Host a spooktacular Halloween party!

Use your PC to plan the perfect fright night festivities

By Fiona Wagner

Jennifer Mueller can’t remember when she first fell in love with all things creepy. The self-professed Halloween enthusiast didn’t even like the holiday as a child. But today, her big box of spooky decorations rivals most people’s Christmas collections.

“It’s a night people can be things that they can’t be any other time of year,” says the Toronto-based recruitment consultant. “People dress like they wouldn’t dress and do things that would otherwise be considered strange. It’s why having a Halloween party is fun.” Planning a party can certainly be intimidating, but your PC can make it frighteningly simple.

Set the scene for your party

Halloween may be all about dressing up, but a good party needs more than just costumes. A theme helps inform and influence all aspects, from food to decorations to music.

“Themed parties are easier and more fun because you create an interesting visual effect, and almost transport your guests to that time or place with décor, music, activities and food,” says Cynthia Roesner, owner of It’s a Party-ful Life.

While Halloween party themes run the gamut from weird to scary to kitschy, a haunted masquerade party builds on the night’s intrinsic spookiness. “For the first hour during cocktails, guests are mingling and trying to figure out who’s who,” says Melissa Samborski, owner of One Fine Day Event Planning & Design Inc.“There’s an element of mystery and surprise.”

Make some masks

Create masquerade masks for your guests with the help of your PC and Microsoft Office Online.

Select the Clip Art tab and type masks.
Scroll through the list of masks and click the selection(s) you want.
On the left-hand pane, click Download > Download now.
The Microsoft Clip Organizer automatically appears with your selections. Click and drag a mask into Word. Resize the mask and print out a test copy.
Print on a heavyweight photo paper. Cut out the mask, and attach a piece of black ribbon to each side for tying or a piece of thin dowel for hand-held masks.
Place the masks in a basket of wrapped candies at the front door and ask guests to take one as they arrive.

Organize and get the word out

“I use my computer for designing and printing invitations or flyers and to keep me organized with my recipes, guest list, to-do list and grocery lists,” says Roesner.

The sooner you start organizing, the better, she says. “Do anything that you can get done ahead of time so you aren’t on a time crunch. Delegate to others and don’t try to do everything yourself.”

To save time, try out the following:

Excel party planner template
online party checklist
personal task list in Windows Calendar

Download Halloween-inspired cards or create your own in Word using clip-art. Send e-mail invitations using Evite or Sendomatic and manage your RSVPs online.

Dress it up!

Halloween night is a very sensory event (think crunching leaves and the chill in the air) so pay close attention to the details. “If you stimulate the senses, you’ll win every guest over,” says Samborski.

Use these ideas for creating spooky ambience:

Replace regular light bulbs with blue ones to create eerie shadows.
Use black bulbs to give everything a white glow.
Use flicker bulbs to mimic dancing candlelight.
Cover furniture with weathered sheets and creepy dollar-store cobwebs for an abandoned look.
Replace drapery with tattered curtains made with coffee-stained cheesecloth or gauze.
Fill vases with dead flowers. Roses work especially well.
Print out some flying bats on black cardstock or ghosts on glow-in-the-dark paper, and hang them from the ceiling with sewing thread.
Use Windows Media Player to put together a haunted Halloween playlist.

Play with your food

“It’s the only time of year when you can put snakes and rats on your cake and get away with it,” says Katherine Parris, owner of Events by Parris. “You can do all the gross things that you want to do.”

Even if gross isn’t what you’re after, foodie sites such as Allrecipes.com, Kraft Canada and Food Network Canada offer creepy cuisine ideas for wicked tricks and delicious treats. Have fun with different textures, colours and even props; anything that requires a mould can be made in a Halloween mask covered in plastic wrap. Plastic bugs in ice cubes will surely give guests a fright!

Set up different food stations and encourage guests to move around and mingle. Check out these links for some fearsome finger foods: