My 12 yr old daughter is having a few other 7th graders over for a little "get together" or halloween party...we're not sure what we are calling it, but it's this Saturday and I am realizing that I'm not really sure what we are going to do. I need INEXPENSIVE & FUN ideas, please, for what these girls are gonna do for 2 hrs for entertainment. For food, I figure we'll just order some pizza and have a cooler of sodas and some halloween candy and some punch with some red (bloody) hands (made from freezing some gloves) floating in it, but am open to more ideas. My main concern - I'm not sure how to entertain these young ladies...I never really partied too much at that age...I kind of kept to myself more...well, my little social butterfly prefers to have friends around often/excitement/drama LOL. so, help me please keep these kiddos happy with some ideas for games, decor, food, or whatever you think will make this memorable...we live in missouri and outside is primarily where we were hoping to be, but indoors should the weather take a serious turn for the worse..so consider it should be a chilly 55 - 65. thanks!!
What about the game where you put foods in bowls and make them feel in the bowl while blindfolded? Peeled grapes become eyeballs, cold, olive oiled spaghetti becomes guts, etc.
OR what about a cheesy horror flick?
Play Twister in their costumes?
If you're of hearty stock, you might consider letting them each carve a pumpkin!
Scavenger hunt with flashlights. Did this for nephew's 13th bday party. Huge hit.
I agree with the idea of blindfolding them and having them put their hands in "gross" things that are totally edible but feel yucky. You can make jello with gummy worms inside, etc.
Also, I have gotten some of the best old horror flicks at the dollar store. By best, I mean worst. They are old, black and white and so badly made and edited that they are actually hilarious. They are supposed to be spooky, but they aren't scary at all.
Popcorn balls are always a big hit and easy to make.
Get each girl a flash light at the dollar store and turn the lights off. They can flash them under their chins and look spooky or flash them at each other. Let them make hand silhouettes on the wall.
Then let each girl take her flashlight home.
There are lots of things you can do.
Have fun!
I'm in MO too, how about a 'bonfire' do you have an outdoor firepit? AMAZING and the girls will love it. make sure they bring jackets and chairs if you don't have enough. roast hot dogs and marshmallows, make smores. have music outside if you can
perfect fall night. warm apple cider instead of soda, or hot cocoa. if its really cold.
L. d
At hobby lobby they have these leaves (or other halloween thingies) that are black and come with wood sticks to scratch things into them. They are very cool for all ages and it's like $3 for 24 of them. They could watch a scary movie or make "potions" out of whatever (this is what we did at my first halloween party". And then we played truth or dare.
Let them decorate a cake... grab the icing and the Halloween candy, decorations whatever......mine did a graveyard with the peep ghosts and green and brown icing used candy corn for the fences ... or do individual cupcakes or cookies and do the same thing have a decorating contest. If you have enough adults send them outside with bowls of candy and release the girls to find them and the candy...... the person with the bowl can move around...This is done at night with flashlights.... have two pots or caldrons and wrap white cloth around tennis balls to make ghosts and have a ghost toss. make a scarecrow type face and give him a neck make bow ties and have them stick them to the scarecrow (like pin the tail on the donkey)Get out the music. Find the fun halloween CD and let them dance, sing make up a skit to go with it. Give everyone a secret halloween name and the must figure it out.....tape a paper with a name or thing related to halloween on their back and they must guess what it is.... examples... graveyard, frankenstein ghost, Casper, or harder ones like transylvania.. you get the picture....and they have a blast figuring out who they are. Watch scary movies... like the original frankenstein or the killer tomatoes.... the blob.. they might get a kick out of those or the scooby doo movies.....If you are into crafts there are a lot of crafts they could make... stamp a bag with big spider, ghost stamps and decorate with ribbons or glitter. their own pillowcase or tshirt to celebrate the ocassion........Using permanent markers and alcohol is a non messy tie dye fun time..... ok so much more so little space... email if you need more .....
What about a scavenger hunt. Depending on how many girls you have, on the size of each group. Can have 2 people as a team or more, since walking around to your neighbors. My daughter did this at a 7th grade party on Halloween, it was boys and girls of small groups walking around together. They had fun.
