Easy Haunted Theater Halloween Party

Halloween is upon us and suddenly you realize you want to have a Halloween party. You are probably thinking it is too late to put together a party.

Fear not! You can throw together a Halloween party with very little time and just a little effort. Turn your family room, living room, media room, or finished basement into a haunted theater! It's quick, it's easy, and it's fun!

Too late to send invitations? We live in the electronic age. Text, email, or call your guests and tell them what, when, and where. Let them decide if they want to wear costumes or not. Are your guests asking if they can bring a dish? Tell them yes! It will make your preparation time even less.

A Halloween Haunted Theater party can be adapted to any age bracket. Just choose age appropriate movies for your guests to watch. Make it a double feature with an intermission for a trip to the refreshment table or the restroom. You can even "dig up" some spooky surprizes to keep guests in the Halloween mood.

Image: Filmsnobbery

If your TV is mounted on the wall, arrange chairs and sofas into rows. Otherwise, arrange the chairs and sofas into a half circle so everyone can see the TV. Drape old, solid colored or white sheets, or dropcloths on the furniture. Place folding tables near the seats to hold refreshments. Hang some paper bats or spiders from the table. Cover them with black cloths.

Replace regular light bulbs with black light bulbs. Pick up inexpensive packs of spiderwebs and stretch them around the room. Old panty hose works well too. Just tear a hole and keep pulling until you have a fine mass of webs. Close all curtains, blinds, and drapes.

Set up folding tables at the far end of the room for refreshments or use the kitchen or dining room as a "lobby" where guests can get their refreshments. Cover the tables with with inexpensive black, plastic tablecloths. Use carved pumpkins and non-drip candles as centerpieces.

There, you are done! Your Haunted Theater is ready to receive customers!

Image: Flufffriendsnews

Dress up like an usher-a dead usher. Make your costume from an old suit coat or sports jacket. Turn the jacket inside out, so the silky lining is showing. Make epaulettes by spray painting lengths of rope gold, or use old curtain tie-back tassels and attach them to the shoulders of the jacket. Wrap reflective tape around the cuffs and hem of the jacket. Add a pair of black slacks, black shoes and a flashlight to show guests to their seats.

Make a flat-topped hat out of cardstock. Wrap it around your head to fit then tape ends together. Lay the circle down on a flat piece of cardstock and trace the circle. Cut it out and glue or tape it to the top of the hat. Punch holes in the sides for string and tie it onto your head.

Give yourself a ghostly face by mixing water and cornstarch to form a paste. Rub the paste on your face and let it dry.

Image: A darkride's ghostly usher by Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts.

Keep your refreshments simple and you won't get frustrated if you are running out of time.

For beverages serve cider and iced tea in old coffee makers or pitchers with spouts so they look like pop dispensers at the theater. Mark them with creepy name cards like Zombie Fluid and Witch's Brew.

Serve popcorn in paper, striped popcorn bags. Throw in some gummy worms for gruesome fun.

Place defrosted chicken wings in the broiler for 20 minutes or until the skin is crunchy. Then toss them in your favorite barbeque sauce and call them BBQ Bat Wings. Yum.

Make pizza bites using round crackers, sauce, and cheese. Make faces with olives, pepperoni, or mushrooms. Pop in a toaster oven until cheese is bubbly. Or, put out all the fixings and let guests make their own. You don't have to heat them up.

Dip one half of a peanut shaped, peanut butter cookie in white chocolate. Place mini chocolate chips on the white chocolate for eyes. Let the chocolate set up. You now have peanut butter cookie ghosts!

Fill treat bags with gummy worms, gummy spiders, foil covered chocolate eyeballs, wax fangs, and other creepy candy you can find.

Decorate store bought, unfrosted cupcakes with orange or white frosting. Draw three circles on the frosting with tubed frosting, starting with a small circle in the middle. Then take a toothpick and draw a line through the circles from the smallest circle to the largest to form a spiderweb.

Image: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Animated films are usually the best choice for kids. Silly, not-very-scary won't give kids under the age of seven nightmares.

Here are my picks for Halloween movies for kids seven to twelve.

Some of these movies may be too intense for some tweens.