Every year I plan my company's Halloween Party. In the month leading up to Halloween, my office is overtaken by mummies, skeletons, and pumpkins. It's my favorite event to plan each year because I get to be creative and have fun with the event.
Halloween decor overtaking my office.
On the Saturday before Halloween, our events team transforms a floor of conference rooms into Halloween mecca for 600 employees and their families to enjoy. There are face-painters, magicians, and balloon artists roaming the hallways. The cafeteria is full of Halloween treats. Each conference room holds a different activity - a haunted house led by the grim reaper, a karaoke booth where you can record your favorite Halloween song onto a CD, a pumpkin carving room...you name it, we've got it!
There are a few rules for the Halloween party since about 400 of the guests are children. For decor, we can't do anything too scary (no one wants throngs of crying toddlers). For the menu, nothing too intricate (after all, we have to feed SIX HUNDRED people) and nothing alcoholic (we don't need co-workers getting rowdy at Noon on a Saturday).
Each year while doing idea research for the company party, I come across ideas that are too scary, intricate or alcoholic for the company party. I store them away for when I am able to throw the Halloween party of my dreams. Now, my husband and I live in a one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We don't really have the square footage for the Halloween party of my dreams. I'm also usually too pooped from a day of wrangling 5 year-olds at the company party to host a party of my own.
Next year is different though. At the end of this year hubby and I are moving from NYC to my hometown of New Orleans. I will be so sad to leave behind the best event planning job I've ever had, but I'm excited to finally have a house big enough to throw a fabulous Halloween bash! The party isn't until October 2013, but as any good event planner will tell you: it's never too early to start planning! My head is already spinning. I have my trusty Excel budget prepared. I've started weeding through my stored pins and magazine clippings for some of my "musts" for the party. I thought I would share some of them with you in case you're planning a 2012 Halloween Party!
My first couple of "musts" are recipes that I found last year on Fashionably Bombed. Fashionably Bombed is a blog run by two sisters, who have perfected the stylish, creative cocktail. Every recipe of theirs that I've tried has been delicious, so I have total faith in serving the Reese's Peanut-tini and Candy Corn Martini at my Halloween Bash.
Reese's Peanut-tini
Recipe makes one.
Ingredients
¼ cup peanut butter (with salt)
¼ cup milk
½ ounce vodka
1 ounce Crème de Cacao
Ice
Garnish
Chocolate wafer cookies
Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter cups
To a blender add peanut butter, milk, vodka and Crème de Cacao. Blend.
Pour mixture into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake! Strain into a
martini glass rimmed in chocolate cookie crumbs and garnish with a stack
of peanut butter cups!
Candy Corn Martini
Photo Credit: Fashionably Bombed.
Ingredients
1½ ounces milk
1½ ounces cream
1 ounce Candy Corn Infused Vodka
½ ounce Honey Syrup
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake, shake, shake!
How to make Honey Syrup:
Place
1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan and stir until dissolved. Bring to a
gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until syrup
is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
Instructions on making Candy Corn Infused Vodka here.
Photo Credit: Fashionably Bombed.
As far as decor goes, I love this entrance.
If you entertain a lot, candy jars are one of the best investments you can make. They are affordable and can be used in an assortment of ways. Here they are used as apothecary jars holding ingredients for spells.
Chalkboards are another affordable and simple way to add decor to a room. Tips for DIY chalkboards here.
Photo credit: unknown
I love the spooky forest backdrop behind this dessert table.
DIY window decorations are a great way to add a big bang to your event for little bucks. If you have paneled windows like the one in the image below, you can split up a high resolution photo and print it in sections on your home computer. For larger prints, Staples sells what they call Engineer Prints. They range in size up to 3' x 4' and cost only $4.99!
I came across these "broken windows" on
Halloween Forum. To create this look just take
contact paper and cut it apart to look like fractured glass. You can apply it to the inside or outside of the windows. What a simple and affordable way to make a sunny window look haunted and abandoned.
This is a fabulous way to keep party guests on the first floor.
Okay, time to stop daydreaming about next year's party! Best of luck to anyone hosting a party this year!
