Halloween has snuck up on us fast this year! Today, we want to share tips on hosting an “elegant” Halloween soiree… Maybe you want to host a neighborhood or supper club dinner, or even a celebration of something in collaboration around Halloween. We hope these tips help give you some spooky yet sophisticated ideas… Thank you to Liz Banfield for the ghostly images. Set your color scheme. It doesn’t have to include orange- for ours, keeping it elegant meant using black, white, and silver.
Obviously, this theme could work well with a cocktail party, a dinner party, a roaming party or drop in, so lots of options here. The food and beverage can play hugely into the decor. We found simple black and white trays, but using vintage silver ones could play into a “haunted house” theme also. “Deviled Eggs”, or “Devils on Horseback” are easy and simple food items that add effect- there are so many fun options here and recipes galore online. For a fun bar design- we hollowed out large pumpkins painted silver, and put our speciality cocktail (Black Widows) containers inside. Great for a serve yourself, or if you have a bartender make sure they are in costume of course!
For this seated dinner party, standard black linens work and are a great backdrop. We painted mini pumpkins white for the seating cards which looked just so pretty. Easy and affordable centerpieces were large glass vases with silver painted pumpkins and pillar candles. We used white pea gravel to hold the candles in place and not slump. Large taper candles in candelabras would be perfect and lovely too, and once the wax starts dripping you have a perfect spooky look.
Of course, what’s Halloween without costumes.. You know there are always those that get in the spirit and those that can’t or don’t. I like the idea of ordering nice and lovely masks online and having them there for guests so no one feels left out.
Candy and desserts are essential of course. We used many different clear glass vessels and vases and set up a variety of crowd pleasers- bulk candies, individual wrapped, cupcakes, cookies, etc. Then, we staged black take out containers for guests to fill up their own take home boxes. For decor, we took some of the more expected items, but used them in unexpected ways- skulls were displayed in pretty cloches, dollar store tombstones look mysterious with great lighting and a smoke machine. Colored light bulbs can go a long way for little cost.
Don’t forget your playlist- spotify can help curate something different so the typical tunes don’t dull the party.
