Halloween is quite a big deal. It's certainly got a refreshingly different theme from holidays like Easter and Christmas where the theme is religious and the decorations pleasant to the eye. This day is great fun because it lets you explore the nasty, yet intriguing decorations, foods, games and costumes and for kids this time is particularly magical.

Throwing a kid's Halloween party is a real test of your imagination, but there are a few sure-fire ways to get little ones enjoying themselves and into the spirit of things. The first way is, of course, to ask the guests to dress up. Don't specify any specific themes other than 'Halloween' as many parents don't have the time or money to dress their child up in certain types of costume. Try to keep some green face paint, a witches hat or a wig by so that any that come in normal clothes don't feel left out.

Secondly, take lots of time to prepare the food, but keep it simple. A lot of kids are very fussy and when they go to a party will prefer to nibble on cupcakes, jello, ice cream and sweets. Of course, if you're providing a whole meal then have healthy party food too, such as halved boiled eggs on a place with carrot sticks as 'angry' eyebrows and cheese cubes as fangs in a ham shaped mouth.

Thirdly, you'll want to set up some party games, but before that have one major event of the evening that ties the meal and the games together (and provide time for their food to digest a little before they start jumping around!). One great idea here is to have a ghost tour. Leave the kids with another adult while you go and get changed into a different costume and come back as a scary character. Lead them in a line around the rest of the house where you've set up different scenes (perhaps a witch's cave in the bathroom, with green water filling the sink, a green light bulb and fake spiders hanging from the ceiling). Introduce things for them to interact with by (for instance) asking them to close their eyes before placing two peeled grapes in their hands and telling them they're Warlock's eyes. Remember kids love disgusting things, so prepare some warm porridge in a bowl, put bean sprouts and raisins in it and tell the kids that they're worms and bugs in soup from your cauldron. There are all kinds of things like this that you can set up on a very low budget.

Perhaps halfway through the evening, if you're feeling brave, you could give each pair of children a small pumpkin to hollow out and put a candle in. Letting them carve it too is inadvisable, so do this beforehand but leave the pieces in so they can pop them out and still see the finished effect.

Finally, try to give the kids something to go home with at the end of the Halloween party so they don't feel too much of a 'comedown'. If you went trick or treating then share out the sweets in party bags with a themed cupcake and a little toy. With today's technology it's a great idea to take a photo of each child with their pumpkin, print it out and pop it in their bag too.

Stan Tian

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