#Halloween Party Ideas

The 'Fun Size' Premiere in Los Angeles

Chad Hudson Events produced the October 24 premiere event and after-party for the new film Fun Size. Held at Marathon Park inside the Paramount Studios lot, the event was inspired by a typical, all-American Halloween festival. Illuminated jack-o'-lanterns, creepy trees and scarecrows from CHE and Jackson Shrub and Props, and lighting effects and spiderweb gobos from CHE and Ultimate Lighting created the festive atmosphere.

Photo: Sean Twomey/2me Studios



The Addams Family-inspired Citi Performing Arts Center Gala in 2011 was ridden with graveyard imagery.

Photo: Travis Farrenkopf & Michael Young



Redmoon Theater's Boneshaker

Billed as a "skeletal spectacle," Redmoon Theater's October 27 Halloween party in Chicago featured dozens of the bony Halloween icons. At a s'mores station, two performers dressed in lingerie and face makeup prepared the snacks in a bathroom vignette. They warmed the chocolates over candles in the bathtub and used blowtorches to melt the marshmallows.

Photo: Al Zayed Photography



Just Jared's Halloween Party

Oranum.com and Neuro Drinks hosted Just Jared's October 27 Halloween party at Siren Studios in Los Angeles. Because oranum.com facilitates online video chats with experts who specialize in mystical topics such as clairvoyance, chakra healing, and dream interpretations, the event offered tarot card readings. The readings took place in branded areas replete with Moroccan-style lamps and psychics wearing golden veils.

Photo: Chuck Grant



Patrón XO Cafe's Hunt for Haunted America Event

On October 25, Patrón XO Cafe hosted an event in Chicago with so-called "celebrity ghost hunter" Zac Bagans. Bagans, who appears on the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventurers, brought paranormal-activity-detecting tools to The Hangge-Uppe, which is allegedly haunted. "There were definitely a few eerie moments including a voice that was heard by some guests on the ghost hunt," reported PR rep Arielle Himy. The evening's menu included "Dark Spirits" made with Patrón XO Cafe Dark Cocoa.

Photo: Ross Dettman



In 2008, a section of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park was transformed into a haunted Halloween scene for the 11th annual Bremen Brothers Beach Bash. Among the tented areas for the event was a black-lit library-like space that recalled a haunted house.

Photo: BizBash



Interior designer Leah Pickler interpreted Showtime's Dexter series when the network partnered with Metropolitan Home in 2008 for an experiential show house. Pickler's dining room included plates, chairs, and walls splattered with blood and a centerpiece comprised of vials of red liquid.

Photo: Alice & Chris for BizBash



The 2008 Design Exchange gala achieved a haunted forest effect in the museum with graffiti artist Mike Echlin's white trees painted onto a black backdrop.

Photo: George Pimentel



At this year's Dining by Design in New York, the table styled by Alexa Stevenson had rather a macabre centerpiece that included moss, succulents, and a skull inside a glass cloche.

Photo: Ronnie Andren for BizBash



Last year's Malibu Rum launch for its Black spirit filled New York's Good Units with Halloween-inspired decor. Even the bars matched the look, with black lights and skull-and-crossbones imagery at one and plasma balls on foil-covered shelves at another.

Photo: Nilaya Sabnis



In 2006, the Art Gallery of Ontario threw a costume ball that put ghostly figures in the long, dark entry corridor. The performers played unearthly sounding melodies on tiny music boxes as guests entered the venue.

Photo: Courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario



Edward Gorey's morbid illustrations were the inspiration behind the design for the 2006 Central Park Conservancy Halloween ball. Inside the dining room, Grayson Bakula (a company that has since changed its name to Bakula Design) decorated the walls of the tent with projections of barren branches and hung menacing hooded figures from the ceiling.

Photo: Liza Young



At the 18th annual Dream Halloween AIDS Benefit in 2011, guests entered the main space of the transformed Barker Hangar only after walking through a series of five haunted tombs amidst a foggy forest.

Photo: Bruce Walker



At the Florida Aquarium's 10th annual masquerade ball, Nauti-Night, in 2007, the entire space was transformed into a spooky environment for drinking, dining, and dancing. The webs that covered the exhibit walls created ghostly passages for guests to explore.

Photo: Chanele



Recalling the movie's dark themes and visuals, the premiere party for Dark Knight in 2008 had red-painted graffiti on the walls, tables, and windows of the Mandarin Oriental ballroom in New York.

Photo: Joe Fornabaio



During Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York last September, retail display company Aux Armes crafted creepy black-and-white cutouts of spiderwebs, hand saws, and candelabra for Rachel Antonoff's presentation.

Photo: Daniel Silbert



For the Dexter season 4 DVD release party in Miami, Showtime fashioned crime scene sets at the National Hotel's poolside cabanas using police tape, fake dismembered bodies, and blood splatters.

Photo: Picture Group LLC



At The Simpsons Halloween-Carnival party in 2009, a mask-making station at the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles let kids and adults create their own face coverings as a unique event souvenir.

Photo: André Maier Photography



At the after-party for The Walking Dead’s Season 4 premiere in Los Angeles in October 2013, costumed zombies posed for photo ops with guests.

Photo: Courtesy of Universal Studios Hollywood



Along the path to the in-office Leo Burnett bash, which had a bad-luck theme, designers from Art of Imagination placed black paper cat cutouts on the walls of the hallway.

Photo: Leo Burnett Photography



At Keep a Child Alive’s “Dream Halloween” event at the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles last October, a display of oversize orange and green balloons mimicked the look of a giant pumpkin for a kid-friendly take on decor.

Photo: 2me Studios



At last year’s “Galaween” event at the Chicago Cultural Center, Event Creative built a lavish, haunted-house-style entrance. This year, the agency’s designer Jeffrey Foster predicts that parties will take a glitzy turn with lace-covered pumpkins, silver or gold ­skeletons, marabou witches, or bejeweled or glittered skulls.

Photo: Josh Sears