Can you please tell me about Halloween parties you've been to or hosted?

None.

My roommates and I had a Halloween party in 1981, since it was a Saturday. It was wild, outrageous, and the last celebrant went home after the 49er game the next day. People are still talking about it. But that party was completely inappropriate for children!

For kids your daughter’s age, sounds like you have it well planned and it will be fun. Two games I would encourage that my kids always enjoyed at the annual Halloween party the Scouts put on:

1) Bobbing for apples. every kid ought to bob for apples at least once in their life

2) Donuts on a string. Donuts are hanging and kids get to eat them, but they cannot use their hands or arms, only mouths!

Most of the parties I’ve ever thrown have been more like the first one @zenvelo listed. My threshold for “appropriate for children” is a bit lower than most, I think.

I used to throw massive parties when I had a lot of acreage and people would bring tents. I’d confiscate keys at the door. There’d usually be a few kids there including my own. We’d get them involved in the drum circle/music around the campfire, sparklers, glow sticks, laser tag, competitive video games, etc. They were also great at helping to clean up the next morning as well. Whoever picks up the most beer bottles gets $5. Go. Haha.

I would like to answer this Q in depth : )

I will get back to you when I get home and can type on a real keyboard instead if my phone.

I agree about bobbing for apples.
Half a century ago I went to my first Halloween party.
I saw the tub full of apples, and thought it was so old fashioned, but I tried it, and it was fun.
I also agree that it sounds like you have things pretty well in hand.
One other thing they did was disappear some of the kids.
The parents were involved, but every so often a kid would disappear. They were sworn to participate before being sent back to the party. When asked where they were, it was, “what? I didn’t go anywhere. I’ve been right here.” Truth came out at school.
Depending on lighting and other aspects of your building, you can set up some messed up mirrors. Glass with a black cloth on the back will behave like a mirror, but, if that fabric is thin, an a skeleton, ghost, etc. is behind it, with a light which can be turned on when somebody is looking in it, you have a haunted mirror.

I used to host Halloween parties at work every year, for many years in a row. They were usually potluck affairs, but I was the one actually hosting the whole shebang and I would make fliers and do all of the decorations and set up the tables and chairs and stuff.

Obviously you won’t be doing potluck, but the most enjoyable thing we did at our work parties was to give the dishes “scary” names. We would have Edgar Allan Poe-tato salad, yummy mummy wraps (which could include spring rolls, burritos, pigs in a blanket, rolled cookies, or whatever food items look wrapped) witches brew punch, graveyard brownies (a pan of brownies with Pepperidge Farms mint milanos as gravestones stuck in the frosting), etc. That was really fun. I would make up little tombstone signs, and then everyone would write the name of their dish on the tombstones in front of their dish. The dishes didn’t have to be specifically Halloween related (like pumpkin flavored cookies) so it was the creativity of the “scary” names that made it fun.

We always had a bunch of Halloween themed music or scary sound recordings to play on the boombox (or whatever mode of music player you might use today). We played Monster Mash and Witchy Woman and the Soundtrack to The Night Before Xmas and the sound effects from the Haunted Mansion Disney album.

I got all sorts of inexpensive table cloths and paper plates and cups and crepe paper and string lights at Big Lots back then, now you can get that stuff from most of the 99 cent stores.

Something I didn’t do, but my cousin has done for all sorts of different parties is to have a wall or a corner set up as a photo opportunity. You can drape some fabric, or a shower curtain, or some wrapping paper on a wall, or in a corner, then you have a variety of props, like a vampire cape, or a witches hat, or whatever you like (either paper, or cardboard props, or stuff you can get from a thrift store) and then each kid, or group of kids gets to wear the props and get their picture taken. Fake mustaches are good, or hand held cardboard monocles, and foam clown noses, and top hats. Anything you like.

You can also have a TV or a projector showing The Great Pumpkin or Nightmare Before Xmas on a loop.

Oh, I love the photo op!
A must, I think.

Yeah the photo op is a great idea. My daughter keeps saying she wants a photo booth (sure, only a couple hundred dollars to rent it). This is a great idea. Also the bobbing for apples is a great idea, too. Costume contest is another thing we’ll do. I’ll have awards for all so no kids get their feelings hurt. Most scary, most original, etc. I’ve been buying props and stuff from Walmart and the dollar store for kids who may not have a costume (it’s amazing that you can buy a witch hat for a dollar). I ordered two pinatas from Walmart. One is a jack o’lantern and one is something else Halloween themed.

I’m having salad as well as food-food so there’s something healthy for those that don’t want the other. I’m also putting dry ice in a jack o’lantern and in a punch bowl so it looks smoky and cool. I’ll have wine and maybe a punch, although I find sometimes people don’t drink punch. Also for dessert I’m debating between a cake or cupcakes. I can buy a cake at Costco for 18 bucks but I can also make a cute cake at home. People will bring desserts – some have already offered brownies and stuff. And of course there will be candy. Lots and lots of candy.

Lots and lots of candy…
Wheeeeee whooo! I’m there!

Get dry ice for drinks if possible, or for a “witch’s brew” in a pot. Get red food coloring to add to Sprite to make a “bloody” drink for the kids. Another option is a drink I just found that is a Tropicana Farmstand juice drink that is blood red. For the parents you might want to offer Bloody Marys…even set up a Bloody Mary bar so they can mix their own poison. Of course you have to have Halloween music: The Monster Mash, Werewolves of London, Clap for the Wolfman, and any others you can find. Strobe lights and black lights are fun. If you are going to use black lights, get the fluorescents and maybe do some face painting with day-glo paints. If the space is large enough, set up a “Haunted House” with things that can scare the kiddies. Make sure you tell the parents they have to do costumes and since it is a kid’s party, the slutty witch costumes are no-no’s. Set up costume categories for the prizes: Scariest, most realistic, funniest…you get the idea. I don’t know if I would set up games for the kids or crafts, or both. Probably both.

Ooooo
How about halloween makeup, kids decorate their own parent contest?
But if you do that, sharing pics is a must.

@Patty_Melt I love the idea of the kids decorating their parents : )

My friend from Italy took me to a few such parties that were all girls from several nations. She wore a leopard costume from Frederick’s of Hollywood, and other girls present worse some from FoH, Playboy, etc. She bought me a lady cop suit.