Throw your own Halloween party this year for friends who are too old for trick-or-treating. Don’t settle when planning your spooky get together. Look over our Halloween party themes and get inspired with these scarily amazing ideas. Each theme on the Halloween Party Themes List is discussed in more detail below to help you get ideas for creating your own Halloween theme party this season.
Halloween Party Themes List
• Killer Clowns Theme
• 80’s Horror Movie Theme
• Zombie Apocalypse Theme
• Day of the Dead Theme
• Blood Bath Theme
• Pumpkin Panic!
• Spider Swarm Theme
• Alien UFO Theme
• Black, White & Orange Elegant Theme
• Hell House Theme
• Skeleton Halloween Theme
• Graveyard Theme
Killer Clowns Theme
There has been a lot of clown talk lately. With the clown sightings, American Horror Story: Cult, and remake of Stephen King’s IT, clowns have become a terrifying topic. Now is a great time to take advantage of all the clown creepiness by having a clown themed Halloween party.
Clowns are one of the Halloween party themes that can be bright, colorful and creepy all at the same time. Don’t be afraid to use purple, green, white, pink, blue, red and other clown colors while planning your decor.
Clowns are fun but they also feel chaotic and unpredictable, which makes them scary too. You can decide how colorful or how creepy you want your clown themed party to be.
There are so many great clown items available to set up at your party. From clown decorating kits to 7 foot tall animated clown props. Evil clowns are everywhere!
Don’t be afraid to add some clown chaos to your decorating style. When designing your party there are clown decorations available both locally and online.
Don’t forget to finish off your Halloween party theme by dressing up as clown yourself.
80’s Horror Movie Theme
The eighties were an awesome time for the horror movie genre so why not celebrate it this Halloween. Terrify your guests by surrounding them with horror movie icons like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, Chucky and Pumkinhead.
Depending on the age group of your guests, an 80’s horror movie party could be one of the best Halloween party themes they have ever seen.
Eighties horror movies include Evil Dead, the Shining, the Fly, Thing, The Fog, Aliens, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 and many more.
With all these movies to choose from your guests can easily dress in your Halloween party theme without being too inconvenienced.
Decorations for this Halloween theme can be purchased locally or online, and you can DIY as desired.
→ Make Each Room A Different Movie
A fun way to approach an eighties horror movie party is to make different horror movies prominent in each room.
You can turn the backyard into Camp Crystal Lake, the front room into one of Freddy’s nightmares, make the front yard the domain of Michael Myers while bathrooms are scenes from Psycho.
There are so many fun possibilities with an eighties horror movie Halloween theme. With the popularity of 80’s horror villains you won’t have any trouble finding decorations.
Zombie Apocalypse Theme
Unless you have been hiding in an underground bunker for the last decade, you’ve probably noticed how popular zombie’s have become. Zombies are one of the Halloween party themes that you just can’t do wrong.
The color scheme for a zombie apocalypse party can include a lot of greens, brown and red colors. Mostly earth tones, but you can add bright greens if you want to include “radiation” lighting and glow sticks for effect.
Zombie decorations are very easy to find both locally and online which makes decorating for this Halloween theme convenient.
Decoration ideas for the zombie apocalypse include zombies, radiation warning signs, hands rising from the ground and Walking Dead TV show items.
If you’re really feeling creative you can also serve jello brains, finger hot dogs, radiated drinks and other food that zombies enjoy.
Don’t forget to be a good host and work your own costume into the zombie Halloween party theme either as a human survivor, zombie hunter or one of the undead.
Day of the Dead Theme
The Day of the Dead originated in Mexico and is celebrated November first and second. Also known as Dia De Los Muertos, this has become one of the more popular Halloween party themes in America.
During Dia de los Muertos you don’t mourn the dead but instead celebrate the life they had.
Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos Halloween party themes will often have picture frames, sugar skulls, and the colors silver, black and red. Bright pink, orange and blue highlights can be used in your decorating and often Marigolds are a great way to bring in fun colors.
Keep in mind when planning your party that Marigolds are the most used flowers during el Dia de los Muertos. They are considered the traditional flower of the dead and are often worn as part of Halloween costumes.
The backdrop below from Amazon is a great low-cost addition to any Dia De Los Muertos party!
For a great looking costume you can get face tattoos to apply along with basic white make-up for that unique sugar skull look. Here is a video tutorial showing how easy it is to apply Target’s temporary sugar skull tattoo.
The video also shows women how to apply make-up for a complete Day of the Dead look.
Skeletons and sugar skulls are also very common symbols used in the Day of the Dead theme. However, unlike Halloween skeletons, they are often dressed in nice-looking, formal clothing and tend be more whimsical in nature.
