The 'Potluck' Halloween Party

I hosted a Halloween party for my kids and their friends this year and I did something I'd never done before; I asked the other moms to help. It was a 'potluck' party, where each mom brought an activity for the kids and either a treat to eat at the party, or a contribution to the goodie-bags. I provided the lunch, an activity, the piñata, and decorated the house. The rest was up to them.

And it was fabulous!

For lunch I served fresh fruit and had skeleton-hand tongs to serve them, made crescent rolls (they look like moons, you know) peanut butter sandwiches cut with pumpkin cookie cutters, cheese sticks with a slivered almond on the end (to look like fingers with fingernails) and I served chips in plastic cauldrons.

It was a simple lunch, and went over well.

One of the other moms brought these cute wicked-witch cupcakes as a treat, another brought homemade doughnuts, and I served my spider cookies.

After we ate, we moved on to the activities. One mom brought this game of GHOST, which is played like BINGO.

And she also brought a target toss game where the kids got to throw 'ghosts' into the mouth of a jack-o-lantern. Both her games were very well received.

This mom made 'monster slime' with the kids. I loved this, since I know I wouldn't have thought of it. She brought all her ingredients in jars and mixed up the 'potion' with the kids helping, and then she taught them how to blow bubbles with it. It was both disgusting and delightful.

Another mom brought the materials to make a jack-o-lantern craft with them. They mixed up some glue and shaving cream and then she had lots of accessories for the children to create their own design of a pumpkin. This one covered in eyes was my favorite.

This mom brought a TON of craft supplies and helped the kids design and make their own custom monster. They got very creative with it and we had all sorts of things come out of the workshop.

I did a bobbing for apples station, and loved watching the kids. Some of them had no fear and plunged right on in, and others were very careful about staying dry. We had one girl come with a green face to be the Wicked Witch of the West, and by the time she was through, she had very little make-up left!

Our last activity was the piñata. My children came up with the design for this on their own. I did the paper and glue on the balloon, but the decorating was all them. Didn't they do great?

It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon with all our kids, and I've got to say that it really was one of my favorite parties. It was so great to have other smart, involved mothers be on board and bring their ideas to the party. The kids had a great time with the variety of games and activities, plus it was way less work than if any one of us had put it on alone!

Next time you have a party coming up, try including other mothers into the planning and carrying out. The Potluck Party. Why didn't I think of it sooner?