Having a Party with 12+ Kids Help

Do a mummy race. Have 3 kids (or so) on a team, they wrap one of the kids with toilet paper (completely!!) and the "mummy" has to try to run to the finish line. Do a gross out guessing contest. Put cold cooked spaghetti in a bowl with something else gross?? and label it "guts". Do peeled grapes and label it "eye balls". Google to get more gross out ideas. Always can do musical chairs with Halloween music playing?? Have fun!

I looked at your question and just thought of a fun idea for 7 and 11 year olds. I might use it some year. You know those Mystry dinners people do. Use a toned down version and plan out ahead of time having a purse of or an object go missing and have people dressed as ghosts to get the mood for Halloween and then do a Nancy Drew type mystery of who took the item. Or you can make a toned down haunted house. Also, you could do a costume party. Just a few ideas, good luck.

here's a website with lots of ideas:

http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-parties/

Also, I was thinking about a pumpkin decorating contest. Give each kid a pumpkin and provide lots of craft supplies, like sequins, glue, pom poms, markers, buttons, craft foam and safety scissors. Instead of carving, have the kids decorate their pumpkins. Think up creative categories, like "pumpkin that looks like a cartoon character on tv", "pumpkin that looks like a sports hero", "most glittery pumpkin", etc., to get them thinking of ideas for their decorations.

If you know a lonely senior citizen, or a fire fighter (or have a neighborhood fire station), or know of a family who is facing difficulties like a serious illness, or a child who is homebound due to a disability or illness, you could make a bunch of plain cookies and have the kids decorate them like jack o lanterns using colored frosting and sprinkles. Tell the kids this will be a gift for a person who can't attend a party or who will be working to keep us safe on Halloween. Have them decorate a big happy card and either deliver the goodies in costume to brighten that person's evening or send an adult off with the goodies.

Have fun with your party planning!

Ive done a halloween bash acouple of times for all my boys who are 11, 5 and 2. First of all i made most of my house into party grounds and had different stations going on. The kids rotated with a parent and i had instructions posted at each location. I also had all parents bring a spooky dish to share. It was fun to see all the different ideas. I also had a halloween movie on the entire time. I bought little pumpkins and had a table with many, craft supplies for kids to decorate them. I checked many halloween books out at the library and had them in a basket to read. I always do bob for apples, pumpkin seed race, guessing game in a jar, musical tombstones, scarecrow in the dark (older kids in a dark room give 1-2 kids a glow in dark bracelet and they try to touch another child to get them out), you can make a bean bag toss, get a witches hat and toss rings on point, face painting or tattos, a coloring contest, pin the bandaid on "franky" (use bandaids, blindfold, and draw your own frankenstein with an outline of a bandaid on his face or arm.), guessing game on touch and smell (cover jars have kids put their hand inside or smell it and guess what is inside, boil some spaghetti noodles put in large bowl add mini halloweeen toys like spider rings, bugs, eye bouncy balls and time the kids to see how many they can get out of the "brains" and onto a plate; after each kid you put the items back in and mix. I always do a craft at all my parties and they can be used for their party favor instead of doing little gift bags with toys that get broken and more candy they dont need at halloween. I dont do prizes usually except the guessing jar i give to the winner or i will do one prize for all games. Here are a couple crafts ive done: paint wood pumpkins or ghosts have an adult hot glue wiggly eyes and magnet tape or baby safety plugs to make a halloween decor., you can buy vinyle paper sheets that make window decals; use cookie cutters, markers, stencils to make a picture to stick on their window. Slime is always fun but messy. You can have a photographer come that is just trying to get their name out and have them charge one fee to whoever wants a picture taken. I just got a black sheet hung it on the wall, drew a bright moon put it on it, bought cornstalks, hay and any other decor.. My photographer charged $5.00/8x10 and gave out her business cards too. My friends loved this and some did each kid alone or i did a group picture. This year i called my local library and had them give me names of people who they hire to come in and do family fun shows like magic/puppet shows or vantrilaquist (sp). I went down the list and had a vantrilaquist come for only 20 min to do a demo on how to talk without moving your lips. He brought one doll it looked like chucky but the kids werent scared at all they loved this the most. Again i gave the guy the option to promote his business with flyers and i just paid him for his gas but acouple other moms gave him tips and i invited his children and wife to join us. He didnt get paid hardly anything but got hired for future events including all my future halloween parties. Him and his family got a day of free fun too. I hope this helped and makes sense; i really took my time and tried to help. Have fun and have parents help out its not a birthday party for your child its for everyone including their child so dont feel shy to ask for them to contribute but leave itoptional. One more idea that my friend does every year for halloween. She holds a witches tea; one for moms and then one for little girls. Its so much fun and you can go all out to make it fancy or do it simple. You play a couple of mild games and do a gift exchange along with a meal and a craft. Tea parties are all about the minor details, witch hat sandwiches, name labels, matching eating material, table decor. (eyeballs, cobwebs, spiders). They are also about old stories or information about your theme. Take pictures and send with a card for a thank you.

Here is an idea I did at our last kids, Halloween party. Donut eating contest: Tie yarn on several donuts & hang them from something (we hung ours from our deck), about chin length from the average child there. Make the kids hold their hands behind their backs, ready set go! Try and finish the donut 1st, without using your hands. If the donut falls, your out. Give prizes to the winner of each race. Another favorite, is to tie a blown up balloon to each childs ankle. The object of the game is to pop the other person's balloon, while protecting your own balloon. Once your balloon pops, your out & must leave the game area. The winner is kid with the unpopped balloon. Have fun!!!!!!!