Complete the spookiest day of the year with these Halloween ideas for parties.

When I was a kid, Halloween meant one thing: trick-or-treating. My sisters and I would dress up, go door to door with my dad as chaperones, of course, and come home with tons of candy. In today’s world, more and more parents are concerned about the safety of trick-or-treating and are opting for other ways to celebrate Halloween. Throwing a Halloween party can be a good way to commemorate the spookiest day of the year. Try some of these Halloween ideas for parties, and have a good time in the safety of your own home.

Costumes

Just because you’re skipping the door to door doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun of dressing up for a cool Halloween costume. Encourage your guests to dress up and not just dress up, but go all out. Have a costume contest, and include the categories on the invitation. Some fun categories are “Best Movie Character,” “Best Fantasy Costume,” “Scariest Costume,” “Funniest Costume,” and “Most Original.”

Food

Like any party, one of the most important elements is food. Have a variety, and have lots of it. Finger foods are best to serve at this type of party: mini-pizzas, appetizers, pigs-in-a-blanket, meatballs, veggie and dip trays, and cold cuts. Theme food is always a hit, like these scary Halloween recipes.

Also, don’t forget the sweets. If the little ones aren’t going to be trick-or-treating, you’ll need to shower them with candy so they don’t feel like they’re missing out.

Activities

There are a lot of things you can do to keep your party guests having fun for a long time. If you’re having a mixed party, with both adults and children, you can enlist the adults to help with some games for the kids. Set up the games at different stations, and give out candy to all the kids who play. The more candy the better!

When the kids get restless, set them up in the family room or den with some harmlessly scary movies and some popcorn. Try these titles: the “Goosebumps” series, “Beetlejuice,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and “Casper.”

Another way you can keep the kids occupied is by having some Halloween craft projects for them to make.  To make it as easy as possible for the kids to do the crafts on their own, get all the materials ready ahead of time. For more advanced crafts that the kids and grown-ups can do together, try some of these.

When it comes time to judge the costume contest, grab several grown-ups who aren’t dressed up or don’t care about winning and ask them to help you judge. Have everyone who is dressed up parade in a circle around the room, and ask your judges to vote for their favorites in each of the categories. Tally up the votes and give out some fun or scary prizes.

Your Halloween can be a hit with some of these Halloween ideas for parties. Just remember: you can never have too many sweets!