Away from the table, decorate the rest of the room with black and orange streamers, spiders hanging from the ceiling, cobwebs along the corners of the walls, and skull vases to hold the flowers. Finally, “top off” the cake with an undead bride and groom cake topper (I’ve seen these at Etsy.)

This can be a really fun theme and a great way to enjoy your special day. If you want to capture that perfect undead theme then get the right party decorations and make this really shine … err, dimly lit, as the wedding to remember!

Most people think of spring as the time of birth and making things new again. If however you love to embrace your dark side, or are a diehard fan of Halloween, then you can make this season all about the “undead”. Yes, you read that right – some people would much rather celebrate the dark, the wretched, and the road less traveled. Spring to these people (and you know who you are – does the bright spring sun hurt more?) is all about everything being undead, and this is simply ghastly to them!

To the vampires, ghosts, and goblins of the world, this is a time where the awful light starts streaming in and the earth is so terribly waking up. If you want to reflect back on the dark and dreary days of Halloween, then consider throwing some such party ideas like a spring undead party. This is such a fun theme and a very unique way of looking at this time of usual renewal—give it an unexpected twist! If you don’t have any Halloween decorations, or they are packed away, you can still buy them any time of the year online.

What Are Those “Things” Erupting From the Ground?

Just when dark lovers and vampires everywhere thought that they were comfortably embedded in the harsh cold of winter, all of a sudden something terrible happens. The light comes back in, filtering through our windows. There’s something more than that though – there are some unfamiliar and disgusting petaled balls of bright colors coming out of the ground.

Flowers – that’s what most people call them, but to you this is nothing to celebrate. Use this to start off the theme of the party and really embrace it. Come dressed in your darkest costume, even if it’s something as simple as all black as if you are mourning. Pitch black fancy dress wigs such as the crazy mop worn by Edward Scissorhands makes a perfect mockery of flowers. You can even have a flower toss or some other smashing session of flowers. This is therapeutic in a way because you get to smash up all those supposedly innocent little flowers.

Fun for the cold winter lovers and yet actually fun as a theme for a party, even for those that normally love spring. Come with bad attitudes, frowns on your face, and do everything to show off just how miserable you are that spring is finally here!

Reflecting Back on Darkness

You can’t have a spring undead party without truly embracing the darkness. One creepy idea is holding it outside in the pitch black with nothing but dim candlelight to keep your party going.

Consider draping off the venue of the party in all black and blocking any outside light for the right effect. You can come as a ghost, goblin, ghoul, vampire or other gothic fancy dress costume and really celebrate the dark side of Halloween rather than the rebirth of spring.

Your mindset is all about how awful this period of light is so go for the darkness and really celebrate it for all that it is. Consider embracing your inner “Oscar the Grouch” where everything is miserable, icky, gross, and disgusting. While others are celebrating the beautiful rebirth of flowers and all that is beautiful in spring, you’ll be hurling insults at it all day long!

Preparing Yourself for the “Season of the Retched”

Let’s be honest, this is a theme that is all about being opposite of what you feel. Though there are some people who love the cold and dark, most of us can’t wait to embrace the warm days of spring. The fun part of this is getting in touch with your dark side and celebrating all the funk and filth around you while the rest of the world embraces the rest!

So this makes for a perfect time to celebrate the terrible “season of the retched” which is otherwise known as the “summer blockbuster movie season”. It’s always a bust, there is so much hype built up around these movies and they almost always fail (even if they do make a billion gajillion dollars.)

So use this negative force at work to celebrate all that is dark with the world. Rent a few awful blockbusters from summers past (ie. anything by Michael Bay), even better if they are terrible continuations or sequels of movies that were once good (Batman & Robin?) Watch these, dressed in your darkest and gloomiest attire, and ridicule just how retched the world really is. You can actually have a lot of fun celebrating dark and gloom, and this makes for one fun dreadfully delicious party!

Looking for a zombie game? Here’s how to have a Zombie Chase at Your Halloween Party!

This zombie game is no ordinary race, because everyone knows that zombies carry a deadly zombie virus. If you’re attacked, you will become a zombie. That mere scientific fact makes this a race for your life.

