If your teen has asked permission to have a Halloween party this year (especially since October 31 falls on a Friday), your reaction as a parent may have initially been a shrieking “NO!” Think again, though. Wouldn’t it be less scary to have the kids at your house than to have them somewhere else? Here are some tips for a spooktacular teen Halloween party.
The Right Halloween Invite
Help your teen get ready for the party by stopping by a craft store and purchasing a pack of Halloween paper; he can design an invite and print it out on the decorated paper. This also gives you some control over how many invites will be sent out, which is something you’ll want to agree on beforehand anyway. Or, have your teen send E-vites to the party -- paperless and therefore environmentally friendly. Plus, it keeps track of RSVP’s for you. Mention on the invite whether it will be a costume party.
Halloween Party Food
What to eat at the boo bash? Keep it simple. There are many great Halloween party food options out there, but you’ll want to choose easy-to-prepare items that your teen can help create. Make an easy Halloween punch with green Hawaiian punch, Sprite, and rainbow sherbet floated on top. You can always float a plastic spider or two in the bowl. They’ll love it.
You can also make an easy Halloween snack mix out of Count Chocula cereal (Or Oreo cereal if you can’t find the old favorite), raisins, peanuts, chocolate chips, candy corn and marshmallows. The kids will snack on it all night. You won’t want to make anything messy if they are in costumes.
Halloween Activities
Finding a great collection of Halloween movies for the party is a must. Mix in some of the hot newer scary movies (like Prom Night, The Hitcher, etc.) with a classic or two (Psycho, Carrie) and maybe something funny (SNL Best of Halloween, Scary Movie series). You can also come up with some great Halloween karaoke by checking out a list of cool Halloween tunes. The teens will have a blast singing things like the Monster Mash, Thriller (with dance of course) and Ghostbusters.
Don’t forget to take lots of pictures! Run a "green carpet" for arrivals to the party with parental paparazzi doing the flash pops -- parents of the teens will love a chance to get some pictures of the costumes.
Read more creative Halloween ideas.