Read below for more information about the tradition and common foods and drinks used during Day of the Dead festivities.
Unlike other Halloween party themes, Dia de los Muertos is also part of a long cultural history and Latin traditions that are still popular today. For this reason I like to know a little about what I’m celebrating and why. There are added details about the actual holiday below, not about the Day of the Dead theme party.
What is Dia de los Muertos?
It’s a celebration of the lives of the deceased. The day of the dead originated in Mexico and is usually celebrated November first and second. Families build alters for loved ones who passed away and they bring the person’s favorite food and drinks to the alter.
Other food items that are popular during the festivities are sweet rolls, tamales and sugar skulls. A popular drink to serve is the red colored hibiscus tea.
Families also celebrate with activities the dead enjoyed while alive. For this reason, each alter is individualized to a loved one who has passed. On Nov. 2 the living can eat the leftovers that the dead have left behind.
El Dia de los Muertos is a celebration that varies in tradition throughout Mexico and other countries. However universally, a common Day of the Dead theme is the celebration of life and death.
For this reason, you can also join in on the celebration this year, without worrying about doing it wrong. For example, you can make an alter for a loved one who has passed. All it takes is a picture and some relics or items that remind you of your loved one.
It’s not uncommon to have a cross or other religious symbols on these alters, so don’t be afraid to stay true to your loved ones beliefs. Candies, toys, poems and even alcohol can be placed on the alter with the idea of encouraging the soul of your loved one to come by for a visit.
Place your altar on display during the month of October and then on November first you celebrate their life using their favorite foods and activities. Check out Old Town San Diego’s Dia de los Muertos event for creative inspiration, or to experience the event if you’re in the California area.
Blood Bath Theme
Make your party a blood bath this Halloween. Blood is one of those Halloween Party Themes that is perfect for any party gathering, it adds a fantastic dramatic effect, and it’s easy to do. There are so many great blood themed Halloween decorations available to liven up every room in the house.
You can get bloody hands for your mirrors and windows, bloody footprints for the floors, blood drips and blood splatter for everywhere else. You can also DIY bloody decorations by making your own fake blood and splattering it on white clothing and old fabrics.
If you make your own blood, be careful about where you put it due to the risk of staining.
Halloween party themes with bloody decorations will often have a lot of white backgrounds to really showoff the bright red blood.
You can also add a crime scene aspect by placing a cut-out body on the ground, a bloody weapon and crime scene tape.
There are amazing food and drink opportunities available with the blood bath Halloween theme. Basically, anything white with red filling will be a hit.
You can also use red sauces as blood splatter when plating.
Another unique way to serve drinks is by using syringes or IV bags as containers and filling them with red drinks that look like blood.
Pumpkin Panic!
The Pumpkin Panic Halloween theme is a great way to share your Halloween spirit with party guests. You can surround your guests with terrifying jack-o-lantern faces, an elegant pumpkin palace or even a light-hearted orange and black display.
In it’s most basic version this is one of the oldest Halloween party themes.
The color scheme for a pumpkin panic Halloween theme party will be mostly orange with black highlights. You can carve many real jack-o-lanterns of all different sizes as DIY decorations for your party.
Surround your guests with the pumpkin style you desire by blending it into the home decorations and food items you serve. If you don’t want to choose just one style, you can mix it up by making your pumpkins decor both scary and light-hearted.
Overall, this is always a great Halloween theme because nothing embodies the holiday like the jack-o-lantern.
You can also use the pumpkin panic theme to make an elegant Black and Orange Halloween Theme. (See Black, White and Orange Theme below for more details.)
Spider Swarm Theme
I’m going to say it, “I hate spiders.” This is one of those Halloween party themes that I dread. However, I have seen some great spider decorations used in very impressive ways. You can use spiderwebs, giant spiders, small spiders, webbing and silhouettes to decorate the inside and outside of your party.
There are spider window clings, modern spider designs, light up webbing and even spider toilet clings to torment your guests no matter where they go.
A very impressive way of decorating a home with spiders is by creating a swarm of spiders crawling up the outside wall of your home. The color scheme of this Halloween theme can vary greatly because of all the colorful spider decorations available.
It’s common to have a lot of spiderwebs placed throughout the party. However, nowadays you don’t have to use white spiderwebs because there are all kinds of bright colored webbing available.
You can use large and medium sized spiders attached to webs on your walls and windows, both inside and outside, to horrify your guests and neighbors. Another grotesque web design is to put thick webbing in a corner and then add a bunch of really small spiders inside the webbing so it looks like a newly hatched nest of spiders. Gross!
