Spook-tacularly Easy Halloween Ideas

Fall is here - the leaves are changing colors, the temperature is dropping, and Halloween is right around the corner! Whether you’re a professional event planner needing to incorporate a few spooky elements into your event or just having a few friends over for a Halloween-themed party, let us help you out with a few quick and simple planning hacks to make your Halloween one for the books.

Worried you’re forgetting something? Check out Wunderlist. Easily create a Halloween to-do list and add in everything you need to buy/make before October 31st! You can also create sub-tasks under each item in your to-do list. For example, under “Make Costume” you can add in everything you need to buy before going to the store and cross each one off as you grab it. When you’re done with a task, you can check it off and have it added to your “done” folder. Watch your to-do list shorten and rest easy knowing you won’t forget a thing now. Planning a party with other people? You can share lists and easily collaborate to get everything done.

Your Halloween event needs to have music, but beyond "Monster Mash" and "Thriller," can you think of any other Halloween-themed music that isn’t just creepy sounding film scores? You can check “create spooky playlist” off your Wunderlist by checking out Spotify’s large collection of Halloween-themed playlists. My go-to playlist is this one.

For some people, the costume is all they can think about for months leading up to October 31st. For other’s, it's the worst part of Halloween. And then there are people like me - coming up with a fun and creative costume is fun in theory until I realize I’ve run out of time and need to once again pull out my strawberry costume from 4 years ago when I was part of a fruit salad group costume…except now it's just me as a lone strawberry without the rest of my fruity friends. I’m trying to be more on top of my Halloween costume game this year though and wanted to share with you a few fun and easy costumes you can whip together in no-time.

You can also check out Pinterest for costume ideas or Craftsy where you can buy costume kits to assemble on your own. Already have an awesome costume? Be prepared for that one guest who will show up without a costume and have an extra costume or two ready!

Don’t forget about the decor! Even if you’re running low on time, you don’t need much to give your place a haunted house vibe. The easiest and most common Halloween decor is probably fake spider webs, but beyond that, there are a few other things you can and should do to have the most memorable Halloween ever! Since everyone will be in costume, there are going to be loads of pictures taken. Create a quick backdrop for photos by using an old sheet and decorating it with whatever you want - black and orange splatter paint? Twinkle lights? Set pumpkins around it? Also be sure to include a few extra costume pieces to use as props for people who may not have dressed up. Depending on the size of your group, have a costume contest and line a “runway” with pumpkins.

Looking for more ideas? Check out Pinterest to get a bunch of easy and creative decor ideas.

This is where going the extra mile will really make your party a home-run. Have fun re-naming classic foods and drinks with spooky names like ‘eyeballs’ (grapes), ‘intestines' [caption id="attachment_4814" align="alignright" width="338"] One of our very own CrowdCompass employees made this meat head last year for our Halloween party[/caption] (spaghetti), and 'zombie fingers' (finger sandwiches). Or let your gory creativity run wild and construct a meat head like one of our CrowdCompass employees did last year. If you’re like me and not super creative though, check out these two posts to get some spooky food and drink inspiration. Also make sure to add candy to your Wunderlist to-dos, because what is Halloween without a little sugar rush?

Have any other ideas for a spook-tacular Halloween? Share them in the comments below! And if you're in the mood for some scares, check out one of our Halloween Horror Stories, if you dare!