5 creative ways to throw the best costume party this Halloween

To ensure your next Halloween party a success, try these five ideas to inspire your guests to dress up before they arrive.

One way to entice your guests to actually show up in costume is by offering prizes for the best costumes.

• Let your guests know about the contest beforehand by writing it on the invitations. This way, they're more likely to want to participate, especially if you offer a truly attractive prize.

When you don't have a theme for your party, some guests won't bother to dress up because they can't think of a good costume idea.

• A costume party theme does your guests a favour because it helps narrow down the options so they don't feel overwhelmed or pressured to think of an amazing costume idea.

• Choose a simple theme so guests won't have a difficult time acquiring a costume.
• Decade themes, such as the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, often work well because they provide plenty of costume options without being too broad.
• In contrast, a theme that is too narrow, like asking guest to dress up as their favourite 1970s rock star, can be tough for people who aren't fans of that music genre.

Give your guests plenty of time to pull together a costume before your Halloween party.

• Try to send out the invitations at least three to four weeks in advance so no one is left scrambling at the last minute to find a costume.
• If you send out your invitations too late, many guests may not bother to get a costume because of timing or financial constraints.

If you send out your invitations about a month ahead, your guests have plenty of time to put together a costume, but you also take the risk that some guests will forget or put it off until the last minute.

• About a week to 10 days before your party, post a friendly reminder to guests about the party.
• Make a game of it if you really want to get them involved. For example, you could announce that the first five guests to arrive in a costume win a door prize.

The most successful Halloween costume parties involve everyone showing up in a costume and ready to have a great time. Sometimes, you just need to give your guests a little extra nudge that entices them to actually put one on before arriving at the party.