# How long does your Halloween party normally last?



## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

A lot of our guests have kids so they tend to leave pretty early - 9:30 pm. Party starts at 7 pm. I always have the problem of getting the remainder of the guests to stay past 11 pm. It gets a lot quieter after the kids leave even though I have the music on and I have a couple of games (mostly quiz type). I hired a magician (specializes in parlor magic closeup) from 10:00 pm- 11:15 pm in an effort to get people to stay. Do you think I should mention it before the party (as special guest to appear at 10 pm) or on the day?


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

I know the feeling. Seems like once the first one goes....the rest start trickling away. I try to postpone the first one leaving too soon by how I have the evening planned. From 8-9 the guests arrive. Around 9-9:30 we do the game. Winners of the game get to go first with the buffet. Buffet is usually from around 10ish till 11ish. Then we had out the ballots for the costume awards. Turn on the dance music and have them strut their stuff to show off their costumes...then voting, tallying, award presentation, acceptance speeches lol That brings us usually to around the witching hour. The music stays on....some people stay inside to dance and get crazy and others go out under the tent to drink and chat. Then we always have a few that you CANT get rid of lol Last year I think it was 3;30 am when the last one left. But we don't have kids at the party so its a different situation than yours. 

I don't know how many people you have at your party or how much room you have but back when my kids were young and we went out to parties with them....mostly parties from friends or family....there was always a room where the kids could crash till the end of the evening. 

MsM


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Our party is adult only, so I'm not much help in your case. But here's the details:

8:30 until the last person leaves. (Last year was 3:30 am. I can tell we're getting older, the first year the sun was coming up.....ugh!)

Costume contest @ 10 pm. Food available until it's gone.

Attendance: Varies. 60-70

I can't take much credit for keeping them there......we're kind of a party crowd once we get together.


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## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

That's another thing I have a hard time with - getting people to dance. It's not that I don't have the music - maybe people are just shy about it. The dance area is in a room lit by blacklight so you would think that they wouldn't feel as shy. 

I have a few guests who put their kids to bed in one of our bedrooms so they stay longer, but most do not.


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Usually once 1 or 2 start to dance the rest will follow. Jello shots don't hurt either. 

Get your dancin shoes on Colmmoo!


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## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

I guess I'll start practicing my Time Warp tonight! LOL! : )


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

We start at 8:30pm since we do ours on a Friday night.

Some show up before the party starts, some show up on time, but most show up LATE. I'm talking an hour to 2 hours late.

Some leave early, like after an hour or two to hit other parties or crawl bars. 

Since people have left by the time others arrive, so we never have the full crowd around at once. We may have 50 people, but all the photos look like it's only about 20-25. 

And of course we have good friends that will stay till 3am talking and having fun. The problem is that number here is only about 6 people. 

It's one of the reasons I am ready to leave this town, I miss being around tons of people our age.


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## halloweengoddessrn (Nov 18, 2006)

7p to 11pm...but I have kicked kids out at midnight beofre


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## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

wilbret said:


> We start at 8:30pm since we do ours on a Friday night.
> 
> Some show up before the party starts, some show up on time, but most show up LATE. I'm talking an hour to 2 hours late.
> 
> ...


How do you keep the food warm until 10:30 pm? I use chafing dishes and chafing aluminum trays but they don't work as well as the ones I see in restaurants that serve buffets


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

I keep it simple. Only one hot item. 10 lbs of meatballs in a large roaster. The rest is dips, cheese & crackers & such.


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## halloweengoddessrn (Nov 18, 2006)

colmmoo said:


> How do you keep the food warm until 10:30 pm? I use chafing dishes and chafing aluminum trays but they don't work as well as the ones I see in restaurants that serve buffets



I hired 2 college kids to keep food going, preparing warm food on a regular basis and to do clean up- that way I get to enjoy my party adn guests and the food/drinks are taking care of- money well spent in my book!


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## colmmoo (Jul 23, 2005)

halloweengoddessrn said:


> I hired 2 college kids to keep food going, preparing warm food on a regular basis and to do clean up- that way I get to enjoy my party adn guests and the food/drinks are taking care of- money well spent in my book!


