# What worked/ what didn't work this year



## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

I had a lot of cupcakes left too, only about a quarter of them got eaten. I had a lot of food left too. There were a lot of great costumes and people seemed to like the prizes. There wasn't a lot of mingling, work people talked to work people, neighbors to neighbors, etc. Did your people mingle, princess dark? My theme was Trick or Treat and people seemed to like the move Trick r Treat and the candy spread around.I had about about 32 people, 10 less than I was expecting. I'm thinking about what I can do next year but at the same time I'm real glad its a year away. I'm looking forward to relaxing on Halloween.


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## Lisaloo (Sep 27, 2011)

What went well:

We spent a lot more time preparing things beforehand this year and we actually had all lights/candles/props on and food served before guests began to arrive. I was about a half an hour late to my own party though due to a costume mishap. 

We didn't have a large amount of food leftover. Some deviled eggs, most of the skull cake and a few other random bits.

The decorations looked amazing.

The music was much more fitting for the type of party we have. Last year I ended up just having the Beetlejuice soundtrack playing on repeat since I neglected to think about music ahead of time.

The weather was beautiful. This is of course nothing we can control, but it was nice to have a clear, chilly evening to enjoy.

People liked the prizes, I think.

No kids this year. This was so great! I think it was the best decision I've made although I know I had at least 2 people who couldn't make it due to not having a sitter.


What didn't work:

My costume was a disaster. I had a friend volunteer to sew a dress for me. I think it was a rushed project though as I was only able to get her the fabric a week before and other than a pattern test, there was no fitting. When I went to try the dress on about 2 hours before the party, it didn't fit. I had to throw together a quick outfit at the very last minute and was about 30 minutes late getting to my own party. I hate that and wish I was able to greet each of my guests as they arrive.

The games were just o.k. I think we need to rework our Tempt your Fate game with some new and interesting bad fates. Everyone did love the prizes, but the bad fates were sort of boring, no one paid much attention. We tried the monster money game, and I think people liked that one o.k., there was a lot of money stealing and begging going on.

People sat too much. I think I'm going to provide fewer chairs at the next party so that people move around more.

My dog with the anxiety disorder pissed all over the hallway and front rug and in the office. Humorous but annoying. I couldn't shut the dogs away or else she would have destroyed anything and everything in the room. I thought that by going on a long walk earlier in the day, they would be tired and not too interested in the goings on in the living and dining rooms, but I was mistaken.

Fewer people than expected showed up. This always bums me out.

I will never in a million years buy any taper candles other than Northern Lights brand again. Every other brand I've tried drip terribly and I spend all night running around blowing them out and surveying wax damage.

Our scary movie trivia game DVD decided not to work. This was odd since the first copy we made worked just fine, but the final version refused to play the night of the party. 

I spent way, way, way too much money and time on this whole thing this year. I felt guilty thinking about it actually.

The chocolate fountain, which I've never used before, was pretty much a complete failure. I didn't get enough chocolate so it sort of just plopped out of the top instead of flowing nicely. Also, what a huge mess to clean up.


All in all, I had a pretty good time this year. I can't help but feel disappointed almost every year. I think that's because I start planning and preparing for it months in advance and invest too much time and money executing my final vision. This year was a little worse for that than past years since I wasn't working and had gobs of time to sit and think about what else I could do or make or buy. I think I will be taking next year off. I still plan on having my friends over, but no games or prizes or anything like that. Just my decorated house and a potluck. Perhaps some movies or a poker game or something casual.


