Recipe for the Best Halloween Party Ever

It’s almost that time for you to throw the party of the year: your Halloween party. Don’t be alarmed; it’s relatively easy to throw a party that encourages your best friends to dress up, and forget that they weren’t eating sweets this month.

The most important aspect of any Halloween party is, of course, the costumes. To prevent the the awkwardness of only having half your guests dress up, you should consider letting your friends know ahead of time that you’ll be handing out silly awards during the night. Giving out awards for Best Costume and Worst Costume, etc. is a great to way to make your party memorable. It’ll also encourage friends to go the extra mile with their costumes, just as you’re going the extra mile to distinguish your party. 

In the age of endless YouTube cooking videos, there are many options for making Halloween treats for your party. You can find instructional videos for crafting anything from peculiar desserts that resemble ghosts and pumpkins, to simpler things like candy-topped brownies and cupcakes. Whatever you choose, just make sure you have plenty of treats, because after all, that’s what Halloween is all about. It wouldn’t hurt to put out small bowls of individually wrapped candies to encourage your guests to snack throughout the night.

As far as other essentials go, make sure you put a decent amount of time into decorating your space. No Halloween party is complete without plenty of pumpkins, so take the time to decorate and carve a few beforehand. If you aren’t great at carving pumpkins, encourage some of your friends to bring their own. You’d be surprised at how excited grown men and women get to carve a pumpkin this time of year.

It’s super fun and easy to get creative with common household items and recyclables to create decorations for your party. Of course, the Halloween staples include bats, webs, witches’ hats, ghosts, and skeletons, but don’t stop there. This is the time of year to fully express yourself in your truest form. Also, make sure your Halloween soundtrack ready to go, and don’t forget to play Monster Mash at least 3 times during the night—we're pretty sure there's a rule about that somewhere.

Lastly, if you’re daring enough to host a Halloween party, you’ll eventually have to take on the terrifying task of cleaning up once everyone leaves. Candy and sweets mixed with dancing and possibly a few adult-beverages can result in quite the mess. Prepare yourself for just that, and make sure that anyone you’re kind enough to crash on your sofa or in your guest room recognizes that they’ll be expected to join you in cleaning up when they wake up.

Most of all, have fun. That's really what Halloween should be about.