You can also print up some cute invites on your home computer if you plan to invite people in person. There's a ton of free Halloween clip art online you can cut and paste into your invite/flyer. If you are a few weeks out, check out some of my cute Halloween Invitations, cards, labels, postage or postcards.

Be sure to include the pertinent info - where, when, costumes or not, bring a guest option and tell your guests if it's a cocktail, pot luck or dinner party.  You'd be surprised how many people throw a dinner party, forget to tell their guests and find that folks have already eaten before they came!

• Pick out any one of my martini recipes in flavors you like and triple the recipe.
• Bake up some plain yellow cupcakes (ok, you can do chocolate too). Feel free to color the yellow cupcake batter with orange food coloring if you'd like - I do! (Yes, you can BUY plain cupcakes or even muffins!)
• Let the cupcakes cool while you mix up three of your chosen martinis for each dozen cupcakes.
• When the cupcakes are completely cooked take a bamboo skewer and poke several holes in the top of the cupcake - don't poke too far and break the cupcake paper.
• With a spoon, slowly drizzle some of your martini over each cupcake and let it soak in.
• Mix up or buy some cream cheese frosting and add 1 tablespoon of orange, lemon or lime zest (or some cocoa powder and powdered sugar for chocolate cupcakes and martinis) for each cup of frosting. Add a few drops of orange food coloring to the non chocolate frosting and mix. Taste and if you'd like more orange flavor add more orange zest. Want a little more spirit in your cupcake? Add a splash of the Cointreau or flavored liqueur to the frosting!
• Frost your cupcakes, add some fun decorations and place on a gauzy spider web. If you really want to martini-ize the cupcakes serve them up in a Halloween themed martini glass lined with the spider web!
• DON'T FORGET THE KIDS! Make some cupcakes without the alcohol for those mini monsters if you're having a family party. Decorate the kids’ cupcakes differently and be sure to keep the adult cupcakes away from tiny creeping fingers! I always do a separate Children's buffet table so it's easy to keep an eye on the kids!

QUICK DECORATIONS

Fun Halloween decorations can be purchased at your local super mart, neighborhood drugstore or party store. Several white sheets, a little cotton wool spider webbing and a fog machine can lend a lot of atmosphere to a previously normal living room and dining area.

The old fashioned party standbys of paper lanterns could lend a little light and there's nothing wrong with a mini bobbing for apple bowl where you use Pumpkin Peeps in a bowl of punch instead of apples and water. A little black and orange confetti sprinkled about always lends a festive air and Halloween cards strung up on string across the room has worked great for decades.  Clay flower pots can serve as chip dishes, platter bases, even mini tables when stacked and you can quickly draw a pumpkin face on them with magic markers.

Old Halloween cards can be set around or cut up and used as signs or hung from the ceiling. Crepe paper still works in a pinch and, if you live in the country, hay can be turned into a fun scarecrow or an interesting prop with a little work.  Got an old broom? Tie a black ribbon on it then hang a sign on it saying "Grab a brew and park yourself!”  Have a pillow case and a few pillows, some old clothes and a hat? Stuff them all together shaped into a silly dummy and stick a recording device in it with some silly sounds coming out.

A fun water feature can be made with any large bowl, bucket or container.  Fill it with water, add food coloring and toss in some dry ice.  You can also put a large candle in the center and float some fall leaves on top.  There are fountain, fog and light fixtures you can buy as small as a half dollar and, if you already have a fountain, you can add food coloring to the water in that (bleach will clean out the color and stains in most cases afterwards.)

If you planned ahead and have time to order online, you can CUSTOMIZE & PERSONALIZE many of the home décor, apparel and stationary Halloween Items at my PopArtDiva Gift Gallery!

LIGHTEN UP THE MOOD

Lighting is all important on Halloween so grab up a few sets of orange, purple and green twinkle lights. These can be hung, wrapped around things and scattered on tables and even on the floor around the edge of the walls.  Put a whole string of them in a glass bowl or wrap them up into a ball and hang those up from the ceiling.

Candles are great but can be dangerous so if you use them put them in a stable container and in safe locations.  Better yet get those battery operated votives and lights, they will last the whole party and they're very safe! Stick them in hallowed out gourds, plates of black beans or black rice or a couple of inexpensive plastic Halloween glasses:

Make your own Halloween luminaries! Purchase some cute Halloween Treat Bags and some Battery Operated Votive Candles and set them around your home or in your yard. You can even use plain old brown grocery bags and draw on a pumpkin face or just add Halloween stickers.

Don't forget about the all important Jack O'Lantern.  Here's a little tip on how NOT to carve a pumpkin!

LAST MINUTE COSTUMES

A simple large cardboard box with holes cut out for the head, arms & legs, some paint, glue and some fabric scraps can be a perfect Halloween costume canvas. Think giant popcorn box, aquarium, Rubik's cube, cell phone or framed work of art. (The work of art would be easy - just buy a cheap poster of a famous work of art, glue it to the front of the box and paint the rest of the box like a frame!) P.S. I know this might sound like "Halloween costume advice for dummies but - don't forget to make eye holes and think about how you're going to eat through the box!!!