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## princessdark (Jul 17, 2007)

Dbruner: I did have people mingle, what helped was having food in different areas of the room. I do have some friends who really arent' into meeting new people like some of my new friends but what can you do? I tried to get everyone to get to know each other but there's only so much you can do! We are looking forward to relaxing on halloween and going to someone else's party this weekend for a change! that was why we had it a weekend early. 
Lisaloo- sorry to hear about your costume mishaps! I tried to start getting ready 2 hours early and had enough time this year. Usually it is a scramble to get myself ready. One thing that worked well for me? I only had one real candle that was in a small cup holder that couldn't leak. I used ALL LED candles this year, a little more expensive but I even found some for a $1 at Target! No more scraping up wax for me! what a drag that is!
I like the idea of something more casual like you said, with prizes, food, decorations, costumes it all adds up! we probably spent at least $800 this year, no joke! we always say "we won't need to spend as much" but we always do. It takes on a life of its own.


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## princessdark (Jul 17, 2007)

here's some pictures


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## princessdark (Jul 17, 2007)

That's me with the crazy eyes and contacts, I was a zombie princess!


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## Lisaloo (Sep 27, 2011)

Great pics, princess! Love all your decor. Is that a Velma I see in the second to last pic? We had a Velma this year too!


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## SpookyMag (Sep 29, 2012)

what worked

-decorations
-meat head skull
-severed head gingerbread men (decorated with blood and gore) with blood dip
-white chocolate dipped strawberries to look like ghosts
-amazingly because of the rain we had to set up the motion sensor items down the hallway to the bathroom - this went over really well and people were screaming all night especially from the jumping spider
- the unknown prize auction was a hit everyone loved bidding their monster bucks on what could be good
- serving zombies for drinks went over well
-the costume contest went well
- the winking murderer game went well
- the apple caramel dip I made was a huge hit
- the candy guess went well

what didnt work

the weather - it rained off and on causing a bunch of problems 1. I was set up for the bar and dinner foods outside 2. music was out side 3. less people came because of the weather 4. no pictures of the great outdoor decor

the fate game - although it was popular I used screaming as a signal to take a card so part way between the night people were grabbing cards and saying they heard someone scream - I need better controls next year

the kill count guess game I made up - people liked it but no one had a clue how many people each movie had dead

the it came from what movie game - matching my decor to the movies that inspired it - no one wanted to go outside to look for stuff

the food trays I bought made - hardly touched

apple cider drink - no luck with that

too much food altogether 

forgot to bring out chips and stuff cause they were in my tiki bar outside -


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## Windborn (Oct 10, 2011)

It's interesting how some things work well at some parties but not at others!

Fate game - flopped big time; only had about 4 pulled all night despite there being instant prizes and the fact that each fate had a coin value for the treasure game
Cupcakes - no one ate them; just admired how cool they looked
Spiced Apple Cider - HUGE hit - even without the brandy sitting next to it for spiking! there was some serious discussion over who was going to get the last cup and the apple slices that had been in there all day!
Beef jerky (dried mummy bits!) - another hit - it was homemade and gone by night end


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## tgoodman (Sep 25, 2009)

Worked well:

1. Sugar cookies - My sister makes the best and decorates them in a Halloween theme. Always the first to go.
2. Photo scavenger hunt - It's a good way to get people moving about and give them something to do instead of standing around looking awkward, especially if initiated at the beginning of a party when there aren't that many people there yet.
3. Photo slide show of past Halloween parties on the big screen all night - People loved sitting for a few minutes throughout the night and looking at the old photos.
4. Minute-to-Win-It challenges for Tempt Your Fate - adds a new flair to the game and the absolute best one from the night and LAST year's party as well is the Pedometer challenge, where you strap a pedometer to a person's head with a headband and they have to register at least 125 clicks by shaking their head within 60 seconds. Trust me... this one is hysterical, especially after some alcohol! Both years we've made someone do it, it has been the hit of the night.

Didn't work:
1. Who Am I game - the stickers wouldn't stick to people's clothing so we abandoned the game and upped the number of possible winners on other games to dole out the prizes that were scheduled for that game.
2. Pretzels - nobody eats them.


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## jenscats5 (Oct 16, 2010)

I did well with food this year, tho I made too much (which I always will - no getting around that!)....the food was well received and while I have leftovers, I don't have so much that I can't do anything with it. I did manage to send some home with people. I did spend most of my night at the stove, so I'd like next year to maybe have more food in crock pots or served room temp. 

