Last Minute Halloween Party Ideas

I love planning elaborate parties but sometimes I just don’t have the time to do so. This season has been a perfect example with football, work, personal events and travel taking up so much of my time. I wanted to have a little Halloween party for the kids and decided it was just going to be a low key event this year. A couple weekends ago, in between Jacob’s noon football game and the boy’s Awana program at night, I ran to the store and and bought everything we needed and then hosted a spooktacular, kid-friendly party on a budget. A huge thanks to Meijer for making all of this possible.

The first thing I typically do for parties is dress my kids up for the theme so when I came across these Halloween shirts I just had to get each of the kids one. I love the designs that Meijer had this year. How cute is that little owl my niece is wearing?!

For the decorations I put a Halloween tablecloth down, added some pumpkin plates and napkins, a pumpkin bowl and orange dishes for the snacks. Instead of buying themed cups I figured it would be cheaper and provide an extra activity for the kids if I had them decorate their own cups. I bought clear plastic cups and a $1 sticker book and let the kids personalize their cups.

After decorating the cups we played a couple indoor games. The favorite one was pin the mouth on the skeleton. Even my mom got in on the fun! I found this game in the Halloween aisles and it was easy to grab and setup quickly.

 

We did a couple other activities, including playing with the jumping spider party favors I’d bought and decorating wooden Halloween pieces with markers and glitter to take home. These kept the kids busy while we were heating up dinner.

The kids worked up an appetite after all that fun so it was time for dinner. I kept it simple with fried chicken from the deli, baked beans, potato salad and carrots (to keep with the orange theme). After dinner it was dessert. We had pumpkin shaped cookies, candy corn and gummy worms.

Once we ate it was time to get dressed up in our Halloween costumes. Meijer had sent us some costumes for the kids to wear at the party. The kids liked getting dressed up.

After the kids were in their costumes we went outside and played ring toss with witches hats. The kids liked this game a lot and it was nice to get outside a bit to burn off the sugar rush from dessert. I wrote a post last week about fun Halloween games if you are looking for more ideas.

When we came inside it was time to start wrapping up the party and getting ready to head to Awana. I pulled out the bowl full of candy and let each child fill up a goody bag with treats. They each got a noisemaker and the spider toy to take home, too.

Overall, this party was so easy to put together. It only took me about an hour to prepare for and setup (and that included shopping time!). The kids all had a great time and I loved knowing that no matter how busy I am, I could provide an afternoon of Halloween fun for them. Seriously, look at how much these kids enjoyed this party…doesn’t it make you want to throw one of your own??

If you loved this party please pin it! :)

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