Helping You Find The Best Halloween Night Theme Party

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How do you throw a Halloween Night party to reflect your interests and character? Film buffs may choose a horror movie night, the artistic may host a craft party, socialites may organize a block party and the refined may opt for an elegant dinner party. There are almost limitless options for expressing your creativity, while entertaining your friends for some Halloween fun. To take the stress away, plan ahead, decide upon a budget, pick a theme and ask others to bring things if need be.

Comedian ("Strangers with Candy") and Entertainer Extraordinaire, Amy Sedaris, recommends hosting a Halloween Night Movie Party. "The fun of the party to me is the movie I'm featuring," says Sedaris, who personally recommends classics like Dracula and Frankenstein, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, The Trilogy of Terror, The Bad Seed, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Of course, there are countless movies from which to choose. To create the in-home theater, she moves the TV to the center of the room and arranges cushy beanbag chairs and furniture around it so everyone can see. Then she places food trays around the room in accessible spots.

She serves meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn because "you don't have to see it to eat it" and she also highly recommends pumpkin pie dessert and pumpkin seed snacks. She likes to start the Halloween fun with a pumpkin carving activity too. Drinks can include a Bloody Mary, a Berry Rum Punch, Sangria or a witch's brew. Sedaris also recommends sending out invitations that look like a movie ticket or film reel, draping red velvet around the room, playing elevator muzak, setting up 25-cent concessions booths and throwing a few of the more traditional Halloween decorations around. "Entertaining alone is one of the most creative and rewarding experiences I can think of," she concludes.

If you fancy yourself the neighborhood socialite or would simply like to get to know your neighbors better, then consider organizing a Halloween Night block party to bring the community together. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it's not insurmountable. Start planning the Halloween fun several months in advance and meet with neighbors to assign tasks. Divvy up the Halloween recipes, set someone in charge of games, ask someone to organize prize bags, put someone in charge of the costume contest and be sure to check with City Hall about permits, insurance and zoning. You'll need the city to close down the street, which will require a permit and barricades from the local police department, which you'll need everyone to chip in to pay for. Encourage neighbors to decorate their yards for Halloween, so you can have a contest to award the best Halloween decorations. While it may sound like a Herculean task, imagine the example it will set for the children and how the renewed sense of community will bring your neighborhood together!

Don't kid yourself. The #1 thing people look forward to when it comes to parties is the food. If your food stinks, then your party will stink, even if people have no other way to spend their Halloween night. Appetizers like bacon water chestnut rolls, hummus platters, olive puffs, spiced pumpkin seeds, black bean chili, cornbread muffins and popcorn balls work great. For the main course, you can go with goulash, pulled pork sandwiches or meatloaf, if you'd like. The website www.epicurious.com also recommends devilish eggs, deviled ham, roasted deviled potatoes, deviled fried chicken, black linguine with orange and red peppers, braised short ribs and roasted golden nugget squash. You may want to go with a pumpkin pie dessert, devil's food cake, creepy Halloween decorations made with a Jell-O mold or tarantula cookies.