Definitely didn't need that 2nd huge bag of ice!!!!!!! And my Royal Icing Spider Web cookies didn't work AT ALL!! So lesson learned - don't try something new for a party.....while everyone liked them, IMO they looked horrible!


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

I have those same "toxic" wine glasses. Great pics!


princessdark said:


> That's me with the crazy eyes and contacts, I was a zombie princess!


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

The photo slide show of past parties is a great idea! I leave photos out, but I don't know if anyone looks at them. does no one eat cupcakes anymore?


tgoodman said:


> Worked well:
> 
> 1. Sugar cookies - My sister makes the best and decorates them in a Halloween theme. Always the first to go.
> 2. Photo scavenger hunt - It's a good way to get people moving about and give them something to do instead of standing around looking awkward, especially if initiated at the beginning of a party when there aren't that many people there yet.
> ...


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## crazy4oct31 (Sep 23, 2012)

Our party was a huge success. I'm feeling rather blue, though as I spent so much time & effort on the decorations & planning, and now it's over. So many positive comments, though, have me inspired to do it all again next year. 

What worked:
-My 'theme room' this year was a mad scientist lab, and everyone loved it. It was lit by black light & all the specimen jars, the test tubes & the beakers & containers glowed (highlighter juice & water) I had a couple fish tank pumps going to make bubbles, which was a great effect. 
-After figuring out a shooter with tonic (which glows in black light) I was surprised to see that the actual plastic test tubes & had picked up at the dollar store glowed on their own, so just used straight liqueur in them. A big hit.
-My husband rigged up a floating ghost on the upstairs landing, which could be seen from the main floor. Very cool.
-The food was a real hit, but I made too much of it - and lots of people brought as well. We had leftovers for supper tonight & will again tomorrow.
-Our costumes (Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein) were cheap (thrift store) but effective.
-My plate of witch fingers (pretzel rods dipped in green melting candy with an almond fingernail) were untouched, while my plate of

What didn't work
-I forgot to make labels for the food. It was still a hit, but it's just more fun if they have scary or gross names.
-I had printed & framed about 25 old creepy pictures and had them placed around the house. But since I use only candles for lighting, they were hard to see.
-The creepy contents of my bubbling witches cauldron were hard to see. I put glow sticks in it to light up the 'brew' but they didn't light up much other than themselves. 

Now I have almost a whole year to figure out a new theme room!


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## yummum29 (Oct 22, 2008)

Windborn, would love your spiced apple cider recipe  ??


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## HauntedHorror (Aug 8, 2006)

princessdark said:


> The decorations looked great, the zombies in the window were cool


Hey can you describe this or do you have a photo? I am still trying to come up with some decor ideas for one room if my house and I am thinking possibly zombies but am having trouble thinking of good decoration ideas (especially since another room is cannibals and I don't want to overlap too much...)


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## 13ghosts (Aug 16, 2008)

jenscats5 said:


> I did well with food this year, tho I made too much (which I always will - no getting around that!)....the food was well received and while I have leftovers, I don't have so much that I can't do anything with it. I did manage to send some home with people. I did spend most of my night at the stove, so I'd like next year to maybe have more food in crock pots or served room temp.
> 
> Definitely didn't need that 2nd huge bag of ice!!!!!!! And my Royal Icing Spider Web cookies didn't work AT ALL!! So lesson learned - don't try something new for a party.....while everyone liked them, IMO they looked horrible!


I love decorating cookies with royal icing, it's not so hard once you get the hang of it, if you look up sweetopia, she has some great tutorials on that technique, I think she shows it on Xmas cookies. You have plenty of time to perfect it by next year. 

