How to Host a Halloween Party in a Flash
How to Organize a Halloween Party Fast
This Halloween Party took in an hour and a half to plan including shopping. Last year before I began blogging I found out in the morning that my two granddaughters were able to come up for a visit and were already on their way.
Not being able to see them on Halloween I took the time to throw together a party for them and thought I’d share how you can throw together a Halloween party really quickly.
Plan on being Fast
The distance from the girl’s house to mine is about two hours. Because time was very short I had to cut corners where ever I could. As I want to have everything done before the girls arrive so that I can just play and have fun with them.
First thing I had to do was run for supplies. Giving myself an hour and a half total to have their party ready. Budgeting an hour for shopping at the grocery store for food and the dollar store for decor, and half an to toss it all together.
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Step One -Shopping for the Halloween Party
Dollar Store – $20 Budget
There are a couple of dollar stores very near our home and for the most part, I know what they carry, including simple craft supplies, paper products, and really inexpensive seasonal decor stuff. I made a general list of what I wanted to find and ended up gathering the following items.
- Orange glitter glue
- Orange glitter
- Dollar store moss or something similar
- Halloween themed tablecloth
- 2 – Small Halloween buckets ( one for each little guest)
- Halloween plates and napkins
Grocery Store – $100 Budget
I set aside a larger budget for food, not so much for the little girls as us adults. I also figured on having everyone here for lunch and dinner.
Here is what was purchased for both lunch and dinner and I added real pumpkin for crafting.
- 2 – French loaves
- Assorted cold cuts
- Cream cheese
- 2 – Large olives or dill pickle
- Juice boxes, bandage tape, or masking tape (cheaper)
- Root beer
- Pumpkin for carving
- Premade veggie tray
- Premade pizzas
- Mozzarella cheese slices (not a brick)
- Halloween candy
Step Two – Getting Ready
Now that the shopping is done. I ran home and put it together as follows.
Set the table with the Halloween themed cloth, paper plates, napkins.
Wrap juice boxes in masking tape like a mummy, draw eyes, place in the fridge.
Place candies in Halloween buckets, set as table centerpieces.
How to Make a Sneaky Snake Sandwich
The lunch menu featured a sneaky snake sandwich. Start by cutting two french loaves in half lengthwise, Set two bread crusts aside.
Make the sandwich with whatever toppings you like.
Cut each loaf into 5 or six slices and angle them on a large board or plate into an “S” shape for the body.
To make the sneaky snake face roll two balls of cream cheese, use olives to make googly eyes and black olives for the eyeballs.
Using carrots, cheddar cheese, or red peppers cut out two long skinny triangles for the tongue.
Attach to the sandwich with toothpicks to make a face.
Caution: One of the little ones will inevitably want the face. They will require supervision with the toothpicks.
Turn on youtube and play Sneaky Snake.
Serve with a veggie tray, strawberries, and the juice boxes.
Fairy Pumpkin Activity
The girls always arrive at Grama’s house expecting to do a craft of some sort. Even before I started blogging I always kept a big box of craft paper, glue, felt, and stickers for them. Now, of course, I have more craft stuff than ever and the little ones remember that.
Fairy Pumpkin Craft Activity for Children
Cut out the side of the pumpkin like an extremely large window.
Apply glue and glitter to the sides of the pumpkin. My granddaughter who is 3 was able to do this. Sprinkle with more glitter.
Fill the inside and around with any type of natural elements. Go outside and gather twigs and make a fairy ladder if time permits.
Place fairies and table inside, or in our case, our little ones decided the “fairies” wanted to be outside on the counter.
Halloween Party Supper Idea
For dinner, start with two good quality large rectangular pizzas. Bake the pizzas as directed.
In the meantime cut the mozzarella cheese slices into ghost shapes.
When the pizza comes out of the oven, top with the slices. The hot pizza will melt the cheese a little bit allowing the shapes to stay ghostly.
Out of necessity corners had to be cut wherever I could, the pizzas weren’t homemade the decorations weren’t either, but we made some memories. The girls really loved the Sneaky Snake. Typically I am a complete planning nut, last minute anything makes me beyond anxious, but sometimes you just have to fly at it.
If you use this idea, I would love to hear from you.
Happy Halloween
Leanna
PIN IT FOR LATER
Hi Michelle: The girls really enjoyed it, Sneaky and I say Thanks!
Leanna-
This snake sandwich is adorable!
Great idea!
