Contests
As with your activities, each contest should remain unstructured throughout the evening. Don’t interrupt good fun with an announcement that it’s contest time; instead, wait for a lull in the evening before announcing each game’s conclusion with judging.

Best Pumpkin
Create a pumpkin-carving station, where guests can stop in throughout the night and try their hands at creating their own Halloween pumpkins.

What You’ll Need:

Pumpkins of assorted sizes and shapes
Clean, sharp knives of various sizes
Assorted candles: tea lights, votive candles, pillars
Prizes

Set out the pumpkins, carving tools and candles, and let your guests go to town and create the ultimate Jack O’ Lantern. Don’t forget to prop up a sign explaining that the best pumpkin will win a prize. Toward the end of the night, enlist the help of a cute guest and pick the three winning pumpkins.

Best Costume
This one is a no-brainer…all you need is a loud voice and a room full of people in costumes. At costume-judging time, invite people in costumes to parade in front of the party, and use the crowd’s applause to gauge whose costume wins. Award three prizes based on prettiness, creativity and gross-out factor.

The secret is to spend as little money as possible. Shop at discount, 99¢ and closeout stores for fun, funky invitations, party favors, decorations and costume ideas…at a fraction of what you’d spend at the more-glamorous Target. Remember that parties live or die according to the plentiful abundance of three things: music, ambience and booze. Opt for loud and tacky: think, “Would a four-year-old like this?” By keeping things simple, fun and fabulous, your guests of all ages will have a monstrously good time.