Both teens and adults will “die” from excitement with this zombie race game. But death is only temporary when it comes to zombies, so watch out!

It takes a little preparation to create a frightfully good chase, but don’t let that scare you. It’s well worth it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• To distinguish whether guests are zombies or humans, either green and orange ribbons with safety pins. Or get elaborate with green T-shirts or a mask for each zombie.



• “Checkpoint Flags” (simple colored strips of construction paper will do).
• Space to have a race course such as a large back yard or neighborhood block.
• A facilitator: someone to hand out ribbons or T-shirts and tell humans and zombies when they can start.
• A map if the course if very involved.

The zombie chase is a race from a start line to a finish line. There are two teams: humans and zombies. Participants wear either orange or green ribbons to distinguish which group they belong to. You could also purchase green T-shirts (or any color if you find a good deal) for the zombies to wear. If you use ribbons, orange represents humans and green zombies. Zombies get extra zombie ribbons or T-shirts they’ll give to humans they infect.

Start with four humans to every one zombie. You’ll determine who will play which by a draw. To do this, you could put four orange ribbons to every green ribbon in a bowl. Participants close their eyes and randomly draw to see which team they will be on.

The object of the chase is for humans to make it from the start line to the finish line, gathering all the checkpoint flags along the way, without getting tagged by a zombie. Checkpoints are set throughout the race (see illustration for an example). Humans must visit each checkpoint to gather a colored flag (construction paper is fine, but you could also use cloth). Each checkpoint should have a different colored flag. The checkpoints are safe zones where zombies cannot attack humans.

In this zombie game, once a human has been tagged by a zombie, the virus acts fast. The zombie who tags the human gives the new zombie either a T-shirt or ribbon. This new zombie’s mission becomes infecting more humans.

All humans get a short head start (even just a few seconds). The amount of time for the head start is determined by the length of your race. The longer the race course, the more fun it will be. Organizing a zombie chase for your entire block or neighborhood is a great idea!

The first human to make it to the finish line with all of his or her checkpoint flags wins. The zombie wins if all humans become infected!

Don’t let the fun stop with this zombie game! See these other Halloween party games for kids and adults!

By Jennifer Scheffel of themed-party-ideas.com

1. Harry Potter Party

Enjoy this Halloween by dressing up as characters from the Harry Potter series! Deck your house out in Hogwarts type décor such as medieval style cutlery, plates and pick your favorite Hogwart’s House to help create a color theme for your party.

Example: Green and Silver for Slytherin House, Red and Gold for Gryfindor House, Blue and Bronze for Ravenclaw House and Yellow and Black for Huffelpuff House. This would make a great theme for kids or Harry Potter fans!

• Harry Potter party supplies from Shindigz

2. True Blood Bash

Have a bloody, sexy bash this Hallow’s Eve by having all of your guests come as the cast of True Blood. Make sure you get your staple characters: Eric Northman, Sookie Stackhouse, Bill Compton, Lafayette, Tara and Sam Merlott.

This is more a theme for adults, especially considering the content of the show itself (*clearing throat*). If your guests are over 21, feel free to serve deliciously bloody cocktails and serve Louisiana cuisine. You could also have a dual theme with faeries and vampires if you want to stir things up. This could broaden food and drink options. Whatever you do, enjoy and don’t drink and drive!

• Vampire costumes and party supplies from Buycostumes

3. Twilight Party:

If you’re a big fan of the Twilight saga, having a Twilight themed party may be the way to go. Dress up as Bella, Edward, Jacob and others this Halloween and serve saga inspired food and drink. Imagine a Bella Bloody Mary! If possible, consider having your party outside near some greenery to get the Forks, WA atmosphere. This party theme is suitable for all ages.

• Twilight party supplies from Buycostumes

4. Underworld Themed Party

Deck yourself and your guests out in leather and boots. Come equipped with fake weapons as Selene, Kraven, Lucian or Michael Corvinus. Silver and blue make a great color scheme for this! If possible, hold this party in a mansion or large house and dim the lights for that otherworldly effect.

