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.

Make a tray of mad scientists’ favorite ingredients and potions. This easy project is made from recycled bottles that were covered in black chalk paint. The raised lettering is done with hot glue and then painted over with acrylic paint to add the gnarly, aged look. A few inexpensive potion labels make the bottles even more evil-looking. Whether you’re having a party or not, these apothecary bottles are sure to become one of your favorite Halloween decorations for years to come. Doesn't everyone want some ogre snot?

As every parent knows, growth spurts and hunger pangs go hand-in-hand, so make sure to serve plenty of snacks and treats. Mix nutritious items with a few special-occasion, not-so-healthy treats like cupcakes, donuts and cookies.

The kids (and adults) will enjoy food labels with fun names that go with the theme. Save time and money by printing our free labels. We’ve got all sorts of delectable names like giant slug worms, toxic treats, dried horns, creepy crawlies, goblin goop and more.

Mix dark-colored foods together to create an enticing presentation. Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, dark grapes, purple carrots and plums all look sinister when grouped together — the kids may not even realize they’re eating healthy fruits and vegetables. Add a few more sweet treats like chocolate-covered pretzels, almonds and cookies. If you want to serve more savory foods for the adults, add in kalamata olives, blue-corn tortilla chips, cranberry-topped goat cheese and jerky. Make salami into flower shapes by folding large pieces of salami in half and then half again. Fold another piece around the edges of this and secure it with a toothpick.

Next to the dark-food charcuterie board, place a selection of white delectables to make your buffet table even more spectacular. White carrots, deviled eggs and slices of cheddar cheese that were cut into coffin shapes are served alongside cauliflower and cucumbers that were cut into skull shapes. A bowl of ranch dressing serves as the dip. To make the skull cukes, peel the cucumber and cut off the ends and then cut it in half. Cut a sliver off the sides so the shape resembles a skull. Slice two “eyes” by removing a portion of the inside. Cut slits at the bottom to resemble teeth.

Create a Halloween version of a classic ball-toss game where kids have to throw eyeballs into cups held by creepy skeleton hands. To make this board game, holes were cut into a piece of plywood to hold the skeleton hands, then plastic cups were adhered to the palms of the hands. Numbers to indicate points scored were added to the board as well as some festive lighting. Start tossing rubber eyeballs and make sure to keep a scorecard handy when playing, as this game can get intense.

Create a touch-sensory game for older kids to enjoy. Place different types of foods in individual containers and label them in Halloween-centric names. For example, ogre warts is pumpkin seeds, boiled brains is cauliflower and goblin guts is spaghetti. Have the kids write down their guesses on a sheet of paper and award a prize to the best guesser.