Halloween is my favorite time of the year and I don’t know if it’s because the weather has cooled off and I can pull out all the scarves and boots again, if it’s because all of the trees are bursting with gorgeous colors, or if it’s because some of my favorite movies are on. I’m sure that there are a million reasons why I love it so much.

I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t love it too.

Halloween has a long and sordid history for sure but I think that is what makes it so intriguing to me. Ghost, spirits of long past family members coming back to roam the earth for one night, dressing up to confuse them, and of course jack o’ lanterns meant to frighten off unwanted spirits.

Happy Halloween (Photo credit: Professor Bop)

But what makes the Halloween so much fun is the Halloween parties for kids and adults. This year I think that we’ll be hosting a Halloween party for a dozen or so tweens & teens! If you don’t hear from me after next weekend please send help….

When I was a teen I had a huge Halloween party and everyone dressed up. We converted my parents garage/pole barn into the party area and set up tables and chairs so we could all hang out. Of course there was lots of loud music, snacks, and fun. You know…. the typical teen type party and I was honestly surprised that my parents went for the idea.

Since Halloween only comes round once a year, it’s worth making the most of it. When wondering how to host a grown-up Halloween party, the first thing to start with is the food. It can be the life and soul of any party, so having a few spooky snacks and hors d’oeuvres, like spicy roasted pumpkin seeds, could get everyone talking. Pumpkin soup would make a great starter, and it’s in season!

Also, it might be worth doing some nachos for sharing. They might not seem like the most ‘festive’ thing to serve at a Halloween party, but you could make them so spicy that people are scared to take more than a single bite! Also, nachos are always kid approved around here.

When it comes to drinks, why not get creative with some Halloween themed cocktails? There are some great recipes out there, such as the Sour Ghost which is super easy to make and will certainly haunt your guests taste buds.

Maybe we’ll skip the kid party this weekend and throw an all out Halloween party for the grown ups!

No adult Halloween party should be complete without a theme, but just dressing up as ghosts and witches won’t be exciting enough. You could use it as an excuse to follow a theme with which you could use as inspiration for costumes, music, food and games. An 80’s theme would be great, where you could dress up like the cast of Dallas or The A-Team!

To try and keep the fun going, why not have a few games? Rather than something as childish as ‘Truth or Dare’, perhaps you could have a few drinking games involving scary cocktails. A good game to play is ‘Guess Who’. Like the board game of the same name, you guess who they are, but the answers could be characters from Halloween movies. All you need are a few post-it notes and a pen.

Psstt…. This was a PR collaboration but all thoughts, opinion are my own.