Thanks
Michelle
What a fantastic last-minute party idea! I used to do these type of parties with my girls. To this day, that’s what they remember…the memories of doing crafts and themed food. I am positive that your granddaughters will remember these moments too.
Hello Rosie:
Building memories is what its about for me. I figure now Grama is pretty darn kewl with her sparkles and glue. I love how simple and sweet our relationships are at this stage. Thank you for commenting lady. Leanna
How fun, I love the snake, it has a cute face. Your carved pumpkin is adorable with the little twig ladder, and the brooms, just too cute! And is that a little hanging plant on the right side at the front?
Hi Linda, That little leaf is from a flower arrangement I had in the house. The girls just did whatever they wanted. I shoved my hands into my pockets and let them do there own thing. Grama’s ideas were a “bit” fancier, but they loved their pumpkin fairy hut. Thank you for commenting.
You are the coolest Grama, EVAH! To put this entire party together in 1.5 hours is incredible! The food table looks amazing, and the snake is the coolest! I love the face on it, and you can fill it with your guests likes as far as sandwiches go! Great idea.
Never thought about using foods that you can buy, to make this process quick and easy, cheese sticks are brilliant!
What a fun Grama you are too! The pumpkin carving looks like hours of fun! I am pinning this, if I have a Halloween party I will come back to this!
Wow Nikki: I am so glad you found my idea useful. I really have a soft spot for this post, we had such a fun day. Grama was a hit for sure. Thank you for your comment lady, I appreciate it. Leanna
That snake….i mean I know everyone on here loves it! Such a cool idea!!
Thanks Sarah. For little children I like to have cutesy stuff that they can decide is scary. I appreciate the thumbs up.
Oh my goodness you did all this in such a short space of time – I am so impressed. The snake is a great idea, the boys would love that! The pumpkin looks fabulous – I am so impressed 🙂 x
Hi Yvonne: Thank you, I don’t typically shop and run like that, but a Grama’s gotta do what she had got to do. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and giving the party your thumbs up. Leanna
Sneaky, snake sandwich looks and sound awesome. OMG pumpkin house is really beautiful.
Hi Sadhna: The sandwich is really fast to put together. My grand daughter who is only four did the pumpkin. She happily sat with me at her elbow adding glue and glitter.
Thank you for commenting. Sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier.
Wow, that snake looks awesome and the little fairy pumpkin house is so adorable! I can only imagine how much fun your little girls had with their grandma! And how amazing that you were able to pull this all together in such a short time!
My little ones will count the sleeps until Grama’s house. We have a tradition so not wanting to ever disappoint them I needed to come up with something quickly. . I am soft hearted about this blog post, than you very much for commenting.
Oh wow! I love the sneaky snake sandwich! What an amazing and yummy idea! 😉 Pinning!
Hi Rebeca: Thank you, sneaky snake is really to easy to put together and the kids absolutely loved him. Thank you for commenting. Leanna
I am in love with the Fairy Pumpkin 🙂 What a lovely party
Hi Amber: The fairy pumpkin was really easy for the little ones to do on their own. They took it home with them and it lasted for a few days. Thank you very much for commenting. Because the girls are in this post Grama is really excited about it.
What a wonderful party! My niece loves fairy gardens and she would love this Halloween edition!
Hi Becky: Once the pumpkin was cut out, the little ones were able to do it themselves. I sat on my hands and let them make the choices. Thank you for commenting. Leanna
You are such a good Grama! Your adorable little grands are so lucky to have such an invested Grama to have fun with! Creating memories is what it’s all about! Love your sneaky snake sandwich idea and will remember this for when my little grandson is a little older.
Thanks Marie: Sneaky snake was fun alright. I decided to post this because it was quick to put together. Thank you for commenting.
Hi Michelle. Good eyes girl.. yes that is a tiny natural grass broom hung up on the wall. What can I say my three year old grand daughter has definite design choices. We laugh all the time that it’s in her genes lol. Thanks for commenting.
Lol, Leanna that sneaky snake sandwich is so cute, I’d probably also want the face 😉 and the pumpkin fairy house is just perfect. Is that a teeny little broom in the back? So, so cute.
Hi Mary: Unfortunately my little ones live a couple hours away, but fortunately they think Grama is pretty darn cool. This week I have been telling them draw and tell stories and sending them videos of it for bedtime. Its just want them to have good memories of Frama. Thanks again for commenting.
Oh my goodness Leanna, I am terrified of snakes but even I found this one charming. You are the best grandma ever! You really took good care of your little girls and they must love going to your house not only for the food but also because you entertain them and get them into crafting.