3 Tips for an Awesome Halloween Party for Kids

This past weekend, we marked another awesome Halloween party for kids in the books. Our yearly party isn’t just any Halloween party, it’s a Halloween birthday party for our youngest daughter. A birthday only happens once a year; so, why not celebrate with friends and family dressed up in their finest Halloween costumes?  Every year, I tell my husband that we need to have a simple traditional birthday party.  You know, the family birthday parties that involve a homemade cake, a few balloons, and watching her open gifts as family sits around the couch.  Yet, as her Fall birthday approaches, I can’t help but plan for a budget-friendly Halloween party for kids. Read on to see the 3 tips for an awesome Halloween party, or watch the video at the end of the post.

Halloween Birthday Party for Kids

A Fall birthday in October is the perfect excuse to have a Halloween party for kids!  We get to celebrate my daughters birthday, and dress up in our favorite themed Halloween costumes. It’s the perfect combination that turns into a fun Halloween party for families.  With a little planning and budget watching, we have been able to throw a Halloween party for kids for the past several years. Here are some highlights from her party, and 3 tips for you to start planning a budget friendly Halloween party for kids.

 

1. Keep the Kids Halloween Party Food Simple

When planning the food for a Halloween birthday party, I like to keep it fairly simple.  Meaning, I don’t go as far as labeling the Halloween snack or Fall treats with cute names and table labels (although I think it’s super cute). Instead, I start with making sure we have the basic birthday party food, such as pizza, pasta, chips, salad, veggie tray, subs or chicken, dips, and cupcakes.  Then, if I have time, I try to throw together some Halloween snacks for kids.  Here are some examples of some treats I’ve either had at previous Halloween parties for kids, or hope to make for future birthdays.  If you’d like to read more about them, you can check out my post about Halloween Snacks for Kids, here. 

Food for a Halloween Party for Kids

• Ghost String Cheese

• Mummy Juice Boxes

• Pumpkin Patch Pudding Cups

• Mummy Dogs

• Hot Apple Cider

• Ghost Fruit Kabobs

• Mandarin Pumpkins

• Monster Cookie Bites

• Popcorn Hand

• Frankenstein Grape Cups

• Halloween Cookies

To help keep the menu budget-friendly, it’s helpful to ask family members to help supply some food.  Too, often, we like to plan and conquer the Halloween party food and snacks on our own, but people are often willing to help…you just need to ask!  Since our daughter’s birthday party is more of a Halloween party for families, there are a lot of mouths to feed.  Typically, we end up serving 40-60 kids and adults.  Needless to say, we are beyond grateful for our parents and friends pitching in and bringing food dishes.

I am also grateful for my awesome friend, Stephanie, for baking these awesome Halloween sugar cookies!  Not only are they adorable, they taste amazing!  As a 1st grade teacher, she has found her second talent and passion as a baker.  She bakes cookies and cakes for all occasions, and is rocking a side hustle.

If you are wanting to try a side hustle as a blogger, check out my blog post “How to Become a Teacher Blogger“.

2.  DIY Kids Halloween Party Games

Party games for a Halloween party for kids doesn’t have to be elaborate and expensive.  Over the years, I have found lots of DIY kids games for Halloween parties that are budget friendly.  Here are some of my favorite.

Pumpkin Ring Toss

Grab a pack of glow necklaces and a couple long-stem pumpkins, and you have a cheap DIY Halloween game for kids.  When the party is over, the kids can keep a glow in the dark necklace as another party favor!

Same concept as pumpkin ring toss, but use witch hats instead of pumpkins.

Pumpkin Golf

Clean the insides of a pumpkin, carve a face with a large mouth that stretches all the way to the ground, and have the kids putt the golf ball into the mouth.  We have golf balls and golf clubs for kids around the house.  If you don’t you can pick up a cheap plastic golf set for toddlers and it does the trick.

Monster Eyes Spoon Races

Pin the Nose on the Jack-o-Lantern

Halloween Pinata

Pinatas are a fun way to let out some energy and fill a good bag.  Party favors for a Halloween party for kids don’t have to be elaborate.  Fill a Halloween pinata with a mix of candy and cheap prize, and let the kiddos fill their own party favor bags.  You could also purchase the cheap plastic holiday cups, and let the kids fill the cups with treats from the pinata.  This way, they get the candy, prizes, and the cool cup to use when they get home.

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Pumpkin bowling

Pumpkin tic-tac-toe

Halloween flashlight tag

3. Cheap Halloween Party Decorations

We have been slowly building our Halloween decorations over the years.   Typically, we grab them while on clearance at the end of the season, or snag them up while on sale at Target, Amazon, or other stores with seasonal displays.  The dollar store has plenty of cheap Halloween party decorations that are great when planning a Halloween party for kids.  Here are some of our DIY Halloween decorations, and highlights of our favorite spooky party decor.

Glow in the Dark Spider Jars

Make these DIY cheap Halloween glowing cotton ball and spider centerpieces with a few items that you may already have around the house.  Use mason jars or cleaned spaghetti jars, cotton balls, plastic spiders, and glow sticks for this easy Halloween party table centerpieces.

Halloween Graveyard

I originally purchased the cheap plastic Halloween fencing from the dollar store, but half of them broke just trying to put them into the ground.  My husband instantly decided he was going to make a DIY Halloween graveyard fence.  With a can of spray paint, a bundle of wooden stakes, and some carpentry skill, he built the best graveyard fence complete with a gate!

These DIY Halloween decorations are budget friends and perfect for your next Halloween party for kids.

Blowup Halloween House

This Halloween blowup decoration was the perfect Halloween backdrop for family and kids’ photos.  Eeek! We were so excited to see our niece dressed up for her first Halloween.  She was a little ladybug, while momma was a giraffe, and daddy was a Cleveland Brown’s fan!

Dollar Store Halloween Decor

Not everything I’ve purchased from the dollar store has help up, but some decorations have proven to do the trick year after year.  For example, this year we bought table clothes, spider web netting, food trays, Happy Birthday signs, glow sticks, and these skeleton yard stakes, from the Dollar Tree.

Halloween Skeleton Display

As I mentioned in my blog post about Simple Fall and Halloween Decor, we have a love for Halloween skeleton decorations.  Aside from the graveyard headstone and bone collection I mentioned above, we also have a skeleton display in the front of the house.  It’s the perfect way to greet the guests as they arrive for the Halloween party for kids.  This year, we went to Lowes and picked up the blow up Halloween house and a giant skull.  While looking for life-size skeletons, I found a mermaid skeleton, which I foresee being added to our collection in the future.

 

 

Conclusion

If you’re planning a Halloween party for kids, or a Halloween birthday party, these tips will keep you stress-free and are budget-friendly.  Keep the food menu simple, ask for others to bring a dish, put together some easy DIY Halloween games for kids, find cheap Halloween decor.

You can find most of the items mentioned in this blog in my Amazon Storefront, www.amazon.com/shop/littlelearningcorner under the Halloween Party list.  If you are looking for Halloween worksheets and learning games, you can check out my blog post, Halloween Activities for Kindergarten. I hope you have so much fun planning your Halloween party for kids!

Before you go, be sure to grab your 55 Free Halloween Activities