Your child's Halloween class party is one of the most exciting days of the new school year. Whether you’re the room mom, teacher, or the parent who volunteered to help with the party, a little planning makes for a fun, memorable, and stress-free event.

3 Steps to Halloween Party Fun

1. Plan it

Organize the class party into 'stations' with small groups of kids rotating through activities to keep the pace moving for the kids and the group-size manageable for parent volunteers. Everyone comes together for the final station, story time.

Simple, fun crafts include cardboardtube mummies, crayon resist fall leaves, decorating mini pumpkins, thumb print witches and spiders, and face painting.  

Consider space limitations when choosing party games. Four Halloween favorites:

• Mummy-wrapping races: teams of 3 wrap a ‘mummy’ (child) with toilet paper, first to finish their rolls, win.
• Apple or mini-pumpkin relay: teams compete to pass an apple or mini pumpkin under their chins kid-to-kid without using any hands. If it drops, start over.
• Pin the nose on the pumpkin 
• Halloween BINGO

Tip: Check out our Classroom Party Guide with 10 fun craft and game ideas for Halloween and Fall celebrations.

Stories about pumpkins, spiders and witches are sure to please.  Ask your children's librarian to recommend spooky tales that are age-appropriate. 

For snacks, consider sliced apples dipped in caramel sauce, pumpkin muffins with cream cheese, popcorn monster hands, and warm apple cider.

Tip: Ask the teacher if any kids have food allergies and if the school has policies limiting sugary treats.

2. Get Help! 

Ask class parents (and grandparents) to pitch in and volunteer either during the party or by contributing supplies and food. Remember to plan for craft and game supplies, snacks,  paper ware, and simple decorations (think plastic table cloths and mini pumpkins).

Tip: Free online signup sheets from VolunteerSpot.com make it easy to coordinate parent helpers. With the click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone, parents can quickly choose when to help and what to bring. Automated reminders keep everyone on track.

3. Have Fun!

Be ready for joyful chaos! When things don't go exactly as planned, don't stress. Instead, put on a big smile and know that the kids will have a great time no matter what. Be sure to take lots of pictures, party day is a very special day at school!

Tip: Bring a child's wagon to help carry supplies from your car to the classroom

Happy Halloween!

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About the Author

Karen Bantuveris is the founder and CEO of VolunteerSpot -- free online signup sheets save time and make it easy to organize parents to help for just about anything: classroom helpers, snack schedules, carnivals, library volunteers, parent-teacher conferences and more. Karen lives in Austin, TX with her husband and daughter.