I just saw the first sign for PSL yesterday outside Starbucks, so I assume it’s safe to say (on August 30) that fall is upon us. That means, for us fall people – Halloween decor is totally acceptable, after Labor Day of course.
Halloween has forever been my favorite holiday – not to dress up, but just the season, the spookiness. I have loved Freddy Kruger and Jason since I was a small child and they never scared me – I just always loved horror movies (you can even ask my mom about this – she would admit it).
So it’s funny to see Max following in my footsteps. He too is not scared but yet seems to love the deep dark underworld of creepy scary movies. He doesn’t watch Freddy yet, but he loves the Nightmare Before Christmas and anything to do with ghosts, zombies and monsters. Even that creepy ass Coraline movie on Netflix doesn’t scare him (that one even makes we twinge a bit).
So when he asked for a Halloween birthday party – in JULY – I wasn’t surprised, but wasn’t sure how I was going to pull this off. It’s hot in July and costumes aren’t exactly cool. We also live in NYC, so like, we don’t keep a lot of Halloween decor in a storage so…..? But as a mom, I was determined to pull this off. And if I can, you can.
We ended up having a Friday the 13th party at midnight (his birthday is on July 14) however no one made it till midnight haha. We tried. But it was still one of the best birthdays we’ve pulled off. Below I’ll detail who/what/how and pricing.
The Decor
For Halloween this is the most important topic. You can’t have a scary party without decor and for this I went right to the source – Michael’s. Lucky for you, ALL of these items are now available for purchase in-store (but I got them to give me a little early just to show you cause you’re special ha).
I am obsessed with these skeletons. And I also love the Little Shop of Horrors plants.
Was a big fan of the skeleton head (it was perfect for dry ice!), and we picked up a lot of little containers for the food table, including the cheese cloth to make mummies, etc.
I also made a photo wall. We got these cheap clip lights on sale from Urban Outfitters, and have a polaroid camera, so I had Max have his guests take photos for him to clip up. We also grabbed letters at Michaels and painted them black from Michael’s that were the perfect font from the movie.
The Food
Cake is king. I happen to know one of the best cake makers around, Angela of Making that Cake, and she never disappoints. Ask me to show you the hot dog cake she made Max for his 3rd birthday at Coney Island! This one wins though. Max LOVES the Ooogy Boogy man, and I always leave it up to her – I said try to incorporate all the characters, but run free with ideas. Oh, and Max wants chocolate cake. This is what we ended up with – a masterpiece.
Of course we ordered pizza from Maxs’ favorite shop in Astoria, but snacks are key. I made my famous homemade honey butter popcorn, and attempted chocolate pretzel sticks for the first time.
Plus, we had a massive candy station, obviously. And that was it. Simple, cute and all edible by all parties.
The Entertainment
The kids are getting older and at age six, you need an activity for them. Since we don’t have a backyard for a balloon fight or cookout like I did as a kid, we have to get creative. First, I hired a face painter ($200 for 1 1/2 hours) that I actually met in Central Park. She is the best (seriously my neighbors have hired her multiple times since!) and it was perfect for Halloween – even the parents got their faces painted. The mugs (see below!) were a great activity as they came in and took turns with the face painting, and then I had it set up for them to go trick or treating around the building (they did this while Josh set up for the show!). I contacted about 10 neighbors and sent little sets of candy to them for the kids to stop by, including the doormen.
Then as the final act, I had my friend Josh, The Circus Guy stop by to give a magic show. Max has seen Josh’s shows through work at Mommy Nearest a few times and LOVES him, so I thought it would be the perfect addition – and was it ever. Josh is amazing – he even had the parents shaking their heads wondering how he did many of the tricks and the entire tiny audience was captivated. If you can book him, you should. It’s one of the coolest acts out there.
Costumes
You MUST dress up – that’s a requirement. I actually dyed my hair red using some washout hair dye I found on Amazon and got our costumes online for $15 each. That’s a bonus for buying off-season!
The gifts
I am always hesitant to give crap away. We just don’t need crap in our house (we have no space!) and kids just don’t care for it. They just want a goodie bag – and who invented this shit anyways??? So I try to always incorporate the “gift” into something useable – and these mugs you can paint and bake are PERFECT. They are $3 each. They give the kids an activity to do, and then they can fill them with candy to take home. I baked them on a tray while they were out trick or treating, and they were set and ready to go when they left. AMAZING YOU GUYS. Seriously, Michael’s this is the coolest thing ever. It’s even good for adults – grab some sharpies and have at it. So for $3 each, the kids had fun and make their own mugs, actually took something home they would use and filled it up with candy. Win.
Totals:
Candy Station: $60
Decor, Michael’s: $100
Cake, Making that Cake: $120
Gifts: $3 for 20 kids = $60
Pizza: $75
Costumes: $45 on Amazon
Snacks and drinks: $50
Entertainment: $200 for facepainting (Josh came as gift for Max! -You’ll have to check with him for pricing – but tell you you saw him on my blog/social media for a special rate!)
Overall: $700
Kids parties are on average $500 so I give or take a little. But since I can reuse the decor, and we had a lot of snacks left over, it evens out to around that still. I am pretty sure my parents never paid that much for parties, but for hosting 20 kids and their adults in my NYC apartment with all this entertainment, it was a pretty good budget!