5. Ferngully Fairy Dinner Party

Dress up in earth-friendly clothing and serve all raw foods and organics! Fruity cocktails and vegan or vegetarian foods. This is a great idea for people who are vegan or vegetarian and want to enjoy the evening in spite of a sometimes limited or strict lifestyle. Decorate your home in paper lanterns or hang up some string lights. Eat your delicious treats and drink on soft cushions or set up a picnic in the backyard.

A bonus environmental theme party would, of course, be Avatar. Check out a great Avatar theme party setup here.

6. Zombie Party

Turn your house into Zombie land, literally! Dress up as your favorite celebrity, historical figure or yourself, zombified. Serve decaying flesh (Spaghetti or Lasagna), a banana brain cake for desert, and Zombie cocktails!

7. Mysterious Masquerade Ball

Dress up in your finest on this special evening formal wear and match it with a Venetian mask! Cater for a high class meal and uptown cocktails. If you can, opt for renting out a banquet hall and orchestra for traditional waltzes and ballads. Also, check out a Phantom of the Opera theme party.

8. Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

Are you an Alice in Wonderland fan? Love the Mad Hatter or Queen of Hearts? Have a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party complete with traditional tea wares, tea cakes, tailcoats and pinafores! Hang pastel paper lanterns and enjoy your party in the backyard on a picnic table with a blue picnic table. Whatever you do, be sure to serve a Un-Birthday Cake!

• Search for Alice in Wonderland supplies at Shindigz

9. We Are Sparta!

Enjoy a more traditional party theme and dress up as Greek Gods & Goddesses or the cast of Sparta. Drink wine, cheese and bread and rare luncheon meats. Enjoy them with blue and silver or red and gold theme décor. Have the movie 300 playing in the background.

• Look for Greek party supplies at Shindigz

10. Comics & Superheroes Party

Pick your favorite comic book character or super hero and decorate your house or a banquet hall in bright comic style colors! Theme your drinks to give your specific super hero abilities! Serve up some kryptonite for your enemies!

• View superhero party supplies at Buycostumes

Buckets of fake blood work great to decorate your haunted house, your Halloween party or as a game of Dunk Tank (Replace water with blood). I do not recommend the Dunk Tank option unless you have enough money to get a good clean-up crew. It can get really messy!

Step 1:  Prepare your ingredients

You will need:

• 1 Cup Corn Syrup
• 1/2 Cup Water
• Food Coloring (4 Drops +/- as needed)

Step 2: Mix your ingredients!

Mix the corn syrup, water and food coloring together to create that bloody consistency you want. Add cornstarch to give your blood a more coagulated look. If you would like to make more blood simple double the ingredients.

Example: 1 cup corn syrup to 2 cups corn syrup and ½ cup water to 1 cup water.

Step 3: Enjoy and Have a very Bloody Halloween!

It’s safe to ingest, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Other Slimy, Gooey Gross Decorations

To Make Pus:

Mix lotion and water. Add 1-2 drops of yellow or green food coloring to the mixture to give a particular sickly look.

DO NOT INGEST.

Uses: A good option for those of you who are becoming The Infected (Zombies) this Halloween or any Undead Sickly escaped hospital patient!

To Make Slime:

Mix water, lotion and lime gelatin together. Add cornstarch to get a more opaque look. Refrigerate to get a more solid slimy consistency.

Add 1-3 drops of green food coloring if you want a really deep green look.

DO NOT INGEST.

Uses: Another good option for Zombie costumes and Alien costumes or haunted houses featuring themes with Aliens or Zombies.

To Make a Bloody Skull

First, you will need to purchase a novelty skull from your local Halloween store.

Make cherry or strawberry gelatin and mix in some corn syrup. Refrigerate for allotted time on package. After the mix is sufficiently more solid, add red food coloring (if a really red color is desired), and push pieces of the red gelatin into the skull. Hang up somewhere and watch as the gelatin slowly melts and slides down the skull.

Again, DO NOT INGEST.

Uses: A good decoration for any haunted house or outside decorations for your home. Just beware the mess!

