Creative Halloween Invitations

There's no better way to stir-up excitement about your party than by sending out themed invitations! Give your guests plenty of notice (2-3 weeks) and be sure to follow-up with them to see if they'll be attending.

It's scary how busy people can be around Halloween, and although being surprised is a big part of the holiday, you don't want to be surprised by more guests showing up than you had planned on!

In this lens, we'll cover some of the top themes for Halloween parties and creative ideas for invitations! After all, with so many options out there on just what to do with their time, you want your guests to choose your party to attend, right?

What better way to convince them that your pad is the place to be on Halloween than by giving them a little taste of what's in store for them! Whether you're throwing a child's party or an adult party, everyone can appreciate some spooky ambiance, and it all begins with the invite!

Of all the spooky characters associated with Halloween, witches are definitely the most well known. This is probably because, in ancient times, October 31st, known as "All Hallows Eve", was a celebrated holiday by people of old Europe, particularly the Celts.

All Hallows Eve

marked the end of the harvest season and was also thought of as the one day each year when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was at its thinnest.

Over the centuries, the traditional meaning of the holiday has been adapted to meet the cultural needs of the time, and today, most people have no idea how old the holiday is or the origins of why October 31st is so celebrated. As with many traditions passed on through time, the most prominent details are what have stayed alive.

Today, modern "Halloween" witches are a remnant of a mixture of what the original believers were, and what centuries of adaptations to cultural needs have made them.

Invitations

A neat idea for invitations to a witch-themed Halloween party would be to write out your invitations on old parchment paper. And to add even more of a twist, writing the invitations in symbols, or what are called runes, would make it very intriguing!

Use this one or find a runic alphabet online or in a book to work with. Come up with English words for each symbol. Not many people today actually know the true meaning of runic symbols, so don't worry about offending anyone! I would suggest printing out a decoder slip to include in the invitations. Draw-out the runes with their English translation below.

To make the paper, simply crumble up a piece of printer paper into a ball, then uncrumble and flatten it. Next, soak it with coffee (you can use a paint brush or basting brush). Let the paper soak up the coffee for a few minutes and then dry the paper with a blow dryer. Just repeat this process for as many invitations as you'll want to send.

Then write your invitation in runes onto the parchment paper. Be sure to include the decoder slip in the envelope with the invitation. When your guests get the invitation, they'll have to use the decoder slip to translate the runic invitation into English!

The concept of vampires has been around since the beginning of folklore. The idea of a creature only being able to survive by drinking the blood, or life-force, of humans is, well, pretty elementary. Today we speak of people who feed their egos by sucking the life out of weaker people. These types of people could be considered modern day vampires, surviving by drawing on the life-force of others.

In older times, vampires were taken a bit more literally. Originally seen as disgusting, undead creatures, they were something to be feared, avoided, and sometimes hunted! They too (like the witch) have succumbed to cultural demands, and over time, have been romanticized.

Authors such as Bram Stoker, Anne RIce, and most recently, Stephenie Meyer, have all shown us a softer, more vulnerable side to these undead beings. But let's not forget, they want to survive just as much as anyone else does, and they'll do what they need to do to ensure their existence!

Invitations

A great idea for a Vampire themed Halloween party invite is a vial with a blood red invitation inside! You can purchase vials online at most science supply websites. After writing out your invitation on blood red paper, roll the paper up and thread it into the vial. Hand deliver or mail the vial invites in a padded envelope.

If you want to be a bit more adventurous, write out your invitations on waterproof paper and then roll up the invite and thread it into a vial which is half filled with fake blood (1 part karo syrup, 1 part water, and a few drops of red food coloring)!

Because of the idea that Halloween is the one day of the year when the door between the world of the living and the world of the dead is so accessible, ghosts are a prominent theme associated with Halloween. They can be thought of as friendly ghosts (like Casper!) or not so friendly, evil spirits.

Whatever the case, the main idea about ghosts is that they are invisible and can only be seen by people who have a certain connection to the dead. You may be able to sense their presence, either by the hairs standing up on your arms, a cold draft that shouldn't be there, or eerie, ghostly noises, but to actually catch a glimpse of one is rare!

Invitations

What better way to invite a guest to a Ghost themed party than to invite them using invisible means?! Modern science has made this pretty easy for us to accomplish! By writing out your invitations with glow in the dark markers, your guests will definitely feel a ghostly presence when they turn out the lights and see your message!