Most of the time cupcakes and cake go untouched at our parties, but when I wake up hungover and worn out the next day, I'm so happy to see those untouched cupcakes, they go great with my coffee in the morning


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## jenscats5 (Oct 16, 2010)

13ghosts said:


> I love decorating cookies with royal icing, it's not so hard once you get the hang of it, if you look up sweetopia, she has some great tutorials on that technique, I think she shows it on Xmas cookies. You have plenty of time to perfect it by next year.
> 
> Most of the time cupcakes and cake go untouched at our parties, but when I wake up hungover and worn out the next day, I'm so happy to see those untouched cupcakes, they go great with my coffee in the morning


My issue is that I didn't let the RI dry enough before I stacked them or it was just humid enough that they stuck together. Also, I waited till the white fill dried before I did the black spider webbing - the directions said to fill with white then directly do the black spider webbing but I didn't fully read that part of the directions I guess!!! LOL

Otherwise it wasn't hard to do but black RI sure does make a mess!!


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## nathancarter (Aug 7, 2012)

What worked:
- The money game. The game pretty much play itself, so you don't have to break up the party to run the game (except for awarding prizes). We're fortunate to have some friends who are pretty shameless when it comes to getting the party going, so they got the flow of money started.
- The auction. We had a bunch of random prizes (themed and non-themed) that we auctioned off later in the evening after there was plenty of time for money to change hands.
- Most of the food! We had bought a little bit of catered food from a family friend's restaurant: pulled people sandwiches (actually pork, with probably less than the federal allowable percentage of human meat); soylent green beans (baked beans), sausage, slaw. Next year we need a little more sausage (it went FAST) and a little less pork.
- The bar. We had a nicely arranged bar area, printed cards for themed drinks, and we paid people in game money to work the bar. However, we ran out of some of the key ingredients for some of the themed drink recipes from the cards (Kahlua and one of the flavored vodkas).
- Smoking area outside. I know some of my friends like to just sit and have a cigar or cigarette, so we set up a little area on the side of the back porch with lighters, ashtrays, and a bunch of random inexpensive flavored cigars and cigarillos.
- Music and slideshow. My wife set up a nice playlist of themed music, a slideshow of themed photos from past parties and Halloween artwork to play on the TV. However, it took a bit of finagling to keep it running, she had to run to the other room to reset it a couple of times.
- Rearranging the furniture. We shoved everything out of the way and moved furniture to other rooms, to make a nice open area for mingling and dancing and partying. We turned the couch around so it was in front of the entertainment center facing out.
- Photos. I'm a professional photographer, so I set up some lights in the back porch and took guest photos, and printed them inside. Guests loved 'em.
- The weather cooperated beautifully.


What needs improvement:
- Music piped to the back porch and outdoor area. This was requested a couple of times and we didn't have an easy way to do it.
- Brain-shaped panna cotta. Delicious, looked fantastic, but just didn't get eaten. Got many compliments from the people who tried it. I wouldn't mind, but the ingredients were kinda expensive. Next year we'll just do wormy jello in the brain mold, I think.
- Cupcakes and coffin brownies - way too many. We didn't realize how huge and filling the brownies would be. Lots of leftovers.
- More sausage, less pulled pork.
- Photos. While I had a lot of fun taking and printing photos, I definitely need to automate my photo booth next year. It was just too time-consuming and took away from my hosting and enjoyment, plus by the end of the night I was in no condition to operate the camera and lights and laptop and printer 
- Set up time! I should NOT have left my boss talk me into taking one fewer day off to prep for the party. I took Thursday and Friday off for the party on Saturday, but I really needed that Wednesday as well. One of the bathrooms was almost entirely un-decorated; I just resorted to popping in black light bulbs and scrawling on the mirror with lipstick. My fog machine went completely unused, I didn't have time to prep it or finish the fog chiller. And, worst of all I had a mountain of dirty dishes when my first guests arrived  

Still, it was a blast and every guest had fun. And almost nothing in the house was lost, damaged, or broken! We had 41 guests this year, up from 20 the year before and about 10 the year before that.

