Simple and creative last-minute Halloween party ideas

If you feel like Halloween snuck up on you this year, you’re not alone! Event planner Trevor Frankfort is here to save the (spooky) day by sharing some last-minute creative ideas for food and décor to make your Halloween party a hit. Click on the video above to hear more from Trevor, and check out his great tips and creative décor ideas below.

Food ideas

Every Halloween party HAS to have fun themed goodies. You can’t have tricks and not offer treats. Start with items that you might already have in your pantry at home before rushing out to the store - you might be surprised with just how many spooky snacks you can whip up!

Pretzel broomsticks

All you need for these delicious treats are pretzels and peanut butter cups. Put the peanut butter cups upside down, stick a pretzel in the centre, and boom - you have a witch’s broom.

Spider cupcakes

You can either make chocolate cupcakes and cover them with white icing, or buy pre-made cupcakes to save time. Put a chocolate cookie in the middle, add pre-made candy eyes and get some pieces of hard chocolate to use as legs sticking out of the spider.

Vampire teeth sandwiches

These vampire teeth sandwiches are so much fun and again, so simple to make! Take a chocolate chip cookie and cut it in half. Then, ice the top and bottom to look like gums. Stick on marshmallows to look like the teeth and put them in between the two cookie halves. Next, put almond slivers on to look like the fangs of a vampire. Put the top on and you have Dracula’s mouth.

Ghost strawberries

You can have your own little white ghosts by dipping chocolate strawberries in white chocolate. Add candy to make the eyes and mouth and it will resemble a ghost!

Marshmallow square creatures

Add food colouring to white chocolate and put it over top of a rice crispy treat. Then, add candy eyes on top and you have adorable marshmallow creatures.

Halloween skewers

Using cut-up kiwi and cantaloupe you can make monsters and jack-o’-lanterns by drawing faces with black icing and candy bits. You can also make ghosts out of marshmallows and put all three on a delicious skewer.

Eyeball punch

Make the eyeballs by taking a lychee fruit and putting a blueberry in the middle. Take a toothpick and use red food colouring to draw veins on the eye to make it look more realistic. Then, put them in a bowl and pour in soda, prosecco and pineapple juice to make a delicious Halloween punch.

Bloody caesar shots

Add vodka to your favourite caesar and fill up a syringe. Shoot it into your mouth and it will look like you’re drinking blood.For more amazing dessert ideas, be sure to check out Sugar Suite Cakes.

Décor ideas

Here are some super easy décor ideas that you can make using items you probably already have lying around!

Paint a pumpkin

Instead of taking the time to carve a pumpkin, you can turn it into a witch! Paint it green and make a face by either drawing or using cardboard cutouts. If you have time, you can make hair out of tissue paper.

Fruit and veggie jack-o'-lanterns

It wasn’t until the late 1800's that people started using pumpkins. You can carve out peppers and cut out eyes, a nose and a mouth to make cute faces. Pineapple, watermelon or squash work well too!

Tablescape

Use old wine bottles and print off spooky labels to stick on them, then place candles inside, add some food colouring to make it seem like the candles are bleeding and spray the glass with dry shampoo to give them that antique look. You can add mini pumpkins, spider webs and fake spiders to creep people out. To make the centerpiece, take some spray painted branches and add fake bats. You can make ‘bloody’ napkins and blot them with red food colouring so that your guests can still use them, and use Dracula teeth as napkin rings.

For kids

Even if Halloween snuck up on you, don't worry - here are some clever last minute ideas to make the holiday extra fun for the kids as they head out for trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin sacks

Make these little pumpkin sacks with orange paper and fill them with mini candies to give the kids a mini present to open when they get home. Made with tissue paper (orange) and streamers (green), place the orange paper on the table and fill it with candy, hold up the sides to make it round and then tie it up with the green streamers to make it look like the top of the pumpkin. Cut off any excess paper and voila - it's a fun little gift that the kids can make themselves or the adults can make to hand out to trick or treaters.

Pillow cases

Instead of buying a bag to go trick or treating, you can make your own out of pillow cases! The kids can glue on some of these Halloween themed cut outs or paint their own designs on pillow cases, and then they can head out to go door to door trick or treating with their own personalized bags.

Make your own mask

If you don’t have a costume, a mask can still do the trick! Buy some cute white premade outlines with popsicle sticks and markers so kids can colour their own mask.For more event planning tips, check out Trevor's Trevents: Wedding & Event Planning. For table rentals, Gervais Rentals, and for some fantastic stationary try The Polka Dot Paper Shop![video_embed id='1818033']The hosts compete in a spooky Halloween game[/video_embed]