Brain Mold:

You will need to purchase a brain cake/pie/gelatin mold. Depending on the colors you want, mix those gelatin flavors together.

Example: If you want a green and purple zombie brain, add green food coloring and mix blue and red food coloring into the gelatin mix. Refrigerate.

If you want a more string-like look, add cooked spaghetti noodles to your gelatin mix and then refrigerate. Add pasta sauce to the noodles for bloody noodles!

Note: You may also use it as a cake mold or meat mold (meatloaf) if you like. Both work great!

Uses: A great centerpiece for any Halloween party, a delicious treat for the kids or a great decoration for your Haunted House or walk-through.

Great to eat, especially if you’re a zombie!

The fancy world of the Star Wars series is a perfect party theme for all types of celebrations. Birthdays and Halloween are two main occasions to infuse life to the most popular visualized characters of the entertainment world. Organizing a Star Wars theme party is not at all expensive as considered by many people. Here are some ideas that can help you become an appreciated host of a Star Wars party.

Decide the Venue

You can decide to organize Star War Costumes for a birthday party in the garden area if it is a late evening party. This will help you have the natural effects of night and space for your party theme. However, you don’t get much scope of decoration in a garden area party. So, you can prefer to have the party indoor.

Design Invitations

Invitations for a Star Wars party can be easily designed at home using black cardboard paper and gel pens. A good idea is to obtain the print-outs of Star Wars clip arts from the internet and paste them on the invitations. The invitation should say something like ‘Welcome to the Galaxy’ and ‘Come and Wish the Young Jedi Who Was Born to Be the Chosen One’. Also, attach the party details to the invitation.

Decorating the Venue

You can obtain Star Wars party decoration kits from a reputable online store like Celebrate Express. Or, you can use some simple ideas to bring in the effect. For example, cut the stars from the aluminum or tin foil and hang them from ceiling using wires.

You may also collect stones from the garden area and paint them lime green. Scatter these stones here and there to create an alien planet look.

Plastic glows available at online stores can help you create the right environment for the party. You can also use hoses and PVC pipes to decorate the doors and the walls as they create the right look of the space. Play the Star Wars theme music to enhance the party. If your child possesses Star Wars toys and figurines, you can use them too for the decoration purpose.

Party Costumes

Make it compulsory or simply request the party guests to dress up in Star Wars costumes (or create them yourself). You must also obtain Star Wars costumes for yourself. If it is a birthday party of your child, the Jedi Costume are perfect ideas for him or her.

Foods and Drinks

The craze of Star Wars series has inspired the food and drink suppliers to come up with preparations inspired by this fantasy world. Yoda soda, Galactic pizza, Sebulba sun chips, Skywalker salsa, Wookie cookies and many more ideas can be used to arrange the food for the Star Wars party.

If it is a birthday party, the attraction should be the Star Wars theme cake. You can choose and order a Star Wars cake at an online store or learn how to prepare one at home.

Party Games

No party can complete without playing games and a Star Wars theme party has unlimited game ideas. Pass the Droid, Starship Relay, Light Saber Training; Restore the Galaxy, Keep up the Meteor, Destroy the Death Star and many such Star Wars game ideas are popular for the parties. You can learn about them from the online resources.

Party Favors

The Star Wars party favor bags may contain things like glow sticks, Star Wars stickers, Star Wars figures and toys and candies. You need to depend upon the online party stores to obtain impressive party favor bags for the Star Wars party.

Just like other theme parties, you must start preparing for the Star Wars party few days in advance. You can take suggestions from people online who share their experience of Star Wars parties on the web. A well-organized Star Wars party will be remembered by you and the party guest for many years.

How To Plan and Execute a Memorable Star Wars Party is a Guest post by Lea Jones who is an online freelance writer and also the owner of a Star Wars Costume online store. In this post she’ll give some tips about Executing Star Wars Party for the upcoming Halloween 2010.

Halloween parties are always fun events to attend.  With everyone dressed up in various costumes and make up, it can be a wild ride even for the most timid among us.  But beyond all the trick-or-treating, costumes, and decorations lies an important aspect of your event… the food and who will provide it.

