Charter One Realty Blog

As the year slowly winds to a close, we come upon some of our favorite holidays. For lots of you, Halloween is the best time of year - between the costumes, the candy, and the community activities.

Parties in 2020 may not be what we’re used to, but that’s not an excuse for missing out on holiday fun. That’s right - it’s finally time to share our Halloween party ideas. 

How can you host a Halloween party during a pandemic? Your home is a safe and relaxing place; hosting friends and family should be enjoyable. In this article, we rounded up our ideas for making the most of Halloween while always keeping in mind the safety precautions. 

With the entire world experiencing unprecedented times, we are all looking for any chance to celebrate the positives. Thanksgiving is usually considered the start of the holiday season, but we’ve decided that in 2020, Halloween is the official kick-off to all things celebratory. Before heading to the store or placing your party supplies order, check out our party ideas to get your planning started!

Halloween Party Ideas: Safe Hosting

Here are a few tips for hosting a great Halloween party while keeping the risk of COVID transmission low:

Keep a Small Guest List
How many people are you and your family comfortable hosting for several hours? Invite people you are excited to see and spend time with, but who will respect any safety guidelines you set for your party. Try keeping the list to a maximum of 10, including yourselves.

Make Sure the Party Stays Outdoors
Let guests know ahead of time that your party will happen exclusively outdoors so they can dress accordingly. This significantly increases the safety factor! Prepare an outdoor fire pit, provide extra blankets, and spread out fun seating areas so people can hang out close enough to chat but not “rub shoulders”.

Must-Have Sanitizing Station
Prepare a safe sanitizing station with plenty of hand sanitizer, tissue packs, napkins, and even some extra Halloween-inspired masks. Additionally, make sure your guest bathroom is stocked with plenty of hand soap and paper towels (not a towel!) so guests can wash their hands properly during the party. 

Single-Serve Food and Drinks
Halloween parties must include treats! Remember not to set out a buffet-style spread. Individual servings are key to reducing the spread of germs. Consider individually wrapped cookies or cupcakes - they’re very easy to serve. How do you accomplish this if people want to snack? Make snack bags in advance! Set them on the table for guests to pick up one at a time and fill them with pre-wrapped treats. If you want to host a real dinner, the host should serve each person, so only one person is touching the utensils. 

Halloween Party Ideas: It’s All About Decorations 

There are so many options when it comes to Halloween decor. We like to pick a theme and let the decorations be the star of the party! If there will be young kids at the party, stick to a silly Halloween theme with painted pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, witches, bats, and “BOO!” for light-spirited fun decor. Make cupcakes with chocolate icing, use black Twizzlers for legs, and finish the spider decoration with candy eyes.

Photo: Skinnytaste.com

For a party geared toward adults, it’s all about the spooky factor. How about a haunted mansion theme with life-size skeletons, fake bloody paintings, minimal lighting, and even some old creepy dolls. It’s easy to make most of the party outside with lots of fake spider webs, candlesticks, and lanterns for an extra spooky vibe. 

Encourage Costumes with Masks

Photo: Instructables Craft

Wearing a mask is quite literally part of the fun on Halloween, so you can surely request your guests be masked to attend your party. Kids, adults, teens, and grandparents are used to rocking masks in public for everyday errands. Halloween is the time to get really wild with your masks! 

Want to make mask-wearing part of the theme? Tell your party guests that everyone will vote on the best mask of the night. It will inspire guests to bring their A-game while making everyone feel comfortable attending since masks are part of the fun AND the safety precautions. Best of all, the winner gets a spooky surprise of your choosing at the end of the party!

Conclusion

If you are looking for safe Halloween party ideas for 2020, remember these: 

1. Keep the party outdoors and set up a spooky sanitation station. Safety is key!

2. Let the decorations take center stage! Pick a theme and have fun setting up. 

3. Prepare individually wrapped or served food items. Be sure to have trick-or-treat goody bags filled and ready to go with all the candy!

4. Masks can be fun! Have your guests arrive in a DIY creative mask for a contest. 

What are your Halloween party ideas for this year? We can’t wait to celebrate; how are you indulging in spooky fun on October 31?

Share with us in the comments below!