Might do a theme next year? I'm leaning towards a post-apocalypse-wasteland theme.




crazy4oct31 said:


> Our party was a huge success. I'm feeling rather blue, though as I spent so much time & effort on the decorations & planning, and now it's over. So many positive comments, though, have me inspired to do it all again next year.


Agreed! Our party was on the 13th, and it's not even really Halloween yet, but the season really feels OVER for me after this past weekend.


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## Ghouliet (Nov 5, 2010)

Love seeing the pictures. My party is tomorrow night. I have a driveway Halloween Bash. I set up long tables in my driveway and the food is up at the garage area. I also have a fire pit and seating arranged around it. 

This year's menu will be pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, coleslaw, pork n beans, salad. brownies, chocolate cupcakes and spice cake cupcakes.

Tomorrow, I just sweep and set up tables, fire-pit and heat up some of the food. I so enjoy it when all my neighbors stop by.


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Crazy4Oct31, OK you have me hanging for the rest of the comment....."-My plate of witch fingers (pretzel rods dipped in green melting candy with an almond fingernail) were untouched, while my plate of......."

I haven't organized a party in a long time. Everyones comments make for interesting reading. Sounds like some fun times were had. I like the driveway party idea. I always love it when the parent who take their kids ToTing comes all the way up to the house to see us and say hi so that sounds like a nice idea. There's something wonderful about having a nice relaxing neighborhood get together.


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## GodOfThunder (Aug 26, 2011)

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:

* Punch. Dammit, I'm done with making punch. This is the second year in a row that our punchbowl (a nice one last year and el cheapo one this year) was broken. Accidents in both instances, but the stuff went EVERYWHERE. Not doing it again, or if I do, it'll be outside. The stuff gets drunk though.
* Tempt Your Fate: had to call an audible and use a cauldron to pull the slips of paper out due to the "global helium shortage" and therefore couldn't put them in balloons like last year. Kind of a bummer too, since I arranged the balloons all about the lower level of the house to get people to circulate.
* Fog machines: too windy here. Had a great cold snap which was a welcome relief, but really windy so didn't even put them out. Will try for Halloween tomorrow night.
* Beer: well, to clarify, BEER ALWAYS WORKS, haha, but for some inexplicable reason, still had guests bring their own. So I'm awash in tons of leftover beer. A good problem to have, but I told guests to not bring beer, but if they insisted on brigning anything, grab a bottle of wine. 

WHAT DID WORK:

* Movie time: Since I was Ash from Army of Darkness, I set up a projector and a white sheet on the garage and put my computer speakers out there and played Army of Darkness on a loop. It was a BIG hit and people loved it. 
* Lights/decorations: probably the easiest time I've had any of the 3 years we've thrown the party. Lighting was spectacular. 
* Games: both the Winking Murderer and Tempt Fate went well, although I had a ton of fates left at the end of the night. 
* Guests: had only 1 couple no-show. Had a few drop-ins, which was fine. Great crew and was elated to not have any late cancels.
* Food: kept it utterly simple. We've always had too much damn food, so this was a welcome change to not be drowning in food.


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## deadhouseplant (Aug 10, 2011)

What worked:
- Gluten-free coffin brownies went over well, much better than cupcakes last year
- Veggie tray always goes over well
- Prizes seemed well received (mini alcohol bottles, full size candy bars and loto tickets)
- Happy with how my costume turned out (marionette doll)
- The guess who you are, name stuck to back game seemed to go well, I spent the longest time not knowing I was the Grim Reaper (and I made the cards)
- Almost everyone put on some kind of a costume 

What didn't work:
- Not very many guests, a few showed up way later then normal and missed the first game
- People can't handle RSVP-ing
- Charades was fun but the cards were too easy for the people playing, needs to be much harder
- I feel like after so many years people are losing interest in the winking murder game, even with new deaths
- I bought the wrong kind of hot dogs so some guests couldn't eat them
- My friend manged to break our oven on accident
- Not enough time to do all the decorating I wanted, as usual
- Some how managed to chip one of my teeth on a caramel apple (???)


