Halloween Party Themes

Pick a party theme and decorate accordingly. For example, a haunted house, graveyard or mausoleum theme would encourage specific costume types such as ghosts, vampires and zombies. Decorate with spider webs, tombstones and fake body parts. Send out theme appropriate invitations.

Try a history or time-era theme, from the Victorian era to the 1970s and 80s and have everyone dress appropriately. Decorate in accordance to the time era and serve old-fashioned, homemade snacks.

Adult Party Themes

For Adults, try a couples theme and have everyone come in pairs. Choose real couples or character couples. For instance, Romeo and Juliet or Tom & Jerry. To expand on this idea, group themes for a larger party are oodles of fun. Imagine answering the door to The Three Musketeers, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, or Dumb and Dumber. See the potential? It makes for great memories and pictures!

A gender switch theme is one sure way to keep everyone guessing. It's definitely trickier to guess who is who if you have the women dress like a man and visa-versa. If there are couples doing this, make sure they stay away from their significant other, that is until everyone's figured out just who they are. We had a party where several guests did just that and they were the life of the party. The pictures are fabulous!

On the spookier side, what's more frightful than a haunted house? Mix and match the monsters and you'll have a houseful of scary fun -- just call it the Monster Mash. For braver folk, a "Blood and Gore" party theme will give Dracula and Frankenstein a chance to shine. Have your camera ready to catch the guests as they arrive.

Children's Halloween Party Themes

Costumes and decorations for children are a tad bit easier as local merchants tend to cater to the younger crowd. After all, aren't they the ones who are supposed to have fun? Kids love watching cartoons and they're often passionate about their favorite cartoon characters. One idea is to let them dress up as their favorite character, another is to pick one show and have them all choose a character from that show. Since you'll probably have more than one of the same character at your party, you can award prizes for the best costume. For example, the best "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Patrick" or "Mr. Krabs."

A little more Halloweenish is to opt for a monster theme featuring less scary monsters like ghosts or goblins. Having the children stick to traditional spooks adds to the spirit of Halloween.