Good luck
Two hours will go by quickly. If it were a sleep over, the movie would be fun, but with only two hours, decide on activities instead.
I love the outdoor scavenger hunt in the dark idea! I envision doing that some day! Thanks!
Painting pumpkins sounds great. Getting the "baby" sized ones for 3 for $1 should be fine to keep the cost down. Remember that the stem can be used as a nose, or the bottom can be used for the face. Aim for creative.
Build a scarecrow with straw and old clothing.
Is this a costumed affair? Make sure they all know. Send them trick-or-treating and see what happens? (One of my students said that he once went trick-or-treating in July, and actually got candy from his neighbors!)
If it isn't costumed, they could do spooky face painting, their choice, or have ideas to pick from a hat, like "hissing cat," or "ghoul."
They could play Halloween charades.
In my day we used the Ouija board and thought nothing of it. Today, my first reaction to reading the suggestion was, "Oh, some parents won't like that idea." Expect a phone call if you follow through with that idea.
How close is the local cemetery? That's the place for the scavenger hunt or a game of truth or dare. Or hide and seek. (which, I suppose, could result in a phone call as well.)
Flashlight tag.
Jump in the leaves?
Roast marshmallows over a bonfire or fire pit and tell ghost stories.
Some kids have no idea how to tell stories anymore. Find an engaging way to give them some pointers and model a story before you send them to do it themselves. Perhaps they could do it in pairs.
My daughter is a social one herself, and she would have definite ideas about what she wants to do. I bet yours does as well. Perhaps she'd like to invite that one special friend to help with the set up, as the decorating and baking would be fun as a preliminary activity.
Or let them Paint a pumpkin.... no knives, lol.
Do you have to do Halloween things? I remember one sleepover where the host's mom gave us a bunch of teen magazines and helped us prank call all the boys we liked. The latter might not work these days b/c of caller ID but the magazines might make it memorable.
For dessert - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/kitty-litter-cake/detail.aspx
one of the funniest, most disgusting looking yet tasty cakes. I just use my favorite cake, icing, and cookies. Hit the dollar store for a plastic container that looks like a litter box for the cake container to fit into, and serve with a slotted spatula. Totally hysterical. :)
Dry ice... drop it the punch bowl to make it 'steam' like a witches brew.. plus it's fun to play with, (just use gloves/oven mitts or tongs because it's so cold it can burn your skin, also be sure it doesn't get put into a cup so as to avoid exposure or ingestion). You can get it at major grocery stores, especially this time of year. Info on it here:
http://www.physlink.com/education/AskExperts/ae417.cfm
Get a fun/cheap little craft they can do, like some small pumpkins, paint, little glue on jewels, glitter and they can decorate the pumpkins all stylish. They can have a contest, like prettiest, scariest, goofiest, most monsterly, most glitterific, cutest... an honorary title for each creation.
Get a cheap face paint kit and let the girls paint each other's faces.
Decorate sugar cookies! They can cut them out with cookie cutters, bake them, decorate with Halloweeny sprinkles and frosting, then eat.
Scavenger hunt, let them go in sets of 2 or 3 for safety. Send them with a list and flashlights.
If all else fails, Nightmare Before Christmas is a good movie because it isn't too scary... or Corpse Bride because it is a little shorter.
I know it's fun and has been suggested, but I am totally anti the Ouija board/seance/light as a feather type things. Hated them as a kid, hate them now, will teach my kids not to participate in those. Sorry if I'm a party pooper!
Great suggestions so far! I was also going to suggest painting a pumpkin. They have all sizes that you can get at the grocery stores for pretty cheap. You could even buy jewels, glitter and sequins, I'm sure 12 y/o girls would even put those on a pumpkin!
If you do move indoors I just saw at Michael's today a decorate your own Haunted House...it's basically a gingerbread house, but it was cute. You could have 3-4 girls/house to cut down on costs (I'm not sure how much they were) and that would probably take a good 30-60 minutes. You can draw names out of a hat to see who gets to take the house home and the other girls could go home with leftover decorating candy. You could also make pizza instead of ordering it. You can shape the dough into a round pumpkin shape and make a face using toppings.