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## GodOfThunder (Aug 26, 2011)

deadhouseplant said:


> What worked:
> - Prizes seemed well received (mini alcohol bottles, full size candy bars and loto tickets)
> 
> I agree on this. People were totally pumped about the Jack Daniels minis, haha. Lottery scratchers are a continued brilliant idea and a game unto themselves....
> ...


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## Houston Haunter (Apr 26, 2011)

What was a hit:

meatballs and gumbo were big hits as were the bone bread and witches broom cheese bread. 
The mummy dogs always a hit with the kids
witches fingers and gingerbread skeletons were loved
the carmel apple bites were the big winners again
everyone raved on the graveyard decor
guests brought their costumes up a notch as they were vying for the big grand prize...a homemade halloween quilt made by my wife.

What didn't work:

cupcakes uneaten
spider eggs and web not as popular this year. wife thought it might have been that she used a more oily basil pesto used.
chocalate dipped oreo skulls way too sweet with all that chocolate, but looked cool
ran out of cups due to kids getting a new one every time they got a drink
lightning simulator broke
way too much food!!!
no party games

I need to expand my guest list to more who will actually come, so its not just my extended family and a few neighbors


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## ThAnswr (Dec 17, 2008)

I made a swampy looking punch which was a mixture of green berry Hawaiian Punch and pineapple juice. A big hit. 

I served caramel apple jello shots which was another big hit. 

The "toe-tag" game was a hit as people came up with imaginative ways to earn a toe tag. 

For the first time, I didn't have a hot buffet. Ciabatta rolls and a large tray of cold cuts were a hit along with assorted dips/crackers/chips/etc. I could have eliminated the potato salad. 

I made a delicious sangria, but since many guests brought their own wine, it went almost untouched. 

All in all, our party exceeded my wildest expectations. Too much food as usual, but the fun and energy was over the top. 

Btw, did I mention, other than the kids, all my guest were over 50 with many over 60. We "geezers" showed the kids how to party.


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## krnlmustrd (Oct 14, 2010)

This was the second year I made little mice desserts out of hershey's kisses, melted chocolate coverered cherries and almond slivers. I don't know why, but they're the only the dessert that always disappears - and boy do they go quick. Everybody loves them. 










And they're super fast and easy to make. And I use the extra chocolate to cover strawberries which are also a hit. (They're also so easy to make, but cost so much in stores!) Here's one recipe I found online for the mice: http://spoonful.com/recipes/chocolate-cherry-mice


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## Nepboard (Sep 21, 2009)

The weather didn't!!


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## creepymagic (Apr 16, 2012)

Our Halloween party for kids results

Halloween Cake Worked, once we cut it in front of everyone
Halloween Crafts worked (we had the crafts out for anyone to do whenever they wanted)
Helium Tank with black balloons worked, kids enjoyed watching them being blown up
Projector effects were a big hit as were animated decorations

Halloween pumpkin carving did not (like the crafts we had pumpkins and those kids carving tools but no one wanted to go through the hassle)
Cupcakes were not eaten, only admired
Devil Eggs made up to look like eye balls were not eaten, only admired


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## AthenaHM (Oct 27, 2011)

It feels like the really cool-looking foods always go untouched, because people just don't want to mess them up, I suppose. ThAnswr, can you explain the Toe Tag game? I have not heard of that one.

This year, Almost all of our food was gone, except for some of the high-blood alcohol(boozy strawberry) trifle, which was fabulous for brunch the next day, lol. I did mini meat pies(Mrs. Lovett's), mini pumpkin pies, french chocolate cream puffs, and non-alcoholic hot cider(mott's natural apple juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, in a crockpot for the pregnant folks and DD's. We had a full bar, plus everybody brought a ridiculous amount of beer, so we never ran out in that department. I had specified on the invite that no one was to bring food, only alcohol to share, and boy, did they ever! Going to have to throw a New Year's Party to get rid of it before we move in January!