The spider Halloween theme can be terrifying, but there are great spider party foods available to impress your guests. You can make spider cupcakes, cookies and we even have a recipe for quick and easy spiderweb pizza.
Alien UFO Theme
An alien Halloween theme party will often have a dark or fluorescent green color scheme. You can use glow sticks and other lighting effects to spotlight important decorations.
Some ideas for decorating are scattering the bodies of aliens throughout the party, using Area 51 signs, Danger Radiations signs, Do Not Cross crime scene tape and even building a “crashed UFO” for the front or back yard.
The Alien theme is one of those Halloween party themes that can be done in a very creepy or comical style. Depending on the type of aliens you choose and the color scheme, you can set up a light-hearted Halloween shindig or a Roswell style alien haunt.
Either way there are many decorations available locally, online, and you can even DIY your Alien UFO Halloween theme party.
In fact, many talented people will build their own crashed UFO site. However you decorate the party it’s sure to be a success.
Black, White and Orange Theme
The black, white and orange theme is one of the more elegant Halloween party themes. It’s also been referred to as a modern theme. When decorating your party with this theme you want to use silhouettes to make the colors pop while keeping it classy.
For example, it’s common to have an orange pumpkin on a black background, without a carved face or shadows to make it look real.
This Halloween theme is about simplicity more that looking real. In fact, it’s common to use fun stripes, polka dots, zig zags and other designs when decorating with the elegant black, white and orange Halloween theme.
Target has had great Halloween decorations that fit the look of this theme the last couple years. For decoration ideas consider placing ghosts, bats, pumpkins, bugs, banners and even balloons around your party.
Here are a couple of great variations to this Halloween theme that keep the same elegant design with silhouettes, zig-zags, polka dots and solid color backgrounds. You can change this theme to the following as desired:
• Black, White, Pink and Orange Halloween Theme
• Black and White Halloween Theme
• Orange and Black Halloween Theme
Hell House Theme
Celebrate by creating a horrifying home filled with demons, flames, gargoyles, and other dark creatures. This is one of the Halloween party themes that should only be attempted by brave souls.
The color scheme for a Hell House theme will be predominantly red with black highlights. A great touch is using red lighting whenever possible.
Greet guests and set the scene with a Welcome to Hell banner over your front door. If you are having them sign a Party Guestbook, leave a note about signing their soul over to the devil.
There are many demon like masks that can be used as decorations, and fake chains attached to foam stones or walls add a nice touch.
The Hell House theme offers many opportunities for theme related menu items like deviled eggs, hot wings along with other red and black drinks and dishes. Throw a Hell House Halloween theme party and your guests will be dying to get in.
Skeleton Halloween Theme
The modern day skeleton theme party can be very different than the skeleton party of our childhood. While skeletons may sound boring, this is one of the Halloween party themes that can be spooky, lighthearted, morbid or even funny. Think Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland for reminders of how comical they can be.
There is such an assortment of skeleton decorations available, the possibilities are endless. Some of my favorite Halloween decorations are the line of skeleton animals that have become popular. I buy a new one every year at Target and have acquired quite a collection.
You can decorate your skeleton Halloween theme party with skeletal birds, cats, dogs, bats, rats, toads or even a horse! My neighbor had the skeleton horse in his front yard last Halloween and it looked amazing.
Another fantastic way to celebrate with skeletons is by creating a human skeleton swarm crawling up the outside of your home. It takes some effort, but it’s sure to be a great first impression for guests attending your skeleton Halloween party.
Be ready to have people stop and take photos if you decide to make skeletons swarming your house!
Graveyard Theme
The graveyard Halloween theme can be similar to both the skeleton and zombie Halloween party themes. In fact, you can have both skeletons and zombies as decorations at your graveyard themed party.
Some other likely decorations are foam tombstones, dirt, leaves, tree branches, body parts, coffins and cobwebs on the furniture.
You can use lighting and dry ice to create a spooky graveyard ambiance. Don’t hesitate to have zombie hands reaching out of the ground or skeleton bodies coming out of the dirt. There are a lot of food opportunities with the graveyard Halloween theme.
For example, you can use chocolate cake crumbles as “dirt” and white frostings for “bones”. If you’re in a hurry you can also tell guests you will be serving “Tombstone Pizza” for dinner.
The graveyard is one of the more classic Halloween party themes, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun. You can also cobwebs or even white sheets on furniture to help give the inside of your home a spooky abandoned look. This classic Halloween theme is sure to provide a spooky atmosphere for any festivities this season.
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