‘Scary,’ Not Scary: Cruelty-Free Halloween Party Ideas
Take your Halloween to the next level by hosting a vegan Halloween party! You can throw a party that is for kids only—a pre-trick-or-treating warmup. Or you can throw one for adults only—a post-kids-in-bed soiree that goes late into the witching hours.
Or you can do what I do and really go for it: throw a kids’ party that morphs into an all-ages party that morphs into an adult party.
No matter what kind of vegan Halloween party you decide to throw, we’ve got a few suggestions to give everyone a proper fright!
(Well not everyone … animal companions can be upset by all the unusual activity, and decorations and treats can be hazardous to them, so if you are living with any, take care to keep them safe at Halloween.)
Decorations
Start with the basics: You can’t do this without at least one jack-o-lantern.
You really need to think about lighting more broadly as well. You’re going for moody and dim, with warm colors like yellow, red, and orange. Vegan candles look amazing, but they can be fire hazards, so keep a close watch over them (especially if there are animals, kids, or booze in the mix) or use LED candles.
Another super-fun Halloween decoration is good old dry ice. You can get a piece at most supermarkets—just ask at customer service. Get it the same day and keep it in the freezer until party time, then drop pieces into water-filled containers for that bubbling-cauldron-overflowing-with-vapors look.
Just one word of warning: Dry ice (solid CO2) is so cold it will burn you, so don’t allow anyone to touch it and don’t put it in drinks. The vapors are just CO2 and water and are harmless so long as there is some airflow (otherwise CO2 can build up in low, enclosed spaces).
Eerie Beings at Vegan Halloween
Traditional Halloween figures include skeletons, bats, spiders, and black cats. Bats, spiders, and black cats are traditionally viewed as scary (owls used to be too; you’ll see lots in pictures of Halloween a century ago). Of course, they’re not scary in real life.
Bats are caring, family-oriented mammals who raise their babies together. The only flying mammals, bats navigate in the dark using sound. There are 1,400 species of bats on Earth, and only three are blood-eaters (and none of them live in North America). Bats do their best to stay away from humans.
And cats, whether black or any other color, are clever animals who essentially domesticated themselves to benefit from us humans. What’s scary is when cats are neglected, let outside at risk of injury and disease, and killing birds and other small animals living in nature. If you have a black cat or other animal companion, resist the urge to dress them up in costumes. They can be uncomfortable, frightening, and hazardous.
As for spiders, for the most part, they can’t hurt you; they’re just going about their business, weaving webs and catching flies.
Speaking of spiders, there are a few decorations you should avoid. Number one on that list is fake plastic spider webs. Not only are they the epitome of throwaway plastic, but they can also harm or even kill animals who become entangled in them.
Get creative! You can find lots of inspiration in places like Pinterest. Halloween decorations don’t have to be expensive, or even store-bought at all. You can make a super creepy environment by applying a little creativity to things you already have around.
Food and Drink
Obviously you’re going to need vegan candy for any trick-or-treaters who come your way. Get extra so your party guests can indulge as well.
With so much candy around, personally, I prefer savory snacks at a Halloween party. These vegan mini Halloween pizzas are adorable. This is also the perfect night to make those vegan stuffed eyeballs you’ve been … eyeing. Or try these vegan mummy dogs—they might be a touch too cute to be scary, but they’re just what your guests need to be ready to trick-or-treat all night long!
Punch is a great drink at a party like this. Not only is it different from the things you might normally serve, but it’s another opportunity for some ghostly décor! Check out this Vegan Halloween Party Punch recipe: not only is it alcohol-optional and delicious with flavors of lychee and cranberry, but it’s got plant-based eyeballs and icy hands floating in it!
Activities
The most important thing humans should be doing at your party is wearing costumes. This is Halloween. It’s no time for a “costume optional” party. Insist that your guests wear costumes because, at a Halloween party, the guests are part of the décor. (The human guests, anyway. Please specify that animal guests should come as they are.)
If anyone shows up without a costume, make them into a toilet paper mummy.
Just having a bunch of friends in costume together is plenty of fun, but if you want to go further and have some organized activities, here are some fun ones:
Bobbing for Apples
Get traditional and try bobbing for apples. So traditional, this activity is both a choking and a drowning hazard, so take that into consideration if you have small kids or less-than-clear-headed adults.
All you need is a big basin filled with water with some apples floating in it.
Contestants take turns trying to pick up an apple with their teeth—no hands allowed!
This game makes a big mess, so do it outside. There’s going to be water everywhere and probably a bunch of messed-up face makeup. (If you want to avoid the mess, ditch the water basin and hang the apples on strings so people are biting them out of the air.)
Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but the secret to winning is to plunge your whole head into the basin and push an apple to the bottom so you can really sink your teeth into it.
Deadly Wink
The messes this game makes are emotional. Secretly make one person the “murderer.” They go around the party, acting casual, and every once in a while “murdering” someone by winking at them.
The victim “dies” loudly and theatrically.
When other guests think they have identified the “killer” they make their accusation. But if they’re wrong … they “die” too!
Witch Hunt
Before your party, cut out a bunch of “witch hats” from black paper and hide them around your party space.
Let guests know they should look around for them and hang on to any they find.
At a certain moment (you decide!), the person who has found the most witch hats will win a prize! Again, you decide on the prize, but a witch hat would be nice, so everyone knows they are the winner the rest of the evening!
Make Halloween ‘Scary,’ not Scary
Halloween is “scary,” but animal abuse is scary. Vegan eyeball punch is “scary,” but animals trapped in fake spiderwebs are scary. Cut-out bats are “scary,” but putting cats in danger outdoors is scary.
There’s enough that’s really scary out there, so throw on a Halloween playlist and stay on the side of fun-scary at your vegan Halloween party. Your guests will thank you when everyone wakes up safe and sound the next day.
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