The winking murder game did not go over so well, so next year, I think we will go back to Tempt Your Fate in balloons, and earning halloween cash for prizes. That was a HUGE hit last year. 

I think the smartest thing I did was buy 12x9 dropcloths and cover up my furniture with them. Made the living room look haunted, and also saved my furniture. I also used cheap black vinyl table clothes to cover up my TV and printer, made the room feel super creepy, and again saved my equipment. 

We just used my husband's desktop to play my Halloween youtube playlist on a loop, I think I had 70 songs on it, and it played multiple times. It worked out great. 

My dogs were the real stars of the show. Everybody loves to pet the big, friendly pups. We had over 50 people, so they wore my poor babies out.

I love the idea of playing a slideshow of photos from previous years past. Definitely going to incorporate that in next year. I am also planning on changing out all of the lights for red bulbs, that is a really cheap and easy effect that goes a LONG way  I took 3 days to get ready this year, and it all went nice and smooth. I did spend all night baking the night before, so next year, I am going to go foods with not as much prep-time. This year was Victorian Haunted House, and next year, we are doing a classic movie monster theme. I think that one is way easier to do for foods to go with it.


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## HalloweenNJ (Oct 21, 2011)

*What Worked*

-	8th year 35+ people
-	Photo Both always a hit as the party gets going
-	The food was simple and almost all gone
-	Indoor decorations
-	Out decorations scraped because of Sandy, but the projection on the front of the house worked out great even had the neighbors slamming on the breaks.
-	Flip cup, Beer pong, got everyone going
-	TV’s showing slideshows of past years parties

*What did not work*

-	Having the fireplace on outside split the party up (too much space)
-	Music , need something better then the radio on
-	Games, Temp your fate, Secret word, Close pin tag. All worked but need a makeover
-	Seating, Lounge set up with inflatable couches took up too much space ( 2013 remake coffin bar tables & seats, the 5th time has to be the charm)
-	Think drinking games may need some refreshing
-	More beer more Vodka, both all gone by end of party


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## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

Here's a link to our CarnEVIL themed party http://www.halloweenforum.com/members/pumpkinpie-albums-carnevil.html

What worked:
Decorations were a HUGE hit.

Games were a HUGE hit. We played Tempt your Fate Balloon Darts (fates were shots alcohol, lemon juice, vinegar, pickle juice,etc), Dead Ringer and a ball toss game.

Food was the biggest success...corn dogs, funnel cakes, popcorn, lemonade, snow cones and cotton candy...but as you can imagine we worked our tails off.

What didn't work:

We had around 80 people show up (way more than expected) and due to rain we had to have the party inside...so it was a very tight fit.

Weather...I spent tons of hours making props for outside and wasn't able to use them because of rain and not enough space inside.

Cost...we spent $100 for rentals (popcorn machine, snow cone machine and cotton candy) it was fun and everyone loved it but we could have gotten by with less (cotton candy was fun but everyone flocked to the popcorn).

Time management...hubby worked that day and all my helpers were no shows, so I had to do everything up till the last minute meaning little time for makeup. Then we were so busy cooking food we had very little time to socialize.

All in all it was a great time and a huge success. We are still hearing our praises, hopefully this years party goes just as well (though I am planning for a smaller crowd  ).


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## ThAnswr (Dec 17, 2008)

AthenaHM said:


> ThAnswr, can you explain the Toe Tag game? I have not heard of that one.


Oops, just saw this one. Basically the toe tag game is a variation of the money game. Every guest gets a certain number of toe tags. I gave out 6 each. The object of the game is to end up with the most toe tags at the end of a certain amount of time. I set it at 2 hours. To gain toe tags, you can persuade someone to give you a toe tag. You can offer to do something, such as get the person a drink or food, for a toe tag. You can offer to give someone a toe tag in exchange for something. And so on.

The prize this year was a $10 gift card to Starbucks. It's a harmless and fun game.


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