Every year, my kids ask me if we can have a big, scary Halloween party. But, in the past they never really had any friends to invite. We would have been partying with Grandma and Grandpa and MY sisters and cousins. It wouldn't have exactly been fun for them. But, this year, my oldest is in 3rd grade and my second child is in Kindergarten. I felt they were finally old enough to have some friends over and have a good time. So, when Crowdtap had posted the opportunity to host a Hotel Transylvania party, I thought it would be perfect for them!
About a month before our party, I told my kids we were finally going to get to host a Halloween party. They were super excited! I also wanted to take them to see the Hotel Transylvania movie. But when I showed them the trailer below they got scared! They got scared at the part where Dracula was singing to Mavis as a little girl and he makes a big scary face:
So, the party ended up being less of a party to promote Hotel Transylvania and more of just a regular Halloween party. My kids showed zero interest in seeing the movie or learning more about it.
Crowdtap sent a digital party kit that included:
- Info about Hotel Translyvania and its cast
- Some freakishly fun word games to entertain the kids
- Coloring pages of scenes from the Hotel Translyvania movie
- A Monster Mask to pretend like you’re one of Hotel T’s guests
- A wildly addictive interactive collection of online games
- A scary good recipe for Make-A-Monster Cupcakes
- A breakdown of how throw a monster of a party!
Because of my lack of planning for movie-related activities to do at the party, I decided to combine the party with a trip to one of the local farms for the corn maze, pumpkin patch and hayride! I thought it would make the day more fun for the kids and give me fewer things to stress about.
The kids at the farm
Before we got lost in the corn maze.
In the pumpkin patch
My son and his gourd
Organic ice cream before we head back to the house!
It took me awhile to figure out what kind of food to serve. Since we were going to be gone all morning, I wanted to serve things that we could make the day before. We really didn't know the menu until the morning of! I did spend a lot of time on Pinterest and Google, finding Halloween-themed foods. Here's my board on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mandarin831/halloween-party-ideas/
I had so many food ideas that I wanted to do, but ended up only doing the Mummy Pretzel Rods, Backbone Roll Ups, and the Along Came A Spider Cake.
The spread - Hot dogs, brats, pizza, wraps (didn't stack them), Caesar Salad, Caribbean Jerk chicken and chips.
Dessert table: Along Came A Spider Cake, Watermelon, Mummy Pretzel Rods and Chocolate!
Close up on my cake. It was a fun time getting the sprinkles to stick to the sides!
Side View of the cake
These didn't turn out exactly as planned but still tasted good!
When we got back to the house, the kids put on their costumes:
After they ate, they made Halloween masks using the kits I got from Oriental Trading Company. Sadly, I didn't get a picture because I was still working on getting things ready! Then they worked on the Hotel Transylvania packets that I made up for them.
Next, I had them decorate the pumpkins they bought at the farm with some pumpkin decorating kits that I got online.
The kids' pumpkins plus another one we decorated earlier in the week.
And then, since the kids were getting bored with my lack of real games to play, my husband brought out our slack line for the kids to play with:
At the end of the party, the kids got to take home their decorated pumpkins and a little treat bag from my Jack O'Lantern.
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