Does hosting a kid’s
Halloween party scare the pants off of you? Here’s a few tricks to turn your
celebration into a spookily good time for everyone involved!
I have a bit of a mom secret I won’t admit to just anyone on
the sidelines of the playground: I
actually like having at-home kid parties.
That’s right…while most of my parenting compadres avoid on-premise kid
parties like the plague, I actually look forward to the planning and execution
of such celebrations. It’s not because I
have more patience (hardly!), or am clinically insane (well…possibly), but more
so that over the years I have picked up a few tricks of the trade that, when employed,
seem to make a kid event actually enjoyable for party planners and partygoers
alike.
So when my 8-year old son decided that he wanted to have a
Halloween party to celebrate his fall birthday this year, I took on this party challenge
with the same gusto I like to implement when I tackle a room makeover, and
falling back on my bag of tricks from previous parties, I have to say that I’m
pretty pleased with the ghoulish results.
So what do I keep in mind to make an occasion fun for everyone from 8 to
adult? Here’s a few things to consider:
Involve the whole
family (and the neighborhood!) in your efforts. While it’s fun to come up with creative decorations,
activities, and treats on your own for a special occasion, there really is no
reason to do all of the work yourself.
When you take a risk and ask for help, you often times end up with
resources for your event that you might never have imagined were
available. Who knew our Boy Scout
leaders had a fog machine we could borrow?
Or our neighborhood friends would be willing to lend us their animated
Dracula and their middle schooler for
the afternoon? Or that my husband does a
fantastic mad scientist impression? So,
in light of this, party sanity tip #1 is to outsource!
Know your
limitations, and stick to them. When
planning a party for a group of 8-year olds, it is important to recognize that
everyone has a different comfort level that early on needs to be seriously
considered. Does your sanity only stay
intact if your adult/kid ratio stays low?
Do you need to make your guest list only girls or only boys? Can you handle one hour of festivities, or
two? Whatever your answer to these questions might be, put those parameters in
place and don’t adjust them. For me, I
can handle 15 guests, but they can’t invade my entire house without me losing
my mind. Because of this, our party was
restricted to the back yard, the basement, and a portion of the main floor of
the house…dicely because it means being a bit weather-reliant, but I was
willing to take that risk!
Plan your activities…then
add one more. Whether in a classroom
or our backyard, I always plan a party where I have a new activity every 10-15
minutes. This might seem like a lot, but
you really can never be sure how long or short a time something might hold your
pint-sized guests’ attention, and the last thing you want is to run out of to-dos
to keep the group occupied for the duration of your event. In light of this, our party schedule consisted
of a candy jar guessing game, goody bag decorating, pumpkin leaf bag relay
races, a skeleton scavenger hunt, a Halloween-themed lunch, the spooky science
lab, an eyeball egg toss, “The Wanna-Be Werewolf” puppet show, and crazy
costume awards. And our back-up
addition? Toilet paper wrapped mummies!
Keep things simple. Even though you might have a lot to do on
your list of party activities, everything you prepare does not have to be
complicated… in fact, sometimes, the simpler the prep, the more the kids enjoy
what takes place. For example, everyone
got out tons of energy out during the pumpkin leaf bag relay races, but the
only preparation involved was purchasing 5 orange trash bags from Price Chopper
and then raking leaves for 20 minutes to fill the bags the day before our party
(and let’s face it…the leaves had to be raked anyway, so might as well put them
to good use!!). Same for the mad
scientist lab–using the already spooky ambiance of our 86-year old basement and
an assortment of different sized glass jars, food coloring, and dollar store
items, we created a scientific laboratory with very little effort. Another simple addition that added tons of
impact? Green party light bulbs…everything
looks more Halloweeny when it’s green like a goblin!
Little details make a
big difference. Sometimes the best
party planning doesn’t cost a ton, or
take an extreme amount of time to employ…it’s the little touches that let our
guests (even the 2nd grade ones!) know that we are glad they took
the time to celebrate with us. Look at
the little details as the bouquet of flowers on the nightside table, or the
handmade soaps in the hall bath–things that make those we welcome into our home
feel just that bit more special. In this
case, that might be the individually labeled, Halloween-themed items throughout
the party space (our pet rabbit isn’t really possessed, but it sure was a topic
of conversation among our guests!), the thank you included on the back of the simply
made but distinctively different costume awards that were handed out before
everyone went home, or the fun and festive marshmallow/pretzel skeletons used
as centerpieces on the party tables.
Some might think these details might be lost on a group of 8-year olds,
but I assure you that they notice almost everything…as
does the guest of honor, and imagine how special that makes him (or her) feel, knowing
that you would go the extra mile to make this party creative, unique, and just
plain fun. J
So set aside your fear and give an at-home kid party a try…it
just might be a treat that everyone will enjoy…especially you!
