Simple & Inexpensive Halloween Party Tips

October is pretty much party month at our house.  For me, Halloween is reason enough to celebrate, but we also have three (soon to be four) little boy birthdays this month.  In order to accommodate birthday parties for an eight year range of ages, we always just stick with a Halloween theme.  It's perfect for boys' of all ages, and our guests always enjoy the spooky theme as well.

So, having hosted a Halloween-themed party for the past eight years, I've gathered a lot of tricks and tips for preparing a simple, festive atmosphere on a budget.  Here are a few of my favorite ides for each of your party-planning areas.

Every great party begins with a great invitation.  Did you know Tiny Prints makes Halloween invitations?  They are absolutely amazing!  I recently took a stroll through all of Halloween party invites, and honestly could not choose a favorite!  I could have filled my entire post with just invitations, but I limited it to just a few of my favorites.

Kinda Candy Corny

Scary  On

Scary Sweets

Square Heads

Who wouldn't want to come to your Halloween party after receiving an invitation like this?  You have to go visit Tiny Prints Halloween invitations today!  Simply pick your favorite invite, personalize it, and send it out for your Halloween bash.

I love baking and making goodies for all occasions, and Halloween treats are plentiful!  While I do make a few homemade items for our party...

Ghost Sugar Cookies

Homemade Halloween Oreos

 I usually try to work with foods that lend themselves to the Halloween theme just as they are.  A favorite trick of mine is to buy orange, white, and black foods.  I dump them into a Halloween-colored bowl, add a creepy critter to the top, and viola!  An instant Halloween snack that took a matter of minutes, and looks festive as can be. 

I like to use cheese pieces with bat toothpicks.  I buy bat rings at the dollar store, cut off the ring part, and then use the leftover bat to hot glue on the top of a toothpick.

Olives with a ghost pick on top in an orange and white polka dot treat cup are always a hit!

And Bar-B-Que Chips with a creepy crawly spider on top are just one more simple way you can open a store-bought bag of snacks, dump  them into a bowl, and then top with whatever Halloween creature you'd like.  It doesn't get much easier than that!

Recycled Snack Cups

Another recycled, money-saving tip of mine is to use old frosting containers for snack cups.  Wash out your frosting cup, then add some Halloween scrapbook paper to the outside, and you have the perfect Halloween cup for serving any snack you'd like.

Next time you're at the grocery store, just keep your eye out for Halloween-colored foods.  You'll be surprised with what you can find!

Let your food table covered with orange and black snacks work for you in the decoration department.  I always like to buy simple black and/or orange plates, cups, napkins, and plastic utensils from the dollar store.  You can also have your party favors (see below) on display.  You're making them anyway, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone.  Have them serve as a decorating touch as well as a goodie bag for your guests.

I also use my DIY Halloween straws on the food table.  They're functional for drinking, but look like a glass full or decorations sitting on the table.

Adding vinyl to plain glassware is a great way to add a bit of spooky flare to your Halloween table for decor.  You can use the glasses for drinking, fill them with goodies (like gum balls here), or fill with any other Halloween item you'd like. 

Click to Print

Printables are also a great, inexpensive way to add a bit of decor to your party.  These are a few of mine you can print out for free!

Click to Print

Other simple, inexpensive decorations that I love include balloons, create paper streams, and banners.

I found a Halloween favor idea years ago online, and while I've tried others over the years, this one has remained my all-time favorite!  

Simply take mini peat pots, glue a fun Halloween image to the front, add a bit of orange and black create paper fringe to the inside top rim of the pot, then fill with goodies.  If you can't find mini peat pots (they are more readily available in the spring and summer), then you can use a white styrofoam cup.  I used them one year, and loved how they turned out!  I did paint them orange because they were white, but white would work as well.  I decorated them just as I did the mini peat pots.

I put orange and white gumballs, jellybeans, a mini Halloween notebook and ghost eraser from Target, and a spider ring from Dollar Tree.

The skeleton straw came from Walgreens, the bat pen was at Walmart, and the skull is a cupcake pick from Dollar Tree.  Those are just a few simple ideas.  Once you get looking, I promise you'll find a large selection of Halloween favors for just dollars.

Halloween time always makes me think of the old-time carnival games.  We love a good game of Halloween BINGO.  You can click here to see how I made my own Halloween BINGO cards.

Another favorite is our Halloween ping pong toss.  You can check out the simple, recycled (from oatmeal containers) instructions on making your own by clicking here.

I also found a great Halloween photo prop kit at Michaels this week.  Photo booths and props are so big right now!  And I love the idea of having fun pictures to send home with your guests.  This will be a new activity at our Halloween party this year.

 This particular kit is from Recollections Craft-It Halloween.  There are 55 props with 55 dowels in this one kit!  And it was 50% off, so hurry to your local Michaels and grab your kit today.