Choosing to hire a caterer can be an intimidating process for those who are not familiar with the process.  It is always best to do as much research as possible before signing any contracts.  In fact, the more caterers you interview, the more informed you naturally will become.

There are two main advantages to hiring a caterer:

Saves Time

If you know you have your hands full, and are confident you do not have the time to prepare all the food yourself, then a catering company can help.   They will give you various options for what kind of foods you want to be served.  All you have to do is select what you want and they take care of the rest.  This greatly reduces anxiety and stress as the pressure is off of you and placed instead on the company you are hiring.

Quality of food

Assuming, the caterer has a positive reputation, you can rest assured at the quality of the food which will be delivered.  For example, many of their featured foods they have made many times before.  If you order a red velvet cake, odds are it will not be delivered burnt.   These are professionals who know how to get a job done.

However there is one main disadvantage… financial cost.

For those who rarely entertain and rejoice at the idea of handing the responsibility to a company, this may not be a road block, but for those who often do their own entertaining, it can be hard to give the job to someone else.   It is easy to save money by providing the food yourself – if you have the right know how and tools.   For example, some people who entertain frequently will buy many of their foods such as meat, in bulk.  They then cut the meat into smaller portions and freeze.  When party time comes, they pull out only what they need.

They also have specific equipment which makes entertaining easier by investing in heavy duty appliances such as home food slicers, or meat grinders.   A food slicer can be used to slice slabs of meat (and other foods) into deli thin slices perfect for sub sandwiches or for deli roll ups.  A kitchen meat grinder can be used to grind large amounts of solid meat chunks for making meatloaf, meatballs or fresh hamburgers.  By purchasing in bulk and with a decent amount of preplanning, those who fit this level of party enthusiast will undoubtedly save themselves the cost of hiring another company to do what they can very well do themselves.

Therefore, it really depends on where you feel comfortable, and what your priorities are.

If you choose to work with a caterer, here are some questions you can ask yourself which will help in the planning process.

1. What style of food presentation do you want to have?

Do you want to prepare an entire event with appetizers, a main dish and then dessert?  Or do you prefer to offer a number of various smaller entrees and finger food?  Perhaps your setting would be better with a nice variety of  desserts.

2. What is the size of your party?

For smaller crowds, a full meal may be a nice choice if you plan on hosting the event yourself.  But for larger crowds where guests will be mingling around showing off their costumes, a more relaxed buffet style meal might be appropriate.  A caterer may have different methods for charging for their services.  They may charge per plate, or per food item – make sure to ask.

3. Do they provide their own servers?  And is this required?

Some caterers will be happy to simply prepare and deliver the food, rather than hassling with finding servers.  On the other hand, if the party is a large formal event, the option to hire some servers may be the more logical decision.

4. Does the caterer offer special food items specific for your event, in this case Halloween?

If they do not, they may be excited at the opportunity to try something new and creative.  This also gives them the ability to add this “new” menu item to their list of experiences.  If they do agree to create a new menu item, make sure to arrange a tasting so you can taste a sampling prior to the party – at least a few weeks so if any alterations are to be made, they have the time to do so. If they do not make special customizations, request that you have permission to provide some of your own theme specific foods such as cookies, cupcakes, etc…

5. Do they provide chairs?

This is important because it may not cost much to have the caterer bring an extra 10 or 20 folding chairs for your guests.  It is always a good idea to have ample seating at your party.  If concerned you will have too many empty chairs, then simply store some of the chairs in a spare room, and pull them out when needed.

6. Who does clean up?

In other words, will the caterer be in charge of taking out the trash, cleaning up dirty plates, vacuuming etc, or are you expected to do this yourself?  There may be extra charges for this too, so make sure to ask.

By taking into account these various considerations, you will be closer to making a decision if hiring a caterer for your Halloween party is appropriate – and if so – determining how involved the caterer will be.   Never be afraid to discuss your questions, concerns or thoughts with your caterer.  If they are unwilling to work together, take the time to take a step back and shop around.  It could be the difference between a stressful event and a stress-free event!

This article was contributed by simpleitaliancooking.com, a website devoted to Italian food recipes and kitchenware reviews.