..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

At that age I really wouldn't have expected my mum to plan or do anything for my friends and me. In fact it would have been pretty embarrassing.
Can your daughter not sort it herself?

Cheap table decoration - spooky satsumas (satsumas withmarker pen scary faces)

Angel delight chocolate 'swamp' pudding (decorate with sweets: foam teeth etc)

Have it outside in your garden,,light a bonfire let them toast marshmallows and jacket potatoes in the fire and make them hot choocolate and leave them to it ,let them have music they have on their phones,Tell them all to bring a blanket to wrap around themselves,If you can stretch to it I would buy some hay bales they are really cheap from a local farm and let them sit on those, Job done they will entertain themselves happily and its different enough to be cool still!!!!

Things my kids enjoyed at that age:
Halloween themed Pictionary-type game in 2 teams (only need pens and paper, you pre-prepare the words to be guessed on Halloween theme)
Ghost story telling - sit in the circle in the dark - they pass a torch round that lights the face of each in turn pointing torch upwards from below chin as they add one sentence to the story (usually starts with “it was a dark and stormy night….”)
Flour game - put flour in a small mixing bowl and turn it out like a sandcastle. Place a sweet on the top. Each person in turn has to slice off part of the flour with a knife. When it collapses the last person to cut has to lift the sweet out with their teeth and no hands (so gets a floury face)
Dressing up game - 2 teams - give each a load of stuff like bin bags, sellotape, paper, safety pins (I’d get whatever the pound shop had like Jay cloths) and challenge them to dress one of their team mates in the most creative Halloween costume. Then have a ‘fashion parade’ and you judge which is best. This can use up quite a lot of time too!
Food - hot dogs in rolls with ketchup is cheap (call them bloody witches fingers), big bowl of popcorn (done in microwave), melt chocolate (with a bit of cream/milk) and they can dip marshmallows and sliced banana in it (basically it’s a chocolate fondue)
The mummy game (as a previous poster) wrap a team mate in loo roll.

Hope some of this helps. Have fun!

Love the idea of the hotdog fingers!

Make tombstones from the cardboard and paint. Could perhaps paint each of their names on them.

I always reckon homemade pizza is pretty cheap, and possibly forms an activity?

I can get 3 pizza bases out of a 500g batch of flour with 1 sachet of yeast. So with a 1.5kg bag you'd have enough to do 7 pizzas and have 2/3 of a batch leftover for dough balls. That would be about £2?

You'd need 4 mozzarella balls which are about 50p each in a big supermarket. Some tomato puree (which I loosen off with a bit of water and ideally some garlic puree too), and then other bits for toppings. I reckon the whole thing could come in under £7 if you were careful with topping options, and £10 would let you give a good range. Add £1.50 for some butter and that's a pretty cheap evening's food? I usually go to Lidl or Aldi for the stuff like this as their cured meats are cheap.

Dough balls are again super easy - make with the same dough as the pizza and you can cook ahead and reheat. And homemade garlic butter can either be made with heavily softened butter and garlic puree or if I don't have any I fry several cloves in some of the butter til they're soft and then mix in with the softened rest of butter once it has cooled.

Ironic party games if DD thinks they'll work.

@TheBlackArt

Make tombstones from the cardboard and paint. Could perhaps paint each of their names on them.

Sorry - not as a game or anything lol! I meant as general decor.

You could make them spooky mocktails

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/halloween-mocktail-recipes

@shouldistop very appropriate username! If you haven't got anything helpful to say maybe just scroll on?

Make your own spooky pizzas is cheap AND an activity!

Potatoes are cheap cheap cheap for making wedges as sides.

Ooh two teams and some loo rolls, compete against the clock to turn one of the team into a mummy

You, or they, could make meringue ghosts to take home with them. Easy and cheap to make (or buy meringues and just paint the eyes and mouth) and they actually look quite funny and cute..

I'm with the fire, marshmallows, apple bobbing and spooky music folk. At that age DS liked this and also the trick or treat game outlined above. Don't try too hard or it will be 'cringe'. What does your DD want?

Also, play Nelson's Eye . I honestly love that game.

Blindfolded teen gets to touch Nelson's body (rope in other person to be the corpse). Rolling pin leg, empty jacket sleeve for lost arm, really build it up verbally, describing it to them. Finally you take their finger and say 'And, this is Nelson's.... Eye!' and plunge their finger into a satsuma 🤣. They all scream and get a bit giddy and silly.

Do you get YouTube on your tv? How absolutely Just Dance Halloween dances?

#how about I meant.

Masking tape to make a chalk outline on the floor is easy but looks good.

We use old unwanted video tapes and sticky tape to make a massive "spider web" from the main light fitting to the walls - very effective!

Cut branches from a tree to create a mini tree. Make ghost decorations from white card, bat decorations from black card and pumpkin decorations from orange if you have it. Hang on the tree with thread.

You can keep the “tree” for Easter etc.

This spider web game is also good.

www.teachingideas.co.uk/good-relationships/untangle-the-spiders-web

I’d do tinned hot dogs and Aldi 70p pizzas, tons of crisps, cucumber and carrot sticks and as many sweets as you can stretch to.

Apple Bobbing is a must
Worm bobbing - gummy worm on a plate covered with squirty cream, shove your face in to find the worm

Then put on beetlejuice and leave them to it with sweets and drinks ?

I love this one! (sound on)

www.instagram.com/reel/CUrrl-BoCi_/?utm_medium=copy_link

I'd probably do a Murder Mystery party. Gives a reason to dress up, choose a sinister theme and a mocktail bar with mocktails they can make with scary themes or eyeballs floating in them etc. Teen DD has done a few with her friends and they go over very well.

@AlphaBravoCharlieDeltaEchOFoxt I don't understand why it wasn't helpful. Are you sure your daughters actually expecting you to decorate and organise activities etc? Or does she just want somewhere to hang about with her friends at Halloween?