You’ve decided on the format for your Halloween event, arranged the venue and told everyone to come along – but are you scared something’s missing?

Don’t give yourself a fright; try these last-minute ideas to ramp up the fun factor at your Halloween event. We’ve selected some spookily simple DIY projects (even a zombie could do them!) to make sure your event is packed full of thrills and chills.

Devilish Decor

Turning your venue into a veritable house of horrors is a must to get party-goers in the mood, so don’t stop at a couple of pumpkins. With only a week to go, we know you haven’t got long to get crafty, so here are a few ideas for quick-to-make but highly effective decorations.

Cobwebs – drape portions of ripped, unbleached cheesecloth from doorways and archways to create a musty, dusty cobwebby look. Adorn it with fake spiders to give arachnophobes a fright.

Ghoulish silhouettes – cut ghostly shapes from large sheets of black paper or card and stick them to windows. Light them from behind with a coloured light for an even spookier effect.

Scary slogans – fear starts in the mind so freak out your guests with some disturbing messages daubed on doors, windows or mirrors. Opt for glow in the dark washable acrylic paint or scribe in a blood-red. You can even use red lipstick for that “who’s behind you?” serial killer vibe. And why not add in a few bloody handprints for good measure?

You can add further atmosphere with whirls of mysterious fog. Smoke machines can be hired or purchased inexpensively online for around £30.

Creepy Costumes

It’s not just your venue that needs to look the part, it’s your event staff too. Have you thought about costumes for door staff, bar staff and waiting staff? Here are some low-cost ideas you can put together at home to make sure everyone in your team has something to wear. What’s even better is that none of them requires any sewing!

Pumpkin – all you need are orange jumpers or T-shirts and some duct tape. Cut out features for your pumpkin and stick them on or draw them on with black marker.

Ghost – you can do exactly the same thing with white T-shirts to create ghosts. Another way to make the features is out of black felt. You can either glue the pieces on with fabric glue or attach them with iron-on adhesive tape.

Skeleton – this striking costume can be achieved purely with T-shirts and scissors. Use the template to draw rib cages on white and black T-shirts, cut them out and then layer them over contrasting colour T-Shirts. They look especially great under UV lights.

Creepy canapé – these spider mini pizzas are sculpted out of delicious, ripe California black olives so they taste better than they look!

Gutsy buffet – present your meat to look like the innards of a cadaver and see who’s brave enough to tuck in. Other ideas on this theme include laying out a mannequin fashioned from clothing and serving food from containers placed within.

Freaky cocktail – guests will love this “Voodoo Punch”, especially the syringes of syrup they can squirt in themselves. You can bulk buy plastic syringes (the type used for orally administering medication) online for under a tenner. You could also choose to offer shots in syringes on their own – bound to be a big hit with a student crowd.

Pumpkin ice bucket – scoop out a big pumpkin and put a glass bowl inside to create an eye-catching ice bucket for beer bottles, or use it as a punch bowl and make another one to fill with giant skull shaped ice cubes.

Eerie Entertainment

With great food, drink, costumes and decor, your Halloween event will be a feast for the senses but there are still a few extra steps you can take to ramp up the fun. If your event is for children, Pinterest has loads of ideas for games, but grownup ghouls will appreciate the following…

Photo op – half the fun of Halloween is dressing up, so make sure you capture your guests in their frightful finery by having a photographer in the venue. You could create a “photo booth” with spooky props or make a Halloween backdrop. You can put the photos on social media afterwards to increase your online following and use them to help promote your next event.

Prizes – incentivise guests to put lots of effort into their costumes by offering an attractive prize for the best costume – perhaps a bottle of champagne the winner can drink on the night? And why not give attendees another chance to win by running a spooky-themed “guess the quantity” competition? Put eyeballs or spiders into a large glass container like the image below.

Music – it’s obligatory that Michael Jackson’s Thriller gets played, but you’d be surprised at the number of songs that also suit the theme. Check out the list below for some tracks that will spook-up your Halloween playlist (there’s lots more on Pinterest).

Conclusion

You don’t need too much time or money to put in place these last-minute ideas. Doing so will undoubtedly inject life into your Halloween event – even if it’s being attended by the undead!