Caught in the web
Hang fishnet fabric in corners and cover with cotton batting to create a spider's web effect. Or place the webbing on lamps (don't place too close to a light bulb) across the tops of doorways — everywhere you want to create an aged and creepy look. Lean broomsticks covered in white sheets against the wall or drape chairs and couches in white sheets for an extra ghoulish effect.

Blood-curdling bouquet
Go to your local florist or flower market and ask for their dead flowers. They should be a bargain (if not free). Any type of flower or bouquet will work. If possible, hang the flowers upside down for a few days to dry out. When aged to perfection, spray the flowers with glossy black spray paint. Arrange the flowers around the party room to give a depressingly festive mood.

Lighting is everything
Replace the light bulbs in the party room with coloured bulbs (available at your local hardware, craft, or party store). Black, red, blue and green light bulbs cast eerie (yet festive) glows. If you have a lamp that uses two bulbs, combine a red and a blue bulb to create a cool, double-vision effect.

NOTE: Make sure the coloured bulbs do not exceed the recommended wattage of your lamp and make sure to leave enough light to allow guests to easily move about the room.

Creepy crawlies
Purchase plastic bats, rats, insects, spiders and snakes at your local craft or party store. Place the rats, spiders and snakes in corners, under tables and other unexpected places. Attach fishing wire to bats and hang from the ceiling or doorways. In low light your "uninvited guests" look quite real!

The wicked witch is dead
Recreate the famous scene from "The Wizard of Oz", in which the house has fallen on a wicked witch. Purchase a pair of red and white striped socks and stuff them with newspaper or fibre-fill (pillow stuffing). Hide the top part of the socks under a chair or sofa, then add a pair of ladies high-heel shoes.

Theme it!
Setting a theme for a party always helps to set the stage, and with a great holiday like Halloween it adds tremendously to the fun. Try a traditional Halloween idea, like a costume party based on characters in books, a bring-your-own-jack-o'-lantern party, or a scary movie party.

Diabolic Decorations

• Create squeamish centrepieces by stuffing rubber or plastic gloves with cotton. Decorate with rings, fake fingernails, fur, or draw on scars, blood or cobwebs.
• For lingering ghosts, prop broomsticks in corners with sheets draped overtop.
• Use a projector or flashlight to beam bat-like shadows on walls or cut out black cardboard bat shapes and hang from the ceiling.
• Turn the living room into a graveyard by cutting out large pieces of black cardboard and writing frightfully fun eulogies on them such as R.I.P., Ted N. Buried or U.R. Next.
• For music that will set your spine tingling and your foot tapping, try: Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone, Atlantic; Monster Mash & Other Songs of Horror, Madacy Records and Halloween Hootenanny, Geffen Records.