What's the going rate for college kids? I would love to hire a 21 year old to man the bar too. : )


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## Haunted Dogs (Jun 15, 2007)

I think some of it has to do with the age of the crowd. We've gotten past the point in our lives where all of our friends have little kids. Now our kids are inviting THEIR friends so we have two generations at the party! That really livens things up a bit. Our has been typically breaking up around 2:30am. Last year I had to kick out a few of the stragglers, they'd probably still be there if I hadn't!

I know that when our kids were young, it was just too hard to stay up all night and then be alive enough to deal with them the next day. But that was us. 

Oh, and I agree about the jello shooters. They work wonders.


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Haahaaa keep the food warm! Usually by that time, no one is noticing the temperature of the food! Once or twice I've had to warm stuff up for late comers just getting off work... but the rest have usually been partying already and will eat just about whatever is around. I tend to do like Jackielantern, lots of foods that won't go nasty if you leave them out for a few hours...then you just replenish the dishes throughout the evening.

Our group has kids, and those folks usually leave by 10 or so....but the older folks....like I mean 70+ tend to stay LATE enough to make me ashamed to be tired! Not to mention, I had NEVER thought about having dancing at my parties when a group of older gals just started it up. The music was cheesy (I think they started to "The Monster Mash") then it just snowballed from there. I was amazed. I'm thinking it must be a comfort thing.....make your guests feel comfortable (yes, jello shooters and etc help...) and they will make your party memorable


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## halloweengoddessrn (Nov 18, 2006)

colmmoo said:


> What's the going rate for college kids? I would love to hire a 21 year old to man the bar too. : )


I personally pay them $100 each for the night- but they work their butts off the whole time...I figure they are in college so they need the bucks- Im sure you could pay less and find someone too!


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## Long_Tom (Oct 26, 2005)

We are having ours in two shifts this year. Early shift starts at 3pm for the kiddies --for one thing, more opportunity for kid supervision during pumpkin carving, without slighting the adult guests. Hopefully the kids are pretty much finished up by 6 or so when the adult monsters start arriving. They can stay as late as they like, and feel like they got a full party even if they have to go home for bed by 8 or 9. Those without kids can stay with no curfew whatsoever.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

colmmoo said:


> That's another thing I have a hard time with - getting people to dance. It's not that I don't have the music - maybe people are just shy about it. The dance area is in a room lit by blacklight so you would think that they wouldn't feel as shy.
> 
> I have a few guests who put their kids to bed in one of our bedrooms so they stay longer, but most do not.


The costume contest gets the dancing started at our parties. Without it, I don't think my guests would dance either lol In order to be judged for the costume contest, they have to strut their stuff doing the stroll. Of course I had to explain to them what the stroll was first haha And go down the stroll line first as an example but they caught on quickly and really got into and even stayed in character. 

MsM


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Good point Great Ghoul! Feeling comfortable is the biggest part of letting yourself go to have fun & be silly!

Our seasoned guests know that they can be goofy & won't be laughed at....just the opposite...they get cheered on. The newbies learn this soon enough & join in the fun.

We have a stage with fake guitars & fake microphones - people are up there all night pretending to be rock stars.  Pretty hilarious for a group of 30 & 40 somethings!


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## dustee (Oct 25, 2005)

Our party is for kids as well as adults...they arrive at 6:00 pm for dinner and dont usually leave until 1:00 am....the kids usually dont want to leave....

Laurie


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## AngelEye (Oct 10, 2007)

Our party is adult only, so no kids are factored in. We started at 8pm last year but everyone except for a few close friends showed up at around 9ish. This year we are testing the waters at 7pm and maybe they will show around 8ish? Hope it doesn't backfire. This is the first year we are having a costume contest. Last year though the majority of folks stayed until about 2am. Our closer friends stayed later for some scary movie watching. 

We have about 11 arcade games in our gameroom so that does help to keep the peeps occupied for long stints. And even before we aquired that gem of a setup, we have never had a problem getting people to stay or leave. Provide enough alcohol, food, and rockin' music.. they will stay for quite a while. 

