The Cheapskate Guide To Throwing A Halloween Party

It’s that oh-so-special time of year again. The time when you get butterflies in your stomach and can barely sleep for the excitement. Yes, it’s almost… Halloween! If this spooktastic event if your favourite one of the year, you’re not alone. The 31st October is an excuse to dress up, act silly, drink, and just go ahead and have the best time ever. There are few reasons not to love this epic event. So, why not throw a party to celebrate?

Still, if you happen to be on something of a budget, this can prove a bit of a pickle. Hosting a party can be super expensive and you don’t want to be throwing money down the drain! Luckily, we may have the answer to that very problem. We’ve had a massive thing about the ways you can save some pennies and we’ve come up with some rather genius ideas (if we do say so ourselves!). So, without further ado, here’s how you can throw a brilliant Halloween party on pretty much any budget. Things are about to get a whole load creepier.

Make a DIY hovering ghost

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMGF8GHhe2c/?tagged=hangingghosts

One of the easiest and, frankly, scariest decorating ideas has to be the hanging ghost trick. This one is surprisingly simple to do and won’t take you a whole lot of time to complete. What’s more, it will mean that your guests are seriously impressed with your decorating skills and you don’t have to spend a fortune. Win, win, and win!

Before you start, you will need some scissors, a piece of string, an old sheet, a balloon, and a marker pen. (Yep, that really is all that it takes!) Next, just follow these simple steps to create your ghoulish masterpiece in no time at all:

• Step 1: Blow up the balloon
• Step 2: Cut a very small hole in the centre of the sheet
• Step 3: Tie the string to the end of the balloon
• Step 4: Thread the string through the hole and drape the sheet over it
• Step 5: Draw a spooky face on the sheet
• Step 6: Hang the ghost from your ceiling

You can make a whole load of these so-called ghosts for next to nothing, which means that you can turn any space into a Halloween HQ with sheer ease. You should certainly dot these things around your home to make the entire place look like a haunted house. Yikes. Go ahead and give it a go for yourself. Easy!

Create a Halloween Photo Booth

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMc6PbsADFg/?tagged=halloweenphotobooth

Of course, it goes without saying that you’re going to need a way to keep your guests entertained. There are loads of expensive things that you could do, but let’s take a look at a cheap and easy idea that will save you a whole load of hassle. Including a spooky photo booth as part of your decor will not only encourage people to take some creepy snaps, but it will be an awesome way to keep your guests happy.

You don’t need a load of stuff to get this right. Invest in a few props (you can always use print-out masks, if all else fails!) and then create the photo booth yourself. Make sure that you keep the background relatively plain and provide people with a few disposable cameras so that they can really go to town. This fun and quirky idea will mean that everyone remembers your party for years to come. Bonus!

Buy: Disposable Cameras

Host a Pumpkin Carving Competition

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaCd_Ybj1B-/?tagged=diyhalloween

Okay, this next idea may well be a little messy, but it could be worth it too. Another fun and active way to get your guests involved is to host a pumpkin (or squash) carving competition. While you may well think that this activity would be super expensive, nothing could be further from the truth. Shops, such as Wilko, sell little kits for around £1 each. That means that you don’t have to spend all that much on this thing to have an incredible time.

What’s more, you could even have people take it in turns to create their spooktastic pumpkin. If you don’t want to fork out for more than one kit, you could just set up a ‘carving station’ in the corner and get people to have a go throughout the evening! Then, at the end of the night, you get the absolute pleasure of judging the entries and deciding which one looks the best and the creepiest. Make sure that you have a prize lined up for the winner or you could well disappoint people.

Buy: Pumpkin Carving Kit

Make Some Halloween Punch

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT8L3YYlzj-/?tagged=halloweenpunch

Needless to say, you’re going to need to give your guests something to drink. (Remember: There’s always the idea of popping cheap red wine into plastic cauldrons, if all else fails!)  While a BYOB policy is likely the cheapest option, it may be nice for them to have a little tipple when they get to your place. One of the most economical options here is a punch. That’s because you can make a whole load of it and it won’t cost you all that much money. Easy!

So, what kind of punch should you make? Well, going for a red or green colour is likely the best way forward. After all, you’re going to want the drink to fit in with the general vibe of the party, i.e. be creepy. For that reason, there’s a very simple punch that you can make in no time at all. You just need some pomegranate/cranberry juice (chosen for their colour if nothing else!) and some dark spiced rum. When you mix the two together, it should come out a blood red colour, which is perfect! You could even pop in a few eyeball ice cubes to boot.

Buy: Eyeball Ice Cubes

Create a Cheap Costume at Home

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZu40CJhIjq/?tagged=halloweencostumediy

Don’t spend over the odds on an expensive costume this year! That’s probably the biggest waste of money ever. Instead, you need to make your own outfit for next to nothing. Doing so will not only save you some seriously valuable pennies, but it will also mean that you get to impress everyone with your ultra cool crafting skills. What could be better than that?

So, where should you start? Well, there are loads of cheap ideas out there. You just need to be as creative as possible. The key is to avoid costumes that need too many different elements. You should keep things as simple as possible so that you don’t end up having a problem here. That way, you can make sure that you don’t need to spend a load on little added extras. With that in mind, here are a few ideas that you could consider:

• Flight Attendant (Instructions here)
• French Fries (Video here)
• Gumball Machine (Tutorial here)
• Ice Cream Cone (Video here)
• Pizza Slice (Instructions here)
• The Queen (Tutorial here)
• Emoji Crew (Tutorial here)
• Sheep (Instructions here)

As you can see, food tends to feature pretty heavily. The fabulous thing about that is that a) everybody loves food and b) the costumes are easy and reusable for basically any event. Of course, you will need to take a little time to ensure that the overall effect here is right. In fact, it may be worth starting to make your costume now and just doing a little at a time. That way, you can create something that is truly spectacular.

Create a Freaky Playlist

Now that you’ve got pretty much everything sorted, you just need to make sure that you have some music ready and waiting to play. Of course, you could go to the lengths of creating your very own Halloween playlist (on which the likes of Monster Mash has to feature!), but there is another way to go too. Why not go ahead and ‘follow’ someone else’s playlist instead? That way, someone else will have done all the hard work for you.

All you need to do is take a look at the Spotify Halloween playlists that are already available to the public. Most of the time, you can follow them and add them to your own list on your account. That means that you will have all the music sorted out way ahead of time before your guests arrive. This is likely the easiest and quickest thing you can do because we all know that CDs are a thing of the past, guys!

Get: Spotify Student Account

And there you have it! Once you’ve done all of the above, you should find that you have the perfect spookfest in your very own home. Remember, there’s nothing like getting your friends together to eat, drink and be scary!

Pumpkin Bowling

Quite possibly the simplest game around but be warned it can get messy if someone doesn’t roll the pumpkin nicely!

The full tutorial is here but it’s pretty basic really grab some black permanent markers + some toilet rolls + a pumpkin and draw faces on them.

Reuse those old wine bottles as ‘scary’ candles

Place the glass bottles in hot water to remove the labels &/or use a paint scraper (or similar) to remove the labels. Draw a ‘scary’ face on the bottle and stick a candle in it!

Host a scary/horror movie night instead + tell people to their own snacks etc

Pick a classic, sit back and shiver:

• The Omen
• Ring
• Paranormal Activity
• The Silence Of The Lambs
• Saw
• The Orphanage
• Read the top 25 scary movies of all time

Halloween Nachos

Get creative with your food prep to make a cheap centrepiece. Nachos are cheap + the dip can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge!

Full recipe