How to Throw A Halloween Party Your Middle Schoolers Will LOVE

Spooky Season is here….Boo Baskets are in……Costumes on the shelves…...Bags of Candy everywhere. Is your daughter throwing out hints she wants a Halloween party with her friends or sending you videos of fun Halloween snacks? I am here to help! I am a wedding planner and love planning events so I have some experience with planning events. However, planning a party for middle schoolers can be a bit tricky! You don’t want to be “cringe” - we want to be the cool moms! Let me help with my tricks I have learned throwing Halloween parties for my daughter. My daughter and her friends all had a blast so let me help you!

Steps:

Step 1. First you need to pull up the calendar and choose the perfect day for your party. Fridays and Saturdays are best, so check the local events around town and find a day that works for you and doesn’t overlap with community events.

Step 2. Using Canva (click here to sign up for a free trial canva.com) create an invitation. Pick a premade invitation by searching for a Halloween party invite or feel free to create your own if you have knowledge of Canva. Include the date, time, and location of the party.  If you are not going to provide pumpkins for the kids, put a note on there letting them know to bring their own pumpkin. Here is a fun sample idea you can use. 

Step 3. Music is key with kids - so let's make a funky playlist everyone will enjoy. Ask your kid to add songs they would enjoy listening to a special Halloween playlist on a music streaming app of your choice. Check over the list to make sure it all is appropriate or you are okay with playing and supplementing in some extra music classics like Thriller by Michael Jackson or Monster Mash by Bobby Picket. A good rule of thumb is to have music lasting the length of the party and I always have about an extra 45 minutes of time. 

Step 4. SNACKS SNACKS SNACKS! This may be the most important aspect of the party. You can have chips and dip and veggie tray, but we need to find themed snacks to really bring the theme in. Here are some of our tried and true snacks we have used! Pumpkin rice krispies are a fan favorite. Click the link here for the recipe. One trick I use, as I am not a great cook or artistic, is I use rolo candies instead of what they used for the stems. We also make fun dirt cups which are easy and yummy for everyone. You can find eyeball candies in the baking section of Walmart or you can order really fun ones off Amazon as well. If you have a Papa Murphy’s nearby we order the pumpkin shaped pizzas. If you don’t have one Costco pizza is cheap and feeds lots of kids. The final thing here is drinks. Buy small cans of soda and capri suns and have them in ice for the guests to take as needed. It lessens the mess of punch spilling if they try to serve it themselves. If you want Halloween punch we have had lots of success with this Halloween themed drink, Witch’s Brew Halloween Punch.

Step 5. You will need to have carving utensils for the kids to use. Go to your local thrift stores and see if there are any carving tools you can buy for inexpensive. If you don’t find many, go to your local Walmart and buy the tools with the idea books. While you are there grab a couple plastic tablecloths to cover the tables when they carve their pumpkins. If you don’t have any Halloween decorations, grab some cheap ones from Walmart and the Dollar Store to have on hand for the day of your party.

Step 6. Day of the party you will make the snacks, put out tables for pumpkin carving, use Bluetooth speakers and put the playlist on shuffle, decorate with any Halloween decorations you have, and wait for the kids to arrive. Have a great time and wait for next year when kids beg for another party at your house! Enjoy the spooky season!