How to Throw a Virtual Halloween Party
So, we’re just about one week away from Halloween…how is everyone holding up??
Halloween week is so crazy, and my students were always so distracted, it was hard to get anything done! The one silver lining here is that Halloween is on a Saturday this year. So, no one has to teach a bunch of hyper kids on Halloween day…or the day after!
But, the Friday before Halloween is sure to be a pretty exciting day for our students, and if you’re teaching virtually, you have to compete with their costumes being right there next to them. My attitude has always been to just lean into the crazy, rather than trying to fight it!
If you’re looking for a way to embrace the Halloween craziness, but keep things engaging and organized for yourself and your students, I recommend throwing a Virtual Halloween Party!
How to Throw a Virtual Halloween Party
First, let me start off by saying that a Virtual Halloween party can be done whether you are teaching in person, or through a computer screen. In the following steps, I will talk about how to adapt for either teaching situation!
Step One: Invite Students
Ok, so the kids are going to be there anyways, right? It’s a school day. But, I believe in setting the stage and building anticipation, and sending an invitation just like it’s any outside-of-school party is a great way to get your kids really excited! You can choose to take a virtual invitation and email it out, or post it to your Google Classroom. Or, you can go so far as to print and mail them a few days in advance! If you are teaching in person, you can slip the invitations into folders or backpacks before students go home.
On the invitation, you can indicate whether or not you want this to be a costume party. If it’s totally virtual. I say why not??? Let all of your kids see each other in their costumes! How fun! But, if you’re in person, you obviously need to follow your school’s lead on costumes and how they feel about that!
Step Two: Decorate!
Using Dollar Spot or other inexpensive and easy decorations, get your room ready for the party! I think this is an important step, even if you’re totally virtual. It simply helps everyone feel in the spirt of things. Now, if you are teaching virtually, you have the benefit of only needing to decorate the wall behind you, because it’s all your students will see! If your students will be there on party day, I think some easy things like spider webs stuck to the wall, black butcher paper on tables, and some spooky instrumental music playing can be enough!
Step Three: Learn the Monster Mash
A great way to kick off a Halloween Party is to teach your students the Monster Mash! This way, at different points throughout the party, you can surprise your students with a quick dance break!
Step Four: Have a Costume Parade
If you’re hosting this party over Zoom, or another digital video platform, you can give each student 10 seconds to dance/jump around and show off their costume. If you’re in person, you can set up a runway that students walk down!
If you’re in person, and costumes are a no-go, two workarounds could be having parents email pictures of students in their costumes that you can play in a slideshow, or having students illustrate what their costume is and letting the class guess what each child will be!
PS: The costume parade slides are FREE. Download here.
Step Five: Play some Games
What is a party without games? Some digital games are the perfect thing to project on your screen (or SMART Board) and let students play!
What if I don’t have time to make games and invitations myself?
You’re in luck! I have pre-made slides and digital games prepped and ready to go in my Digital Halloween Fun Fridays Pack. There is enough content in this pack to create a really fun party for your students. And my hope is that purchasing a pack like this takes a lot of stress off of your plate!
