Halloween Party Dos and Don'ts

This post is a letter to my future self---things to remember for when I prepare a kids' only Halloween party in the future!

DOs

1) DO buy a party pack of plates, napkins and silverware. For $10.00 I was able to get place setting for 12, and it added instant festive atmosphere to our dining room!

2) DO get lots of ideas from the internet about food and games. I found some wonderful websites that had awesome food and game ideas. I printed them all out and used them to make my shopping list. Up until Sunday morning, the day of the party, I was pretty well prepared.

3) DO invite kids that know each other. One of the great challenges of our modern era is that between magnet schools, public schools and private schools, many of the children that we know go to different schools and/or participate in different after school and other activities. For this party I chose a mix of Jacob and Casey's school mates and neighbors. It worked well---the kids played well together and had a lot in common outside of the party experience.

4) DO keep most of the parents out of it. This was the first time we deliberately shooed parents away from the event, and it was a good choice. In the olden days, parents and siblings were never invited to a child's party, right? Of course having fewer adults created a more "Lord of the Flies" atmosphere at times (six 6-8 year old boys, in costume, anyone?), but it was nice not to worry about entertaining the adults when I wanted the focus to be on the kids. At the same time, the parents who did stay behind, were a huge help.

5) DO get my kids involved in the planning and decorating. Jacob and Casey helped me make the sugar cookies and Jacob washed all the miniature pumpkins for the party. He would have done a lot more if I had let him. Jacob's friend Ani also had some cool ideas (tying balloons to the tree in the front yard, for example) and Casey wanted to help more than I was able to let her, too.

6) DO make food that's easy to make ahead. The best success of the night was my dish called "monster toes." It was veggie sausage with a bit of crescent roll at the end, and then a "toenail" made out of a sliver almond and secured with a dab of cream cheese. They looked disgusting, but they were easy to prepare ahead of time and the kids gobbled them up



7) DO use a label maker. I marked each child's candy bag with his/her name, and it made it easy to identify a specific child's candy bag before he/she went home! It also helped me to make sure that kids with special diet needs (no dairy, for example) got the right candy mixture!

My list of "dont's" is a lot longer, because, let's face it---there was a lot of room for improvement in the party itself.

1) DON'T run out of coffee the day of the party. This is self-explanatory.

2) DON'T make food that seems utterly gross to me as I am making it. I don't eat meat, but I decided to try the mummy meatloaf from this year's Family Fun magazine.. The problem is, as Josh pointed out, a lot of kids don't like meatloaf. Even worse, I used store bought prepared meatloaf, and as it was cooking I could tell it was fatty hamburger and/or low quality meat. It smelled terrible as it was cooking. I would have been much better off adapting the mummy meatloaf technique to hot dogs, or even veggie dogs, and then I would have been so grossed out.



3) DON'T invite more kids than I want to come. I was shooting for 12, so I invited 16. Every child I invited came. 16 was A LOT of kids to entertain for 2.5 hours. Lesson learned.

4) DON'T yell at husband 30 minutes before the party. Sorry Josh! I'll do better next year.

5) DON'T plan too many food dishes and/or activities. In some ways this party was over planned. I had SO MANY ideas for things we should eat or do that I was overwhelmed and didn't get to finish most of them.

6) DON'T spend the day of the party working on Jacob and Casey's Halloween costumes. This was a costume party, and I hadn't finished Jacob's costume, so I spent a lot of the day sewing and tweaking Jacob's Avatar costume. Jacob's costume looked great for the party, but I didn't have time to prepare some of the games and activities I wanted to do!

7) DON'T leave Jacob and Casey out of the loop when it comes to thinking about hosting. I didn't talk to Jacob and Casey about how to be good hosts. Some of the most stressful moments of the party happened when Jacob needed my attention and I needed to do something for the group. If I had talked to him ahead of time I think he would have been able to handle his needs better. Also, Casey might have been willing to wear her costume! (She spent the night in her red leotard only, because, she said, it was "more comfortable.")



8) DON'T try to serve 16 children dinner at the same time with no help and no game plan. Yeah, really, don't do that again. Have more finger food, more help, and a game plan!

9) DON'T forget to take pictures! I was so overwhelmed during much of the party I forgot to take pictures! Big mistake!

OK---I think that's all....for now! Happy Halloween!