How to … throw a Halloween House Party for under £20

With the nights getting darker and the cold moving in, all our minds are focussed on our favourite winter holidays, starting with Halloween. Back in the day Trick or Treating was the cool thing to do (though I still think it is…). However, for most of us it’s now all about who can dress the most slutty/scary and who can throw the best house party.

‘But I’m totally skint!’ I hear you cry. Well never fear as The Tab have some tips on how to throw a spooktacular party (sorry but it had to be done) on a budget.

So, most importantly, you’re going to need some free booze to tempt your friends in. Instead of whipping up some standard mystery ‘punch’, give it a bit of a Halloween twist. Because you’re on a budget, you can be a bit stingy, after all, who doesn’t BYOB anymore? Our recipe goes something like this:

Tesco Imperial Vodka 35cl – £5.80

Sainsbury’s Dry London Gin 35cl – £5.50

Tesco Orange and Pineapple Juice 1.5L – £1

Green/Red Food Colouring (depending on what effect you want) – £1 from any supermarket

Obviously, mix how you want but I wouldn’t recommend using the whole bottle of food colouring. Green teeth don’t look great on anyone. You could even add some grapes in to make them look like eye-balls! Creepy… (£1.29 – Stokes Grocers on Sidwell Street)

Total : £14.59

Now you need some scary decorations to transform your digs from student squat to haunted house. Wilkinsons and Poundland are pure gold for cheap and cheerful bits with a huge range of bunting, confetti and signs for around £1. Our favourite picks are a pack of fake spiders and webbing which can be spread over the whole house (it really does stretch that far) for 90p and some awesome ‘Caution’ tape to wrap around your doors which will only put you back £1.

Total (saying you buy about £3 worth of decorations) : £17.59

After reading our Top 5 Halloween Drinking Games (and if you haven’t, why on earth not?!), I bet you’ll be itching to try some of them out. For just £1 you can get 1.5lb of apples at the Farmer’s Market in town, perfect for some apple bobbing. Or, for the more adventurous, 90p will get you 4 loo rolls from Market Place (yes, it can be cheap sometimes!) so you can Wrap-A-Mummy one of your friends!

Total : £18.59

Unless you live in a bar, I doubt you’ll have enough glasses for everyone so just buy a bunch of plastic cups (pack of 40 from Poundland, I really don’t need to price it do I?) It’s not great for the environment but saves a ton of breakages and can be easily tidied up the next morning.

Total : £19.59

Last but not least you need some awesome tunes to bust a move to. You could make a playlist on your iPod and bung your speakers on but I find everyone always has different music tastes so, to save the hassle, sign up to Spotify. Yes, I know it’s not groundbreaking but it’s free and will keep even your most obscure guests happy.

And there you have it, a frightastic (I had to fit one more in!) night you’ll never forget for less than £20!