How To Plan Your Child’s Halloween Party

By Jeanne Benedict

Kids’ Halloween Party Timeline

4:00 – Guests arrive
4:30 – All-Play Games begin
5:00 – Eat dinner
5:30 – Say goodbye to those trick-or-treating on their own
5:45 – Prepare to trick-or-treat as a group
6:00 – Go trick-or-treating

Host a kids’ Halloween party on October 31st to make the most of the holiday for your little goblins.

With a typical trick-or-treating start time of 6:00pm, good party planning is key to make sure the kids gobble up spooky grub and have some friendly witchy fun before knocking on doors and collecting a candy store of sweets!

Planning Your Party

When planning a party that is time-sensitive, you need to strike a blend of organized fun without being militant about the schedule.

After all, the most important part of Halloween for the kids is trick-or-treating, so that 6:00pm start time is crucial.

Give guests as much information as possible right off the bat so every one can plan their day of festivities.

Follow these tips for a well-planned party:

More super Halloween Ideas from our Experts!

Send out invitations 3 weeks in advance.

Let people know that after the party they are invited to trick-or-treat as a group in your neighborhood, if that is in your plans.

Know that some will want to trick-or-treat in their own neighborhood.

Expect little siblings to tag along, as Halloween is usually a family affair for younger kids.

Let guests know that dinner will be served.

Ask guests to R.S.V.P. a week in advance so you’ll have enough time to prepare for the party.

Kids’ Halloween Party Decor

Go for big, easy and not too scary with your Halloween décor. Goofy pumpkins, silly spiders and wacky witches work well for all ages. Eerie skeletons and dark hooded creatures can freak out kids no matter what their age.

Follow these tips for your party décor:

Hang a kid-friendly Halloween scene-setter for a lot of atmosphere with little effort.

Let game set-ups serve as décor.

Use the buffet and dining table to complete your party decorations.

Don’t use candles at a kid’s party. Instead try battery-operated flicker lights to set a Halloween mood.

Halloween Games and Activities

Group Trick-or-Treating Tips

Give each child a glow-stick necklace to wear.

Provide trick-or-treating bags with Halloween trinkets in each one as party favors.

Ask a few parents with cell phones to chaperone. Have all exchange cell phone numbers.

Provide some flashlights for the adults to carry.

Decide on a meeting place or plan if someone loses his or her way.

Keep game playing casual. Some kids will be so keyed up about trick-or-treating that they’ll need to let off some steam, while others may have had a day of school and enough of the rules.

Read our articles Halloween Crafts and Halloween Activities for details on the ideas below.

Don't let the kids have all the fun! Be sure to dress up with your mate when the kids are around. Read our blog on 5 Classic Couples Halloween Costumes for $100 or Less!

Independent Activities & Crafts

All-Play Games

Spooky Party Food

Halloween Hamburgers! Photo Courtesy of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

Halloween Hamburgers!

Photo Courtesy of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

Get some substantial grub in the kids’ gullets but stay true to the Halloween theme with the recipes below for fun food like Creepy Idaho Potato Critters: Green Coiled Snake and Orange Caterpillar or Halloween Hamburgers.

Creepy Idaho Potato Critters!

Photo Courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission

For gruesome gourmet fare like a Spider Web Sour Cream Design on a Triple Layer Guacamole, Egg and Cream Cheese Torte, plus easy eats such as a Jack-O-Lantern Face Pizza read our Halloween Party Food article.

Don’t forget about dessert! Our Halloween Cupcakes and Halloween Crafts article have sweet treat ideas for your party.

Visit our Halloween for Kids page for more ideas or post a question in my Forum.

Creepy Idaho Potato Critters: Green Coiled Snake

Recipe Courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission

Ingredients:

4 cups Prepared mashed Idaho Potatoes (your favorite recipe or instant)
Neon green liquid food coloring
4 Pimiento-stuffed olives
8 Kernels frozen corn (thawed)

Preparation:

1. In a medium, mixing bowl, add the food coloring to the potatoes a few drops at a time, stirring to combine. Add more coloring to achieve the desired shade of green.

2. Spoon 1 cup of the mashed potatoes into a plastic, zip-top sandwich bag; press out the air and zip it closed. Snip one inch off of one corner at the bottom of the bag. On a microwave-safe plate, pipe a 4-inch diameter circle by squeezing the potatoes out of the hole in the bag. Continue to pipe concentric circles toward the center of the plate. When the bag is nearly empty, lift and squeeze the remainder to form the head of the snake. (Keep in mind that if you don't like the looks of your snake you can scrape the potatoes back into the bag and start again!). Repeat with the remaining potatoes on 3 additional plates to make a total of 4 snakes.

3. To finish, carefully remove the pimientos from the olives. Snip each pimiento nearly in half lengthwise to form forked tongues. Cut slices from the olives for the eyes. Place tongues and eyes on the snakes, and finish eyes by inserting corn kernels inside the olive slices. If additional decoration is desired, combine 4 drops of food coloring with 2 teaspoons water in a small bowl; using a small, clean, paint brush, paint stripes or dots down the backs of the snakes. Reheat the snakes in the microwave and serve.

Makes 4 servings

Creepy Idaho Potato Critters: Orange Caterpillar

Recipe Courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission

Ingredients:

4 cups Prepared mashed Idaho Potatoes (your favorite recipe or instant)
Yellow liquid food coloring
Red liquid food coloring
1 lb. Bag frozen, cut string beans (thawed; will only use partial bag)
Various vegetables to decorate (we used chives, diced carrots, peas, celery)

Preparation:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add yellow food coloring to the potatoes and stir to combine; add a few drops of red food coloring to the potatoes and stir again to mix the colors, adding more red coloring to achieve the desired shade of orange.

2. Using clean, damp hands, form the potatoes into 32 small balls (each about 1 1/2-inches in diameter). On each of 4 microwave-safe plates, arrange 8 potato balls, side-by-side and overlapping each other slightly, to form curved caterpillar bodies. Insert green beans for legs on the sides of the caterpillar bodies.

3. To finish, decorate each caterpillar with additional vegetables of your choice. To achieve our look, make stripes down the back of the bodies with thawed frozen carrot cubes, chives snipped to 1/2-inch lengths, thawed frozen peas for eyes and a slice of celery for a smile. Reheat the caterpillars in the microwave and serve.

Makes 4 servings

Halloween Burgers

Recipe Courtesy of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

Ingredients:

1-1/2 lb. ground beef
6 slices cheese, cut into Halloween shapes using a cookie cutter
Red or green bell peppers, cut into desired shapes
Pitted olives, cut into desired shapes
6 lettuce leaves
6 hamburger buns, split

Preparation:

1. Lightly shape ground beef into six 1/2"-thick patties. Choose a cooking method.

2. To broil, place patties on rack in broiler pan so surface of beef is 3 to 4" from heat. Broil 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are no longer pink, turning once. To panbroil, place patties in preheated nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are no longer pink, turning once.

3. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, after turning. During last few minutes of cooking, top with cheese, bell peppers and olives to make faces. Serve in lettuce-lined buns.

Makes 6 servings