Halloween Kids Party Cheat Sheet!

So your (kids/family/someone with incriminating pictures of you) has convinced you to hold a Kids Halloween Party (just like I’ve been assigned…).  It may be a birthday party or just a fun spooky party.

Whatever it is, here’s some important info you need, as a Dad, to make the party Incredible!

Let’s assume that the location and main course food are taken care of already and focus on the tricky stuff that are usually assigned to the Dads.  Music, games and one key tip .

1. Music

Here is the playlist of my ideal Kids Halloween Party CD.  Given my generation, it’s tinged with ’80′s tunes… (hey, what can I say)…  and if my calculator’s correct, it should fit perfectly on an 80 minute CD…

• Monster Mash – Bobby Pickett and the CryptKickers
• Thriller – Michael Jackson
• GhostBusters – Ray Parker Jr.
• Scooby Doo Theme – Kidz Bop (their versions of certain songs are better for kids parties)
• Witch Doctor – Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Flying Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
• Poor Unfortunate Soul – Little Mermaid
• Addams Family Theme – Kidz Bop
• Beetlejuice Main Title – Danny Elfman
• Treehouse of Horror Medley – The Simpsons
• The Simpsons Halloween Special End Credits – The Simpsons
• This Is Halloween – Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack
• Imperial March / Darth Vader’s Theme – Star Wars
• Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
• Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
• The Freaks Come Out at Night – Whodini
• Toccata & Fugue in D Minor – J.S. Bach
• Hedwig’s Theme – Harry Potter Soundtrack
• O Fortuna – Carl Orff
• Nightmare on My Street – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
• Theme – Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack
• Feed Me – Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack

2. Games

You really only need 3 to 5 good games; the rest of the time, the little goblins and ghoulies (or ghoulettes) can entertain themselves.  Choose from some of the games below:

“Mummy Wrap” – Split the kids into teams.  Each team must nominate “a mummy” and the object of the game is to wrap the mummy as fully as possible with the toilet rolls provided (2 or 3 toilet rolls per team).  Give them a time limit to perform the task – i.e. the length of a song and the first person to finish wins.

“Guess the Monster Part” – Here’s a selection of foods you can use so that when you have the kids stick their hands in a box / through a curtain and feel the food, you can gross them out!  Thanks to Sangjib Min of the Daily Press for the ideas below!

• GOOEY GUTS. Mix 1 cup boiling water, a tablespoon of butter and 1 1/2 cups oatmeal. Stir, and add more oatmeal as needed to make a lumpy, but still loose mass. Allow to COOL thoroughly. Suitable for squishing and squealing.
• CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE? A prune or an apricot, rolled out, can make a great tongue. Gross.
• WITCH’S FINGERNAILS. Save those pistachio shells! They make perfect substitutions for a witch’s fingernails.
• DEM BONES. Popcorn can be crunchy goblin bones – and don’t forget to make the popcorn balls for later munching.
• MORE BONES. Breadsticks and crackers in various sizes and shapes can provide the crunch. Here, round peanut butter crackers are “neck bones.”
• EYEBALLS. What Halloween is complete without plenty of slimy eyeballs? If you have grapes, you have it made.
• A HANDS DOWN FAVORITE. A floating hand made by freezing water in a glove. Makes a great ice ring and center piece of a Black Halloween Punch.
• EYES GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT. Ice cream balls with candies in their centers, floating in a pool of red jello give you Floating Eyeballs for your Halloween party.
• TOSS SOME WORMS ‘N GUTS. Toss some spaghetti with a just a dash of oil and you have slimy worms galore. Add some meatballs and you have the makings for “brains and guts” – mmmm – it’s great for spooky-night dinner, too!

If you want/need a story to go along with the ingredients above, check out http://holidays.kaboose.com/halloween-stories-onehallnight.html and tweak it to your ingredients.

“Skeleton Scavenger Hunt” – buy a paper/toy skeleton where the bones can come apart from your neighborhood dollar store.  Then hide the bones all over the party place and away the kids go.  They need to work together to find all the pieces then put the skeleton back together to get a prize (i.e. candy for their loot bags).  For a variation, buy 2 of them and have 2 teams race against each other.

“Monster Freeze Dance” – pretty self explanatory.  You play Halloween music, they dance.  You stop the music, they freeze.  Anyone caught moving is out and the last person wins.  For a non-competitive variation, when you stop the music, call out various shapes that they have to try to make with their bodies (i.e. mummy, skeleton, bat, witch, black cat, pumpkin, monster)

“Pumpkin Penny Toss” – I like this one from about.com.  Carve out a large pumpkin, making a wide opening at the top. Give each child a handful of pennies. Have them stand an appropriate distance from the pumpkin and try to toss the pennies in, one at a time. For each successful toss, give the child a small piece of Halloween candy or points.

3. One Key Tip

My own dad recently sent me an email with a bunch of quotes (of course I can’t find it when I need it…).  One of the quotes resonated with me and is very applicable to this article.  It essentially said that one should plan as much as possible but, when it came time for action, one should sit back and enjoy the ride because more likely than not, it won’t go exactly according to plan.

So take the time to plan the Halloween party and when it comes time to put on the show, just enjoy the ride.

Happy Halloween!

p.s. If you have other music or games that you think should have been included in this list, I’d love to hear them via the comments below.  Thx!  ID

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