I've been to a few Halloween parties in my day. In my college days a Halloween party pretty much was made up of a couple of decorations, chips...and beer. I've also had a few "regular" Halloween parties myself. They were always fun, but I wanted to do more. A lot more. Here was my first real experiment with the theme idea.

Back in the mid-90's, (seems so long ago) I decided to "theme" my party. That year I happened to choose a science fiction theme. I put on the invitations that the party was to be a sci-fi theme and people that followed the theme received prizes. You would have thought that my house was invaded by Star Trek and Star Wars. A large percentage of of guests came dressed as Star Trek:TNG officers. We even had Yoda (though Yoda was about 5'9" tall). My wife and I were dressed as Han Solo and Princess Leia (I was Han). I didn't stop at just a costume theme. Even though my house had all of the usual decorations, I converted our garage into a "space" room complete with black lights, over 700 glowing stars and even a couple of space aliens (including a Jawa) for some real space ambiance. I also had a life sized Terminator (Arnold style) next to the bathroom spouting one-liners to people that encountered him. Suffice it to say the party was a real hit.

So next time why just have an ordinary Halloween party when you can have a Halloween "experience". Below are a few suggestions you might want to try for your next party. Good luck!

Pirates - Black Beard, Disney's Pirates, etc. If you have the means, have an area for sand and a treasure chest. Give out gold foil chocolate coins in bags a favors.

Jungle - A variation on the pirate theme. I actually used this idea in 2001. The yard was partially covered with camouflage netting and tree vines. I had tiki torches burning in the background and fake shrunken heads dangling over the guests where they sat. I also had jungle sound effects and native drums beating in the background. You can kind of combine the pirates and jungle themes together which is sort of how it turned out for me. I had lots of pirates and jungle type natives. I think Fred and Wilma Flintstone were there too.

Vampires - From Bela to Nosferatu to Spike, choose an undead to suit you. Lots of garlic, crosses and maybe have someone dress as a priest. Don't forget a coffin.

Super Heros - Batman & Robin, Superman & Lois Lane, Spider-Man and Mary Jane, etc.

Party of the Century - Have guests choose a particular decade to dress (circle skirts for the fifties, bell bottoms for the sixties, etc).

Classic Movie Monsters - Have people come as one of the original classic monsters from the 1930's and 40's. Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein, Wolfman, The Mummy,,,you get the picture.

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