..to ask for help with planning a frugal Halloween party for seven teenagers? HELP!

[AlphaBravoCharlieDeltaEchOFoxt]

Shamelessly posting for traffic. Sorry. Not sorry .

Reluctantly agreed to host Halloween party for seven fourteen year olds - six female and one platonic male friend that's "one of girls".

I don't get paid until after this party has gone due to four weekly rather than monthly pay and I'm not mature enough to plan ahead to anticipate stuff like this.

I am creative in the sense that I don't mind making or creating things (used to do props for an am dram company) but money is pretty pretty tight I'm utterly brassic

I have cardboard, paint, paper and a few bits from last Halloween but none of it is very good!

Can anyone share any ideas about how you can have a fantastic frugal Halloween party that won't be sneered at by seven teenagers?

DD refused to ask friends to bring stuff as that looks "desperate" as I originally thought if X brings this and Y brings that then that will all add up to help share the financial load. No such luck.

A few parents have said no movies unless they are 12/PG but I wasn't planning on sticking them in front of Nightmare on Elm Street and leaving them to it! Was thinking maybe party games or they will just stay on their phones... Surely?

Please help! Ideas for decorations, games, recipes anything that won't cost very much but will look good.

I'll give anything a go if it's worth a try!

TIA

How about making your own version of an escape room. I admit I haven't done one but I think you have to solve a mystery/puzzle e.g. a murder. You can probably find lots of ideas googling it.

My 14 yo would just want a few pizzas and nibbles and to be left to their own devices tbh.

I think supermarket pizzas (£1 a pop) and ice cream with a few sweets/choc on it might be the cheapest way to put on a spread?

A friend once cut open black bin bags and hung them from the walls to make them black, dripped fake blood down the mirror on the chimney breast (cornflour, water and red food colouring) and it looked amazing.

We also copied one of DH’s school photos and enlarged it, and defaced it… think devil eyes, sugar skulls and evil eyes (4 siblings). The naughtiest was left with no decoration

I do the most popular game at my parties: trick or treat. Just a bowl with little, folded pieces of paper which each person chooses from. You either get a 'treat' written on it (get a sweet) or 'trick'. Examples of trick can be tailored to ages. Mine have ranges from dance to an entire song/ put on gloves and cut a Mars Bar with a knife and fork/ run outside and shout 'I do smelly pumps'/ tell a joke/ food surprise blindfolded (eg peanut butter & tuna / pickle and toffee - and you guess the ingredients). Always ends in hilarity.

I would go for children’s party games - at 14 that stuff is ‘ironic’ and goes down a storm. So apple bobbing, stick your hand in container stuff (just boil up spaghetti, cut up tomatoes etc).

It makes more sense if I tell you it was put in a tame and in the same place as the normal photo

These ideas are brilliant! Thanks to everyone who's posted so far!

I agree with Ceecee. Put in a red lightbulb, raid Poundland for halloween tat, light a few candles (safely) in a corner or on a shelf, get Alexa to play halloween songs, buy/make some pizza bases and get them to make their own pizzas, and shut the door.

Yes the guess what’s in the box is good at any age, witches hair -cooked spaghetti etc

For some reason the Asda magazine are usually very good at stuff like this. I remember I made a bonfire cake for a party years ago that featured orange matchmakers stacked up to make the fire that went down well.

Skull pizzas anyone?

They might like to ice scary cup cakes if you can bake, then just get green and grey icing and red shoe laces. Cobwebs over door ways (pound land) yes to apple bobbing and eating party rings off the washing line.

Home bargains have bags of individually wrapped jelly eyeballs for less than £1.50 for a bag of 40.

Hot dogs, tortilla chips and a 4 variety pack of dips and maybe a cheap pizza or two should suffice. Add grated cheese and a can of chilli for natchos if budget allows.

Not sure about dessert? Maybe a cake or something? Or ask them all to bring a Halloween bag of sweets for a contribution to trick or treat?

My older two always thought I was the lame mum when I sent them with a multi pack bag of swizzles or Cadbury hero’s and a tube or two of Pringles, but they always got eaten and the friends always said thank you the next time they saw me. Perhaps the guests will bring something to add too?

I would do some basic decorations and maybe a make your own pizza party. Loads of “spooky” toppings, bases can be bought really cheap. Then just music with soft drinks and snacks. Movie for later on to eat with the pizzas once they’re cooked.

Scary soundtracks or thunder and lightning noises courtesy of youtube.

I'd probably do hotdogs and jacket potatoes, the kind of stuff you'd have at a bonfire night.

They could make chocolate dipped apples, just need to melt a load of chocolate, kebab sticks through the apple and then mini marshmallows and sprinkles for added decorations.

Or s'mores, if you have a bbq or fire pit they could do them outside, if not then they can use candle flames to toast the marshmallows.

my daughter is having a few friends round to make toffee apples and decorate fairy cakes like spiders webs or ghosts, with pizza, borrow bonfire recipes

Hot dog fingers can go down well. Take a sliver off the top of the sausage and score some lines for knuckles and job done

Spider body is 2 balloons wrapped in a bin bag and the legs are more bin bags cut into strips.

Food wise, cut a ready rolled sheet of ouff pastry into strips. Wrap the strips around sausages so they look like mummies. Use the ends to make little eyes. Scary sausage rolls.

Stick a scary film on, having blacked out a room with a load of cheap black fabric.

Buy some Smirnoff ice. They'll feel.so grown up with one of those each they won't care about the decos.

For a game we bought doughnuts (just cheapie ones), tied string through the hole and one person holds it while the other has their hands behind their back whilst trying to eat it. We had this game for a party of about 20 people, age 6 to 40… everyone had fun..
we had decorations from the pound shop and they’ve lasted us years!

Apple bobbing if you can scrump the apples. Lots of fruit trees at road side and in parks that no one ever picks. I really like the idea of party rings on a string. Spooky Halloween songs. Our favourite film is the Nightmare before Christmas. Sure they will just enjoy hanging out together!

Mummy's tomb game in the dark or with blindfolds. Pass around bits of the 'mummy'. Chicken drumstick bone as a finger bone. Pickled onion as the eyeball. Cooked spaghetti as worms. Wet Jay cloth as lung. Blown up then mostly deflated balloon (so it goes all wrinkly) as a kidney etc.

Apple bobbing and dangling doughnut game 👍. I have a Halloween playlist which my kids 'urgh muuuuum' at too.
Two teams, wrap the mummy up (toilet roll).
Just silly (cheap) party games. Plus pizza and a load of sweets.

@CeceJoyce

For a game we bought doughnuts (just cheapie ones), tied string through the hole and one person holds it while the other has their hands behind their back whilst trying to eat it. We had this game for a party of about 20 people, age 6 to 40… everyone had fun.. we had decorations from the pound shop and they’ve lasted us years!

I've done a version of this where we hang the donuts on string from something and make it a competition to see who can eat theirs quickest with their hands behind their backs. You can also make it blindfold if you want to make it harder- but if I do that we only have half playing at a time so the other half can enjoy the hilarity! Bit messy to clean up but you can put a sheet on the floor or do it outside. If you don't want to do donuts you can do the same with pretty much anything you can hang on a bit of string.