Have an overcoat and a fedora? Detective!  Have anything black? Vampire or witch!  Old torn clothing and some smeared dirt with a little make-up can turn you into a Zombie. An eye patch and a tuxedo can turn any man into a spy.  Have an old bride's maid dress you hated? Tear it to shreds, toss on some dirt, paint your face white and go as Death of the Bridesmaid. Christmas costume? Wear that and tell everyone you are from the future.

If you're really lazy or hate the idea of costumes, simply pick up an inexpensive Halloween make-up kit from the drugstore or superstore and paint your face in weird colors and patterns (think of the rock group KISS).

The DIY Guest Costume Caper

Buy a whole bunch of inexpensive masks, some glitter, kid's paints and brushes, glue, crayons construction paper, even some cake decorations. Then set up a table with several chairs and have your guests make their own Halloween mask as they arrive. Be sure to get them a cocktail before they start!

If you're e-mailing your party invites include some of these suggestions (or better yet e-mail them this page) for your guests to make their last minute costume gathering easier!

You could throw a Halloween Pajama Party!  Everyone (well, almost) has a pair of jammies and slippers and this would solve the costume problem for your guests and make for some lively cocktail conversation as well.

Gender Confusion Party:  Have your guests come dressed as their opposite sex. This should really mix up your mixer!

See where I'm going here?  Think outside the Halloween box and have some fun with the costume ideas!

ENTERTAINMENT

Music is easily solved by Downloading Halloween MP3s online at iTunes or Amazon. There is a ton of great Halloween music and fun sound effects available for free as well in MIDI formats. You can also take advantage of online radio stations like Pandora and create a Halloween music station to play all night. YouTube has some great Halloween videos that would look cool playing on your monitors, TVs, Blue Ray or Xboxes.

Grab some Halloween Themed games at the local toy store or just put up a game table/area and set out some old games or a deck of cards. Party games are a great idea but if you don't have any board games and it's too late to pick up some of the cool Halloween party games, try creating some of your own.  I did a search for Free Halloween Games and found a ton of fun ideas.

Set up a TV but turn off the sound and play some classic Dracula, Wolfman or Zombie movies in black and white, your guests could "dub in" the dialogue and you could get some really hilarious results.

Do a Halloween Night Graveyard Scavenger Hunt in your back yard! Put up some cardboard tombstones, hang up some spider webbing from the dime store, add a few of the plastic bag ghosts then bury or hide some cards with things you can do for the guest who find the card – a 15 minute shoulder massage, a Mani Pedi, a home baked cake, a night of babysitting.  Anything you can do as a favor could be a prize.

TIME TO PARTY DOWN & GHOUL UP

Like all parties you need to be prepared for all sorts of events like parking, guests who have imbibed a little too much punch, etcetera and there is some excellent general party giving advice in my article How to Throw a Great Martini Party.

Keep in mind that sometimes the best parties aren't the big, expensive extravaganzas but the impromptu little get-togethers.  The party mood often relies on the ability of the host or hostess to put their guests at ease so relax, invite a good mix of people, don't expect perfection and make sure YOU have fun.  Most people are happy to be invited, eat free food, drink free beverages then go home to leave you with the clean up! Remember to enjoy yourself - you'll set the mood, your guests will take it from there.

A FEW MORE LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN PARTY IDEAS:

Don't have time to carve a pumpkin?  No problem, grab a few black magic markers in various sizes and draw on a scary pumpkin face!  You can also paint your pumpkin – here are some really cute painted Jack O’Lantern ideas. Do a search online for pumpkin carving patterns and draw them on instead of cutting them out!

You don't even have to put on a face!  Simply grab a few pumpkins and some of the fun seasonal squashes in various colors at the grocery store and do a nice grouping with some candles.

 Grab a can or two of matte black spray paint (Walmart's brand is cheap and dries very quickly!) and spray a few branches from your trees and set them around various areas with Halloween Candles or those great new battery operated votive candles.

 Dry ice is a great way to create atmosphere on your buffet and most grocery stores carry it. Put a big chunk in the punch bowl or just set water bowls behind chairs with dry ice in them for a low fog effect. If you have a real fog machine drag it out!

• Ghosts Marshmallow Peeps can be found in the candy aisle of any grocery or drugstore and they are really cute on cupcakes or floating in your drinks.
• Drape all your furniture in white sheets that have ghost faces painted on them in strategic locations (this has the added benefit of protecting your furniture from spills and greasy Halloween make-up!) You can also write on words like “Boo” or “Sit Yo Spooky Seat Down” etcetera.
• You can make cheap and easy hanging "ghosts" with plastic grocery bags.  Cut your bags into different sized squares for different sized ghosts,  put wadded up paper towels in the center of the square, gather the bag around the paper stuffed "head" and tie it off with string or a rubber band. You can paint a spooky face on it with your black markers. Who doesn’t have a few white plastic bags around?

MORE HALLOWEEN RESOURCES FROM THE MARTINI DIVA:

ALL MY HALLOWEEN MARTINIS
HALLOWEEN PARTY FOODS
The Martini Diva's HALLOWEEN MARTINIS & MUNCHIES BOOK and E-BOOK!
ALL MY HALLOWEEN MARTINI RECIPES on POSTCARDS

It’s your party! Have fun, don’t fret the small stuff and just dive in and have a great time!

Happy Halloween!