#ad Some links on this page are affiliate links, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Nothing here is sponsored. I bought all of it myself, which my husband would like noted.
For one night a year, our house stops being a house. It becomes a haunted estate with a skeleton bartender, a trivia game, a taco station staffed by the dead, and a garage that now has a DJ. Nobody asked for this. I did it anyway.
Here is every room, what is in it, and where I got the parts. Where I could link the exact thing, I did. Where I could not, I told you where it came from and left it alone.
Want just the shopping part? It lives on its own page: Shop the Halloween party house tour.
The entryway
The first thing guests see is curtains. Sheer ones, hung on a rope strung between two eye hooks. That is the whole install. Two eye hooks and a rope. I have never felt more like a contractor.
Purple and orange uplights sit on the floor and make the curtains glow, which makes a normal entryway look like the start of a very small, very bad decision.
The cobwebs are beef netting. Yes, the kind meant for roasts. You stretch it out and it looks like something has been living in your house for decades. Something has. It is me.
The ghost bride hallway
The hallway is lit red and full of ghost brides. There is also a skeleton bride and groom. They look happy. Marriage is a long time.
The portrait wall is a trivia game
From far away, this is a creepy portrait gallery. Up close, every portrait is a trivia question. Guests scan a QR code, answer on their phones, and a live scoreboard runs on the TV so everyone can see who is losing.
There were prizes. Kids played for a chicken nugget Fuggler. Adults played for a Hearth Display family calendar, because nothing says Halloween like finally knowing what everyone is doing on Thursday.
The skeleton chef taco station
Dinner is served by four skeletons from Target. I hot-glued chef hats onto them. They did not complain. They are the best kitchen staff I have ever had.
The food sits in chafing dishes: shredded beef, chicken, rice, beans and tortillas. The skeletons supervise. Mostly they wave.
The bar
The bar is run by a hipster skeleton bartender. He has a beard, glasses, a flannel and an apron. His eyes light up and he talks, and he pitches cocktails to anyone who walks by. He works for free. He does not take breaks.
The actual drinks come from Bartesian machines. I ran the Bartesian Premier with the shaker and the classic Bartesian Premium side by side, loaded with the Bartesian Halloween cocktail capsules. Capsule in, button pressed, cocktail out. No measuring. That is the point.
Next to the machines: a nugget ice machine, because the good ice matters, and a sugar and salt rim station, so every drink looks like somebody back there knows what they are doing. Nobody back there knows what they are doing.
The full bar setup has its own page: The Halloween bar.
The back deck
Outside, the back deck has curtains made of string lights, a patio heater and two rocking chairs. It is the calm room. Every party needs a place to sit down and question your choices.
The bathtub spa skeleton
Outside the bathroom, a skeleton with red eyes soaks in a cauldron bathtub. It is the best spa in the graveyard. He looks more relaxed than any parent at this party.
The bathroom
The bathroom walls are covered in black plastic tablecloths, then custom missing posters and news clippings. Guests go in to wash their hands and come out with questions. That is the experience.
The garage dance room
The garage is now a dance room. I covered the walls in black sheeting, then added glow-in-the-dark paint and neon dots. Lighting is a laser, disco balls, a strobe and black lights. The garage door has a cover held up with magnets, so the cars have no idea what happened in here.
The pumpkin DJ
And the headliner. A pumpkin-head DJ behind a slime-drip DJ booth. The famous one is from Lowe’s. Mine is a Walmart find that does the same job for a lot less, and he has not missed a set.
My garage has a DJ now. I do not know how to explain this to the neighbors, so I am not going to.
Shop the party
- Skeleton bartender
- Bartesian Premier cocktail machine with shaker
- Bartesian Premium cocktail machine
- Bartesian Halloween cocktail capsules
- Hearth Display family calendar (the adult trivia prize)
Everything in one swipeable spot: Shop the Halloween party house tour.
Happy Halloween. Next year, we are moving.
#ad Some links on this page are affiliate links, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Nothing here is sponsored. I bought all of it myself, which my husband would like noted.