Three Wicked-Fun Grown-Up Halloween Parties

Little ghosts and scary fairies shouldn’t have all the fun on Halloween. Adults can get in on the fright night festivities with party themes made just for them. Here are our three favorites – with invitations to match.

Sleepy Hollow Party Turn to one of the earliest pieces of American fiction – Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” – for inspiration in creating a party that’s both creepy and classic. Mixbook’s Fancy Text Halloween party invitation sets the perfect tone. After all, it was with a similar supernatural specter that Irving managed to spin a tale far more chilling than any modern blood-and-gore horror flick. The story’s strange subtlety and grim setting is exactly why it’s so unnerving. But any dark book or movie can be used as the basis for your unique Halloween party, providing a great way to focus your decorating and inspire guests. The exaggerated characters of Irving’s tale – from the spine-chilling Headless Horseman and the lanky, superstitious Ichabod Crane to the coveted Katrina Van Tassel, and Brom Bones, the town scoundrel – offer plenty of opportunities for creative interpretation. If you want to go above and beyond, rent a dry-ice fog machine to set an ominous tone as guests enter. Create a scarecrow-style Headless Horseman for the front porch by stuffing a rented costume and using a terrifying carved pumpkin for the head.

Halloween Ball Take a gothic vampire approach to celebrating All Hallows Eve by hosting a beastly ball. Start by sending out Mixbook’s Halloween Elegance invitation. Then draw on that theme by having a chandelier front and center when guests arrive at your home. If you already have a swanky pendant, drape it with gauzy cheesecloth or creepy cobwebs. And if you don’t have one, pick up an inexpensive faux chandelier at a party store. Repurpose frames already hanging by placing creepy pictures where beautiful photos reside the rest of the year. If you have plenty of time to prep for your party, it can be fun to go the extra mile and alter photos of friends and family members using photo-retouching software. Finish the scene with a forbidding bouquet of flowers by draping a beautiful bunch of roses with nylon cobwebs – use a light touch to let the beauty come through, then place plastic spiders so they’re skittering across the petals.

Creepy Cocktails There’s nothing more foreboding than an evening of venomous libations and dismal conversation. Start by sending out Mixbook’s Creepy Cocktails invitations, then set about collecting bar tools fit for a Faustian festivity. Pick your poison – be it Dark & Stormy or Blood & Sand, and let the evening evolve – or devolve – from there. So that guests won’t fear serving themselves – and the hosts can relax, create a drink station that includes preprinted cocktail recipes. You can also have premixed cocktails – floating with slices of blood oranges – ready to pour in a drink dispenser. Showcase your single deadliest dessert placed prominently at the center of your spread.

Happy Halloween!