How To Throw A Halloween Party On A Budget

Halloween isn't huge in New Zealand, but it's increasing in popularity over the years. We thought we'd share how to throw a Halloween party on a budget today, to help give you some ideas on how to celebrate without spending a fortune.

The Warehouse, or #TheScarehouse have made decorating a breeze with all the Halloween stock instore. Even in remote locations like Kaitaia (where we got all this stuff) you can find some real gems.

Decorations

 

The Warehouse definitely have you covered when it comes to decorating, and there are some really affordable options too.

Once we knew we were going to have this outdoors, we picked up these decorations:

• Skeleton Buried Alive - RRP: $30.00 NZD


• Play Studio Halloween Foam Tombstone - RRP: $3.00 NZD


• Skeleton Vulture - RRP: $39.00 NZD


• Play Studio Cobwebs & Spiders - RRP: $1.00 NZD


• Halloween Pumpkin Paper Decoration - RRP: $3.00 NZD


• LED Pumpkin String Lights 10 Piece - RRP: $4.00 NZD


• Unique Napkins Black 20 Pack - RRP: $2.00 NZD


• Play Studio Spiders & Web 10 Piece Pack - RRP: $4.00 NZD


• Play Studio Spiders 6.5cm 4 Pack - RRP: $2.00 NZD


• Halloween Paper Plates - RRP: $4.00 NZD

I think by far the Skeleton Buried Alive and the Skeleton Vulture are our favourites, they're just so cool! We also love how doing something as simple as adding cobwebs and spiders to them, take them from pretty cool to AWESOME.

You can really go to town with the decorations, but we decided to keep things relatively simple for our little Halloween Picnic. One of our favourite things we did was make these awesome Bleeding Halloween Candles.

DIY Bleeding Halloween Candles

What you need:

• White candles (we used the Necessities Brand Church Candle White 5cm x 7.5cm ones - (RRP: $2.00 NZD)


• Red candles (we used the Necessities Brand Taper Candle Red 25cm 4 pack - (RRP: $3.00 NZD)


• Matches

This is probably the easiest DIY you could ever do, but it's also one of the best! All you do is light the red candles, and let the melted wax drip onto the white candles. This is so fun and easy, and you end up with this really cool bleeding candle effect. Pop them in a candle holder (I used these cool crystal glasses) and you have an awesome decoration good to go.

Food & Drink

You can't throw a Halloween party on a budget without affordable food and drinks, right? The Warehouse have some really awesome lollies and chocolates in their Halloween range, so of course we had to grab a few of them. We picked up the Halloween Gummy eyeballs (RRP: $3.50 NZD) and threw them in a glass jar we already had, and put some of the Horror Pops (RRP: $2.00 NZD) in the ground.

We also grabbed some of the Sorini Exploding Eyeballs and Brains (RRP: $3.00 NZD), which have popping candy inside and used them alongside the Sorini Pumpkins (RRP: $3.00 NZD) and Sorini Skeletons (RRP: $3.00 NZD) to decorate. They're so yum! Remind me of the gold coins you get at Christmas!

As well as all the lollies, we also used a Sharpie to draw jack-o-lantern faces on some oranges which were quite a hit, and very easy and fun to do! You can't really go wrong with them, so don't worry if you're not the best artist.



For a drink, we filled a Skull Carafe (RRP: $4.00 NZD), also from The Warehouse with a delicious Beetroot, Carrot & Apple juice. A Bloody Mary would be another great option!

For a savoury treat, we made some really cute Sausage Roll Mummies, and for a yummy dessert we made individual Graveyard Desserts; which are in my opinion - the best Halloween dessert ever!

DIY Sausage Roll Mummies

What you need:

• Cocktail sausages


• Flaky puff pastry sheets


• Tomato Sauce


• American mustard

1. Slice the flaky puff pasty sheets into strips. We did ours between 0.5cm and 1cm wide.


2. Wrap the pastry around the cocktail sausages to resemble bandages, and place on a lined tray.


3. Cook at 200℃ for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and puffed and the sausages are cooked through.


4. Use the American mustard to create eyes, and serve with Tomato sauce. Enjoy! These are so delicious!

DIY Graveyard Desserts

What you need:

• Small mason jars


• Chocolate yogurt


• Tim Tams


• White icing, or a white icing pen


• Oreos (we used chocolate creme filled ones)


• Sorini Skeletons - RRP: $3.00 NZD

1. Crush oreos in a NutriBullet or food processor until you get a breadcrumb consistency. This will be the dirt in the Graveyard Desserts.


2. With white icing, or a white icing pen - write R.I.P. on the Tim Tams and place them in the freezer to set.


3. Spoon chocolate carefully into the small mason jars.


4. Sprinkle the oreo "dirt" on top of the yogurt.


5. Grab the Tim Tams and place inside the jars to look like tombstones. Sprinkle a little more oreo "dirt" in the jars, if needed.


6. Place one of the Sorini Skeletons (or the Sorini Exploding Eyeballs) on top of each dessert; and you're done! Quick and easy, but so delicious. And a bit healthier than using chocolate mousse.

After preparing everything, all you need to do is set it up and enjoy! We used the gorgeous Living & Co Valencia Cotton Crochet Rug (RRP: $29.00 NZD) as our picnic blanket to lay everything out on. It looked so great once everything was set up!



All up everything came to just under $190.00 NZD, including all the food for the DIYs. This proves that you can easily throw a Halloween Party on a budget. Best of all, we have some great Halloween props that we can use year after year.

Will you be visiting The Warehouse (#TheScarehouse) for all your Halloween needs this year? Have you ever tried to throw a Halloween Party on a budget?

Thanks for viewing!
oxo

*This post was made possible with The Warehouse, thank you for helping us get into the Halloween spirit!