Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Hi guys.

I work in a bar/restaurant/club in Guangzhou, South China. We have just landed the biggest halloween party in the city this year with the biggest English language magazine in South China. Expecting upwards of 400-500 people.

I've never done a halloween party before, or decorated a place before but as we are a new place i want to make this a night people wont forget and want to make this place look completly halloween.

So far my only ideas are buy lots and lots of black and orange fabric to cut and hang and cover the whole ceiling. Lots of pumpkins everywhere. And a dummy of a witch with our smoke machine under her skirt so when it goes off her skirt will blow about and smoke will come out.

I know this isn't much. Any ideas off u guys would be really appreciated. thanks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many Halloween parties are themed-- I know "Halloween" ought to be its own theme, but it's such a broad theme because it encompasses a lot of things. Themes also help with various contests-- if you're going to do awards for a costume contest, pumpkin carving contests, dance contests. Size of the party, size of the building and budget will also play a role in what you can do.

So... here are some things for you to think about:
Theme
Some Halloween themes include, but are not limited to: Zombies, Carnivals/Side Show, Witches, Mad Science, Pirates, Fractured Fairy Tales, VooDoo (and whatever else you can imagine). You'll want a theme that works with your demographics-- something that appeals to the people who will attend. So, if you have a lot of couples, you might choose a theme more couples oriented... and if you have a bunch of random people who will be attending, you'll want a theme that appeals more to singles.

Have Decorations that Work With The Theme You Have Chosen
I know pumpkins and black and orange are good fail-safes, but if you have a theme you can tailor those decorations to fit your theme. For example...

If you choose Zombies as your theme, you can do green and black as your colours. You can use things like biohazard symbols, chain link fence, barbed wire, chains, blood and guts, gauze, medical gowns, doctor outfits, straight jackets and other zombie/medical related things to help decorate.

If you choose something like Pirates as your theme, you could use crates, barrels, bones, treasure maps, treasure (coins, necklaces, etc), treasure chests, swords, pirates flags, ships, ropes, nets and other nautical things to decorate.

So choose a theme and brainstorm ideas.

Events at the Party
Since it's a party at a bar, silly Halloween games for kids are out... but people still love contests. Have you considered doing a costume contest? YOu could give out prizes for things like best costume, funniest costume, cutest costume, sexiest costume, most masculine costume... You could also have a pumpkin seed spitting contest? I'm not exactly sure what sort of games and events are popular over there.

Think about those things... and... maybe we can toss out a few ideas that will better help.

Other themes might include ancient Egypt (mummies), or space aliens.

Personally, I prefer witchcraft/sorcery/voodoo, with pirates maybe a second choice for me.

Don't forget that ghosts are a big feature of Halloween as well. Skeletons, too--especially if they have a comic twist to them, like maybe put a jaunty hat on a skeleton, have it "smoking" a pipe or cigar, maybe with a necktie.

People also decorate here with fake spider webs & plastic creepy-crawlies.

Make sure the hors d'oeuvres are Halloween themed--at least some of them. You can find recipes on line, or perhaps in various threads on this forum.

Artificial ravens are a nice decorative touch, too. Hey, you could go with an Alfred Hitchcock-themed party. Stuff like "The Birds" & "Psycho."

Think about your lighting too. Black lights are always fun for Halloween parties.

Morticia wrote:Think about your lighting too. Black lights are always fun for Halloween parties.

That's the first thing I thought of too. For me lighting is huge. Black lights, orange lights, strobe lights. All look nice mixed with fog.

I just bought Taste of Home's 2011 Halloween book, and they are spotlighting the following party themes:

Welcome to the Witch's Den

Pumpkin Patch Party

Vampire's Feast

Into the Woods (theme includes owls, autumn leaves, hunter-related items--you could also include wolves, I guess)

Gather in the Graveyard

Monster Bash

--If you have a largish space, you might combine themes, do different things in different areas

.
Music is important for setting the correct mood. This being a restaurant you probably want ambient music, something that hovers just below the diner's consciousness. 'Midnight Syndicate' and 'Nox Arcana' are great for this.

Another great thing to set the mood is rent some LCD projectors and project scary images and movies around the restaurant. Hallowindow would be great for this. I used to edit scenes from various movies together. For something very special, try projecting onto some kind of scrim... a wispy, thin piece of fabric... or even a wall of smoke or water if money is no object. This creates an eerie, ethereal effect. If the area where the scrim is located is dark enough, it looks like the image is floating in mid air.

Here are some of the best videos I could find of the effect...

Using Black Scrim to Improve Projection Contrast

Halloween big screen projector monsters stripped Monitor

The Magic of Scrims

Rear Projection Screen on the cheap

Waterscreen video projection (Smaller scale, of course. Or maybe outside the restaurant?)

Smoke Projection (People could walk right through the image.)

Fogscreen projection (Try using a fog machine and chiller? Direct the fog down a tube with holes in it to create a wall of smoke? Or buy this... or this.)


Edit: Oh yeah... zombies! Gotta have your waiters dressed as zombies. Rig up edible body parts that fall off the waiters onto the plates of decoy customers planted at the tables. When the rest of the diners see this, the decoy picks up the body part and starts eating it.

^^^^^