As I stated, I have baby boy number four on the way in a matter of weeks, so I've already begun checking off some of the items I've shared above from my to-do list.  I did share quite a bit, so just pick and choose what will work for your, or just use these ideas as an inspirational jumping-off point, and do whatever you'd like.  With a bit of planning, a few dollars here and there, and a touch of creativity, you too can have a perfectly spook-tacular Halloween bash this year.  

Happy Halloween party planning! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Homemade Halloween Oreos

I've posted these homemade Oreos before, but not the Halloween version.  I always like to let the coloring of my food work for me.  Any food that is somewhat close to black, orange, or white is perfect for Halloween entertaining.

You can click here to print out the recipe, but basically all you need is a Devil's food cake mix, eggs, and shortening.  Then, of course the cream cheese frosting.  You can go ahead and buy the frosting, or here's a yummy homemade version from Our Best Bites.

I made these Oreos a bit smaller than usual because you are getting two cookies once you frost and sandwich them together.  But you can make them any size you like.

For the Halloween version of these, I simply made the cream cheese frosting orange, then rolled the frosted cookie gently in Halloween sprinkles before the frosting set.  That way the sprinkles would stick to the frosting.  Easy and absolutely delicious!!

And here's another favorite Halloween cookie at our house.  Ghost sugar cookies.

Ghost Sugar Cookies

What are your favorite Halloween cookies?

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

October Pinterest Board

Whenever I have a spare minute (which doesn't seem to happen too often) I love to scroll through Pinterest.  And it becomes a bit of an obsession during October!  I have more pins than I'll ever have time for, but I love just looking at them for bits of inspiration, even if I don't complete the entire project.

Follow Brooke @ blissfulroots.com's board October on Pinterest.

As I've mentioned, all three of my boys have birthdays in October, and we'll be adding one more birthday to the bunch in a couple of weeks.  So, I'm always one the hunt for fun party activities, decorations, and food to go along with the Halloween theme.  Pinterest has been a lifesaver!  And I'm sure it will continue to be. We have many years of Halloween parties ahead. But, you won't hear any complaints from me!  I love every minute of planning and preparing for all these October parties.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

DIY Halloween Vinyl Glasses {@ twelveOeight}

The Halloween posts are in full swing here at Blissful Roots, and I couldn't be happier.  Halloween posts are my favorite!  I'm sure at some point I'd tire of all the black, orange, and white, but I almost feel like a month isn't long enough to get everything in.  I'll sure try, though!

I'm over with Tanya today at twelveOeight sharing a simple way to add a bit of Halloween flare to your glassware.  This is to date, one of the easiest projects I've done, but also one of my absolute FAVORITES!  It's all in the little details.  Come and visit me to find out where my inspiration came from, and  how I made the darling blakc bats.  You can click here for my entire post.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Pumpkin Spice Pretzel Bites {Repost}

My boys love to check out the samples at Walmart whenever we go.  I usually don't ever try them, but the other day my three-year-old pulled out an orange covered pretzel from the sample container.  I was curious, so I tried one.  Boy, am I glad I did.  It was delicious!  I could tell the pretzel had been dipped in candy melt, but not just any candy melt, it had a pumpkin flavor to it.  The salty pretzel and pumpkin spice were delicious together!

  

Well, we continued our shopping, and right there on the Halloween isle I found some Wilton's Pumpkin Spice candy melts (they're limited edition, so grab them when you see them).  That was it!  The secret ingredient to the pretzels.  I got right on making some of my own.  

Pumpkin Spice Pretzel Bites

1 bag pretzels

1 pkg. Wilton's Pumpkin Spice candy melts

white chocolate chips (optional)

sprinkles (optional)

Melt candy melts in the microwave according to package directions.  Dip pretzels (gently one side at a time) into the candy melt.  Shake off excess candy melt.  Allow to dry. Melt white chocolate chips, then drizzle on top of pretzels.  Sprinkle with sprinkles before white chocolate sets.

Please note the dip gently one side at a time with the pretzels.  I thought it would be totally easy, but not so much.  I dunked my first pretzel in, but then the candy melt didn't drip through the pretzel holes.  The pretzel looked like a big glob of orange, not a pretzel.  Luckily I was making these with my sister (she always figures these type of things out), and she tried lightly dipping one side of the pretzel in the candy melt, and then the other side.  It worked much better, and you could actually see the pretzel holes.  They didn't look perfect, but once I got the white chocolate and sprinkles on they looked fantastic.  The white chocolate and sprinkles are optional, but they make the pretzel bites look a bit more dressed up.  

Don't they look cute in my little Halloween box (tutorial here)?  I tell you, these boxes are good for just about anything!  These pretzel bites would be perfect to leave on your neighbor's doorstep if you neighborhood does the, "You've Been Booed" thing.  Or you could leave them just because, no reason needed.

I think next time I'm going to try using pretzel rods or sticks. That would make the whole dipping process much, much easier!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.