Halloween Party Ideas

Hosting a Halloween party this year?

Here is a short collection of links to peruse for ideas to transform your Halloween get-together from so-so to spook-tacular:

Martha Stewart Halloween Decor Ideas: A varied collection of sophisticated, creepy, grown-up decorations (such as bouquets and centerpieces, cheesecloth spiderwebs, and candlestick displays) and cute kid-friendly options (such as jack-o-lantern themed balloons).

Indoor & Outdoor Decor: A wide collection of real photographs submitted by bloggers of indoor and outdoor Halloween decor, including DIY crafty ideas (like pumpkin topiaries, banners, and paper wreaths).

Halloween-Inspired Cocktails: Adult-only drinks where spooky presentation is everything.

Best Pumpkin Recipes: Spice up your party with a new recipe - because classic pumpkin pie has already been done. ;)

Kid-Friendly Snack Recipes: Mummified Hot-Dogs, Eyeball Punch, and Graveyard Cupcakes (among others).

Halloween Activities: How to entertain children and adults at your Halloween party.


Need Halloween invitations? Check out my custom stationery at InvitesbyAndrea.com!

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Fire & Ice"

Bright orange and navy blue is a great color scheme for autumn (as I showed in this fall inspiration board). I just love the contrast between the complementary colors!

"Fire & Ice" - Invitation Duo (invite & reply card)

I chose a solid orange petal-fold envelope with matching reply card envelope, and then mounted the stationery (printed on white cardstock) to a textured navy blue cardstock so that it would pop against the bright orange.

The great thing about this stationery design is the unexpected tilt of the text. Everything is on a diagonal, but since the diagonal is consistent (every line of text is still parallel to the others, and even the bold, graphic pattern lines up with the text), it still feels structured enough to be unoffensive.

 

I switched things up again in making the reply card, and changed the angle so that everything was tilting the other way. Because the pattern is so eye-catching and large in scale, I kept the font simple, going with a standard sans serif font family, and changing only between bold and light italic.

There are so many angles going on in the design - from the angle of the text and pattern stripes, to the actual units within the pattern itself - that the curvy petal-fold envelope works well to calm everything down.

This design would be perfect for a unique wedding venue, funky rehearsal dinner, or even sophisticated children's birthday party. The bold colors and tilted text give it a casual feel, but the thickness of the cardstock, special fold of the envelope, and the rich texture on the dark blue border give this stationery a substantial feel again, making it appropriate for even formal, important events.


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The Little Red Hen"



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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Darcy & Kyra

TGIF! Celebrate the weekend with today's Fancy/Funky Friday post!

First, the "fancy": Pattern Darcy

I love this pattern because it has a great mix of simpler shapes (diamonds) and elegant curved designs. From close-up, you can tell that the diamonds are made up of slightly curved lines, but from a distance they look straighter and add structure to the fancier parts of the pattern.

Last November, a featured a stationery set that uses Pattern Darcy. I love how the diamonds in the pattern work great for adding stick-on jewels, brads, or other embellishments to invitations. The negative space within the diamonds also works great for a check box on reply cards, and the pattern works with almost any elegant font, whether italic, calligraphic, cursive, or handwritten!


And now, the "funky": Pattern Kyra

This pattern is definitely "funky"! It varies between open white negative spaces (which are slightly reminiscent of Batman's Bat Signal) and very dense areas of circles and loops. Though the lines are thin, the shapes are unpredictable and sit oddly in the negative space, conforming strictly to an obvious grid.

Still, from a distance, the columns of pattern start to look like lace - though the pairs of circles that are repeated in the columns of white always look more like spirals, or eyes staring back out at me. What do you see when you look at this pattern? :)


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Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!

Halloween Color Combo: Poison Apple Green & Black

Finally, I have one more Halloween color scheme to show off this year -

Poison Apple Green & Black:

This sophisticated color scheme would work well for just about any modern event, but I think it lends itself particularly well to Halloween. The acidity of the green hints at sinister secrets, while the black accents layer on the mystery. Serve neon green cocktails under a sign that encourages guests to "pick their poison." Display green apples as edible decor, and don't be afraid to use bold black-and-white (or black-and-green) patterns, like damask (for more elegant affairs) and striking spiderwebs (for more obvious Halloween references).

And how great is the bouquet in the lower left corner of this inspiration board? I just love how elegant the lime green flowers and black leaves look, and if you look closely there are subtle hints of Halloween without being too kitschy or obvious. See the solid black miniature pumpkins hiding in the flowers? What a unique centerpiece for a Halloween event!

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Shameless Plug Time: Love these color combinations? Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Halloween Color Combo: Electric Blue & Pumpkin Spice

Mix pale near-death blues with bright neon cerulean (think spooky simmering potions and Katy Perry wigs) for an overall "electric blue" tone, and then add splashes of rusty oranges and scarecrow and pumpkin themed decor for a unique but totally awesome Halloween color scheme.


Electric Blue & Pumpkin Spice:

Use real pumpkins and blue flowers for truly authentic decor. Keep plates and glassware simple, using wheat or cream colors and playing up blue and orange accents in border patterns, plate chargers, tablecloths, or napkins. Display blue mason jars or "scarecrow wheat" colored candlesticks as extra accents, and serve foggy blue cocktails or blue raspberry fruit drinks to quench your guests' thirst.

Of course, what autumn or Halloween party would be complete without pumpkin pie? If you don't have time to bake a fresh pie (or several) yourself, purchase a delicious-smelling jar candle to pump your party venue full of tantalizing pumpkin pie scent.



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Shameless Plug Time: Love these color combinations? Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Halloween Color Combo: Blood Red, Bone White & Black

Halloween events don't have to follow the same boring orange and black color scheme. This week I'll be showing inspiration boards of three other Halloween-inspired color combo options to help make your Halloween get-together fresh and memorable. :)

Blood Red, Bone White & Black:

For this color scheme, turn to vampires, skeletons, and mummies for inspiration. I just love those fang-bitten cupcakes in the top row, and I've always loved the almost-sinister look of delicious red velvet cake. Ideas for red beverages are also plentiful to come by - wine, berry cocktails, fruit punch, and red-tinted hot chocolate all make for great party drinks, and double as great decor on Halloween tables.

For non-edible decor, consider these options: hang black spiderwebs on walls, wrap clear flower vases in black fishnet stockings, or paint black and red pupils on white marbles or stones for instant "creepy eyeball" decor.

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Shameless Plug Time: Love these color combinations? Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Lavenderly Beloved"

Today's Sunday Sample Spotlight is almost an entire stationery set, and includes an invitation, reply card, save-the-date, and thank you note, all in a beautiful green, lavender, and purple color scheme!

"Lavenderly Beloved" - Invitation Duo (invite & reply card), Save-the-Date, and Thank You Note

I traced a photograph I'd taken of a lavender garden to achieve the illustration featured heavily in this design. Using the Adobe Illustrator pen tool, I left thin white spaces between all of shapes of individual lavender stems and leaves to give a graphic, stenciled look.

Then, I used a bold, sans-serif font in the same vibrant green of the leaves for the most important text (such as the date and names of the happy couple), using a thinner version of the same sans-serif font for the longer paragraphs of text, which I made the same pretty purple as the lavender in the illustration.

This design and color scheme would work for almost any time of year - since the blueish-purple is cool in tone, it works great for colder months, but the rich green and the floral theme fit great for the spring and summer seasons, too!



Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: "Fire & Ice"


Click here to view all Sunday Sample Spotlight posts.

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.