A HAIRY HALLOWEEN: Make it a mane event with a theme focusing on hair. Keep dress-up duty simple by asking guests to come wearing their favorite party attire and a wig. Decorate your coffee table with a table runner of white faux fur (available at fabric stores) and lots of votives. Offer guests the option of adding a fake mustache, sideburns, or eyebrows to their ensemble. Serve themed cocktails such as hair-raisers (vodka, rock and rye, and lemon juice), hairy armpits (ouzo and grapefruit juice), or your own coif-related concoction. Provide a feast that includes angel-hair pasta with your favorite sauce. Finish the folly by playing tunes by the great hair bands of the 1980s.
BLACK OUT DINNER: Get guests to dress in all black, swap all the bulbs in the house for black lights, and gather friends for a very dark dinner. Decorate with bouquets blackened with floral craft paint (available at craft stores), black candles, black balloons, and black linens (use fabric from a fabric store or rent). Serve black Russian cocktails and black cherry soda, blackened fish or chicken, seasoned black rice, Swiss chard sautéed with olive oil and garlic, and black-bottom cupcakes. Play fun music like or AC/DC's "Back in Black" or Jay Z's, Prince's, or Metallica's "The Black Album," and send guests home with a small treat bag of black M&Ms (available online).
LADIES’ NIGHT IN THE WITCHES’ DEN: Park a broom outside the front door and give guests witch’s hats. Create a self-serve bar with a cauldron of dry ice, chilled vodka, and mixers in clear bottles labeled with names such as eye of newt, wing of bat, and toe of frog. Brew up a large pot of stew or chili and offer fresh toppings (think grated cheese, chopped green onion, chopped olives, sour cream, and red pepper flakes). Play The Witches of Eastwick. If you can, build a fire in a fire pit, have guests write their deepest desires on pieces of paper, and ceremoniously burn them together before howling at the moon.
