Throw an Unforgettable Halloween Party for Tweens and Teens

Tweens and teens can be a tough audience when it comes to Halloween. They want to have fun but don’t want to appear childish in front of their friends. They may be at an age where cutesy Halloween decorations and activities that they used to love are now too "lame" for them. So, step into their transitional phase of life by throwing a Halloween bash that they’ll think is cool and not embarrassing. Throw a party that is a bit spooky, a little bit funny and serve lots of tasty food for their often-voracious appetites. We created a mad-scientist laboratory theme for our party with lots of mysterious gadgets, neon-glowing specimen jars, fun games and plenty of snacks and treats.

To make our spooky laboratory setting we created wall art that looks like it came out of Dr. Frankenstein’s cellar. The panels look like rusty old machines with lots of switches, knobs and dials, but in reality, they’re cardboard boxes covered in wrapping paper that was touched up with a little brown paint to get the rust effect. The dials and other displays were made from recycled food containers, jar lids and a few doodads from the hardware store.

Florescent-green, battery-operated tea-light candles are the secret to getting your spooky laboratory to glow. The remote-controlled lights are waterproof and cost about $25 for a pack of 10. After Halloween, you can change the color of the tea lights and use them for other holidays or decorating projects.

Add glow-in-the-dark labware and faux-radioactive props to your creepy laboratory. It’s easy and inexpensive to make glowing potions and specimen jars. Use recycled jars and containers, fill them with distilled water and a few drops of neon paint. Insert a dollar-store toy bug into the jar and then glue a waterproof, neon-green tea light to the underside of the lid. Screw the lid on and then fasten one of our spooky specimen labels to the front.