Just be sure to include (in visible text!) that there is more to the invitation than meets the eye and what they have to do to be able to read the glow in the dark text.

I have to admit, of all the scary ghouls out there, zombies creep me out the most! I think it's the whole idea of them eating our flesh that really gets me! And the fact that they really enjoy our brains? Yeah, that's enough to give me the heebie-jeebies!

The real truth is, in Voodoo beliefs, zombies do exist! It is believed that Voodoo Witch Doctors can control the will of humans by using magic. On a more scientific limb, recent studies have shown that there are certain neurotoxins and/or psychoactive drugs which can induce a zombie-like state in humans. Granted, they don't become flesh-eating monsters, but infected people do enter in to a death-like state where they have no control over themselves.

In areas of the world where trained medical professionals are not accessible, it may be deemed that these infected individuals are dead, and they end up, unfortunately, buried alive! If they luck out and manage to stay six feet above, it may take days or weeks for the person to regain complete consciousness, and even then, they may have no memory of the ordeal they went through!

For more information on real zombies, check this out!

Invitations

Because zombies are notorious for being flesh-eating, what better way to invite your guest to a Zombie themed party than to tell them it's a dinner party?! Come up with creepy names for everyday party foods. Some examples might include:

• "Chopped Hands in Slime" to drink
• "Brain Pate" to snack on
• "Meringue Bones" & "Witch fingers" for a little finger food
• "Scar-y pimples" & "Melon Brain" to ensure your zombie friends are getting their fruits & veggies

**All recipes courtesy of ehow

People don't just sell stuff on Ebay - they customize and make cool stuff, too, like personalized cards!

Werewolves represent the animal in all of us! Believe it or not, many modern folklore scientists believe that the idea of the werewolf was created to help explain vicious murders committed back before human society could face the fact that fellow humans could be capable of such heinous crimes.

Because the wolves could not control their animal side once the full moon came out, they couldn't help but kill, but once back in human form, they had nothing but time until the next full moon to think over their horrible acts of violence. Werewolves were seen as very troubled individuals, torn between their human conscience and their animal instincts.

Today, we (sadly) understand that it does not take an animal to commit these crimes; that humans are capable of animalistic killing. In fact, many serial killers portray characteristics we associate with the folklore of werewolves: cannibalism, mutilation, and cycles of killing. However, unlike werewolves, most serial killers do not suffer extreme depression over the guilt they feel for committing their crimes.

Invitations

Obviously, the best time to throw a Werewolf themed party will be on the night of a full moon. Check your calendar and pick your date well! Write out your invitations on circular pieces of construction paper you've cut out and decorated to look like the moon.

Include some werewolf artifacts with the invitation such as tuffs of fur (just get some fake fur fabric from your local fabric store), a wolf fang (just get some Chiclets gum and shape each piece into a fang), and maybe even a silver bullet (using aluminum foil and your imagination)!

Another party idea is to have a Vampire vs. Werewolf theme! These two scary creatures have always been seen as mortal enemies to one another, so sending out invites, encouraging your guests to pick a side, will make for an interesting evening!

And if you're still interested in throwing a Halloween party, but you're looking for a less scary theme, a Pirate theme is always a fun concept for a party! Pirates, like vampires, have been romanticized over the years, and especially since the invention of film. Most of them are now seen as bruiting, misunderstood vagabonds with a tough exterior!

Finding their true personality, digging beneath the hard exterior to uncover the softer side of the pirate, is much like finding a hidden treasure. Amidst the skull and crossbones, parrots, beer wenches, planks and pirate ships, you'll find a little boy who just doesn't want to grow up!

Invitations

Hunting for hidden treasure is the favorite pastime of any true pirate! Chasing after the "X" on the map is their main goal in life! Because of this ongoing conquest of theirs, there is no better party invitation idea than a pirate map theme!

Much like the vial idea for the vampires and the parchment idea for the witches, try to find some bottles with cork caps you can roll up and stick a piece of homemade parchment paper in. Draw out a map on the parchment paper to your party, including all the "clues" a pirate would need to find it, and mark your home with an "X"!

Roll the parchment paper up and thread it into the bottle, hand delivering the invite or mailing it in a padded envelope. It will take time, but any person with a true sense of adventure should be up to the challenge!