Halloween School Party Games

For this school year, I've been asked to help plan the holiday parties for my daughter's class.  Being a homeroom mom is a hoot -- mostly because the kiddos are so adorable and watching them interact and play together is too fun. 

Plus, while my child still wants to be seen with her parents?  I'm going to soak that in for all it is worth. 

Early on, a friend warned me that the teenage years will hit all too fast, and that I'd better store up some cheery little memories before the hormone soup clock strikes 13.  I've taken that advice to heart as much as I could, and have enjoyed all of our little fun times together as The Peanut has grown steadily upward.  I think I may secretly harbor the hope that we'll be one of the lucky few families with a teenager that still enjoys hanging out with her parents...a girl can dream, right?

In any case, I've spent some time this week coming up with game ideas for the Halloween party based on party games I remember playing in the past, ones that friends or family have suggested, and things I've found around the internet. 

But, honestly?  The game ideas that actually sound fun are a little scanty out there for Halloween.  

So I've compiled a few of the ones that sounded best to me to share with everyone else who may be having that same scramble to find school party ideas in the hopes that other folks might find them helpful, too. 

Tea Party For Two

As a surprise yesterday, I put dinner together for The Peanut and I as a tea party.  The table was set and waiting for her to come home from school.

And the look on her face was absolutely priceless.  Wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

But I did get pictures of bits and pieces of the table setting for you.  The whole thing took about an hour of my time to throw together from start to finish, and she had a blast having a "tea party" dinner last night.

And so did I.

Since we had her birthday party in an Alice in Wonderland theme last year, we still have all this cute tea party stuff and plush toys.  I used a few of them for table decor -- the flippable Alice/Queen of Hearts dolland a small Cheshire Cat were happy to oblige.

I found that cute little polka dot tea set for less than ten bucks at Target several years ago.  We have played more with that one little set than just about any other toy she has -- and even though it is ceramic, she's never broken one dish.

As you can see, our little kitchen table was covered with fun stuff, mostly with flowers or polka dots on it -- but it looked really adorable altogether.

An Alice In Wonderland Birthday Party

The Peanut turned 7 this year, and we decided on an Alice in Wonderland theme for her birthday party.

I had a lot of fun working up the decorations and the food ideas, and thought folks might get a kick out of some of the pictures.

This is what you saw as you entered our house.  I found strands of brightly-colored paper butterflies hanging from fishing wire at our local party outlet store, and they looked lovely hanging from the pocket-doorway into our dining room.  (They were a pain and a half to untangle, though -- so be warned.)

I found a Mad Hatter hat online, and it was a lovely touch to the decor, along with the cupcake pinata (pull-string) which I also bought online.

The flower arrangements were just bits and pieces of silk flowers that I picked up at craft stores on sale over a 3-month period prior to the party.  I stuck them in big foam blocks, steadied by jam-packed plastic grocery bags inside large planters that I use for my herbs outside.

They really looked nice.  I tried to select all sorts of technicolor random flowers, the larger the better, to look like the Disney cartoon version gardens.

In our entryway, I hung a cheap Alice in Wonderland poster that I bought used for $3 in a poster frame I got for $2.  It looked lovely.

I decorated with more flowers and paper butterflies, and a stuffed Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit that I got from the Disney Store online on sale.

And lots and lots of flowers.

You can't quite see it from the first picture, but I had loads of fun with the tea table food and decorations, too.  I took every teapot and nice teacup out of our china cupboards, and piled them around the center of the table.

I also piled out all the colorful trays that I owned -- most of which were cheap and plastic, but had lovely floral or brightly-colored geometrics on them.

We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tea sandwiches with ham and cheese and turkey and cheese, and also some mini-croissants with chicken salad.

Plus there were mini-quiches, cheese and pepperoni and crackers, fruit and vanilla yogurt for dipping, chips and a few other goodies.

I tried to come up with food that grown-ups would like as well as stuff for the kids, since parents were coming along for the party.

As you can see, I tried to put flowers everywhere, even found some flower party picks at Oriental Trading.  Bought a huge supply for a tiny price -- and I figured they'll get parceled out over at least another birthday party in coming years as well as school party food.

The kids really seemed to love it.  One said that it was just like walking into Wonderland, coming through the door.  And I had a LOT of fun creatively coming up with everything.