Throwing a College Halloween Party: Tricks and Treats

It’s almost that time of year again where you get to dress up and be whatever you want. Halloween is right around the corner! As a student, you’ll want to take advantage of some of these college Halloween party ideas. Now you have a reason to party!

There are many ways to throw a good party and get in the Halloween spirit. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, either. By getting creative and resourceful, you and your friends can throw the best Halloween party. Plus, everyone can get involved with these ideas.

Want to know all the tricks and prepare all the treats?

Let’s make it happen!

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Themes and Ideas

Creating a Halloween-themed atmosphere should be your top consideration when hosting your crazy college party. This can be done in a house, apartment, backyard, rooftop, common area or any other location you have at your disposal. Regardless of the space you choose, a few decorations and a potential theme will have you right on your way.

Depending on your housing situation, you can make a themed party that fits the space. If you live in a frat/sorority house or have a place with a backyard (or even a rooftop), you can create a graveyard party. This will involve setting up some tombstones and hanging some fake spiderwebs all around to add to the spooky scene.

If you don’t have a house, you can still make for an awesome party in any sized apartment or even a dorm. Consider this: a haunted apartment. You can get props to decorate. One simple idea is to use a projector and project images on the walls and play scary music in the background.

Living in a dorm? Getting festive for Halloween can be a fun bonding activity or you can even make it into a contest. Throw a door decorating contest for your hall and let your friends from other floors or dorms be the judge.

Throwing a party can be a group activity surrounding food, too. One collaborative idea is to make your party a Halloween party potluck. With this idea, everyone gets to bring a dish and can relate it back to the holiday. See the next section for some festive treat ideas.

If you attend an online university, you can still have a party with those friends who live in close proximity to you. Use social networking and online communication to organize an event to all those who can attend.

Photo by Aw Creative on Unsplash

Decorations to Seal the Deal

No matter what type of party or event you throw, you’ll no doubt need decorations. Here are some creative ways to set the Halloween mood.

Some basics that go a long way and are necessary include: orange and black cups, napkins, and cutlery. You can then set up some extras both inside and outside including: streamers, fake cobwebs, plastic skeletons, carved pumpkins, and the like.

Festive Foods and Treats

A fun way to entertain is to create some festive foods and treats. These snacks will be sure to impress your guests.

Here are a few easy ideas to throw together:

1. Handy Candy:

Fill up latex gloves with candy and hand them out (no pun intended) to partygoers.

2. Punch Bowl:

Throw some plastic hands in your punch bowl to give a little fright to your friends.

3. Fossil Cookies:

It’s simple to do this. Make any type of cookie you like and either use plastic fossil cutouts to imprint the cookies or a knife to shape the fossil in the dough in whatever shape you want. You can create insect imprints, for example.

4. Carved Pumpkins:

A classic Halloween tradition is carving pumpkins. You can decorate pumpkins with your friends as a party activity or have it done in advance to use as decorations.

5. Mummy Cookies:

Buy any type of cookie and dip half of it into melted white chocolate. This works best if you find long cookies, like Pirouettes. Once the white chocolate dries over half the cookie, you can put sprinkles or chocolate chips for eyeballs and you’ve made your cookie into a mummy!

Budget-Friendly Costume Ideas

One of the hardest things about Halloween is deciding what costume to wear. However, it’s easier when you can create your own costumes or don’t have to spend too much on one. Here are some budget-friendly and DIY ideas for some funny college Halloween costumes.

1. Mummy:

Make use of toilet paper by turning yourself into a mummy. Simply wear white and wrap a roll around you. Now you’re mummified!

2. Beer Pong:

Become the game you’ll most likely be playing. Grab some red Solo cups and glue the in the shape of a pyramid onto a white or black tee shirt.

3. Ariel:

Want to be under the sea? Transform yourself into Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid by wearing a green sequined skirt and a purple top. If you want to really get into character, purchase a red wig, too (unless, of course, you’re naturally a redhead).

4. Dominoes:

Don’t think pizza, think the game. For an easy costume, you can become a domino quickly by wearing all black and either pasting on or coloring white dots, or cutting out circles in the shirt and putting white fabric underneath.

5. M&Ms:

This is a fun DIY costume idea for a group of friends. Everyone can wear a different color t-shirt and put a white “m” in the middle. Congratulations, your costume is as sweet as chocolate.

6. Party Animal:

Be the life of the party in this simple costume. Wear anything you want, but adorn yourself with animal ears or draw on your face with makeup or paint to become the “party animal.”

7. Crayons:

Like the M&M costume, you can be a crayon by wearing one color and adding a Crayola logo to your outfit.

Wrapping Up

With all the tricks and treats ideas, what Halloween spirit will you be getting into? Having a Halloween party in college can be a really fun experience to bond with friends and enjoy the evening. It’s a time to let loose at the beginning of the school year before you have to jump right back into work.

No matter where you choose to celebrate or how you choose to decorate, you can create a memorable night at a low cost. Allow your creativity to shine with your costumes, decorations and festive food, snack, and dessert ideas.