How to Decorate for a Halloween Party With Candles

Halloween conjures up images of cackling witches on broomsticks, spider webbed crypts and gloomily dripping candelabras in abandoned castles, where all manner of monster lurks around every corner. Candles make some of the best decorations for a Halloween party because they can be dramatic and creepy and give the perfect spooky mood to your ghoulish get-together.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Create your own candelabras. A spooky alternative to setting up individual candles around your party is to use candelabras with multiple candles, lit and dripping. Find antique candle holders and candelabra at thrift stores and antique shops to create a spooky atmosphere at your party. Embellish them by dripping wax on their arms and base before setting them up to make them look used or stretch fake spider webs over them so they look aged.

2. Buy creepy Halloween specialty candles. While specialty candles are available for just about every season imaginable, the specialty candles made for Halloween are some of the creepiest, most fun and best for decorating. There are candles in the shape of pumpkins, alien candles that ooze green wax, candles in the shape of severed limbs and even skull candles that "bleed" when they melt.

3. Use other Halloween decorations. There are a variety of Halloween decorations that can be used in combination with plain candles to make great candle decorations for your party. Glue candy corn all over orange, yellow or white candles or the black plastic spiders that come in packages of fake webbing all over orange and green candles. Use craft paint to paint green candles with Frankenstein's face or turn white votives into little ghosts.

4. Light up the night. Using candles as functional decorations is a great way to transform your house into a spooky, candlelit haunted mansion. Being sure to place candles safely out of walking pathways. Line staircases and hallways with candles strategically placed to light up the whole area. Cluster candles in corners of room to give the whole room an eerie glow. Set some in windowsills as well so that your house looks foreboding, even from the outside.

5. Be careful of costumes. Halloween costumes tend to have trailing fabric and lots of accessories so make sure when you are decorating with candles that you are careful to keep them out of reach of any costume parts. If decorating for a children's party, place candles above head level of any little ghouls and goblins. If the party is for adults, place candles where people will not trip over them or walk into them.