We try to have enough entertainment so that everyone feels they have something to do. We have arcade games going, music playing, drinks being formulated, and this year we will be having streaming horror scenes ripped from DVDs playing on the TV with a creepy aged film filter on them. It is sure to be a hit!


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## gennifyr (Aug 22, 2006)

Ours is adult only as well. Last year we started at 8 but noone showed up until 9. Everyone was gone by 1:30 (lots of people with young children) and it seemed to wind down as soon I we got the costume contest out of the way. We had no problem getting people to dance because the majority of our guests are actors (aka attention seekers...lol). 

This year I'm starting at 9 because that's what time my daughter goes to bed and I'm hoping it lasts until 2.


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## RedSonja (Sep 18, 2004)

My party is adults only too, although now that my niece is 13, she's trying to get an invite!

I find it always depends on the year. Plus, for most years my situation was unique. I used to live on a street that always has a huge Halloween street parade on the saturday before. So, normally everyone would stick around to go out to that. But once we got out to the street, we usually split up into groups and went separate ways. The parade is so crowded, it's impossible to stay together.

Last year was the first time I had the party some place different. I worried whether people would be upset about not going to the parade. The party did have a different feel to it.

But overall, I'd say most people show up about an hour after start time and those who stay w/ us thru the parade, usually don't leave til about 3am. By then I'm worn out and ready to go to bed!!


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## lilred (Oct 10, 2005)

*Do any of you put end times on invites?*

We have always put end times on ours. We have only had one adult only party and it was years ago...but I seem to remember putting 8 p.m. to midnight in the invitation. The last three years, we have done a children only party (for our DD friends/classmates - 2nd grade this year), so we have been doing 5-7:30 and putting both times on the invitation. I guess we are wimpy lightweights...we don't want to party until 3 a.m.! We have a little one to deal with the next day...hard enough without missing a lot of sleep too! Is it a really bad thing to end the party earlier (like 10 p.m. or earlier)? I am curious, because DH has started hinting that he would like to include adults in the next year or two and I can't imagine having little ones (ages 6-8) up past ten or so or even waking them at 1 a.m. to take them home! Is this party taboo to end early?

lilred


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## Jackielantern (Oct 31, 2005)

Lilred,
It all depends on your crowd. I don't think there is anything wrong with ending things early. I just know that it would never happen at my house.  My hubby is a major night owl.


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## thefallenone (Sep 13, 2006)

I do the same as Ms Meeples...party starts at 8 but we always have people who are "fashionably" late. I let everyone know that at 9:30 pm the "Main Event" starts (this is the game...this year it is Fear Factor, though no one knows that!) and at 11 pm is the Costume Contest. What really helps people stay is we also have a Ice Luge for shots. This keeps everyone near the bar! It is funny, because I always have people RSVP by saying that they can only stay for a couple of hours, as they have another party to go to...but they never leave my place after a few rounds on the Luge!! Last years party we still had over 20 people at 3:30 am...I think I finally got to bed by 5:30 am!


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## johnshenry (Sep 24, 2006)

We are hosting our 15th annual this year. My wife and I are in our mid 40s, the avg guest age is probably late 30s early 40s. The invite says 7:30, people show up mostly between 8 and 8:30 I think. Last year, our biggest party with maybe 55 guests, there was a mass exodus at around midnight, in spite of the fact that it was daylight savings time night and you got an extra hour (our parties are always on the Sat night closest to Halloween).

This year it will not be DST night. My expectation is about the same, although we are expecting a few more people and some younger co-workers who might stay later.


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## peyote2004 (Oct 12, 2007)

Our party starts at 8:00 and goes all night... last year I went to bed at 6 AM, and there were still people talking and hanging out.... this year most either left or went to bed by 4:30.

The next day I make breakfast for the people who stay, and many of them end up still being there until 3 or 4 in the afternoon... at first it annoyed me that they didn't go home in the morning, but then I decided to put them to work helping with the clean-up.

For my food, I use the slow cooker in the low setting... I place frozen pre-cooked Chicken wings in one, and meatballs in the other at about 8:00. They're usually thawwed and heated by 10:30. Meathead goes on the table @ 10:00. The rest is dips and stuff, like pumpernikel bread, veggies & chips.


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