It’s not too early to think about your Halloween pool party. A pool party on October 31? Why not! Depending on where you live, it might still be possible to swim during the pool party. Even if you can’t swim you can host a poolside Halloween party. Invest in heaters or light up the fire pit to keep your guests warm. Make sure you remind them to dress for the weather — no matter if it’s warm or cool!
Don’t let a closed swimming pool stop you from having a pool party!
It’s Time To Plan Your Poolside Halloween Party
If your pool hasn’t been closed yet, crank up the pool heater and invite your guests to don swim suits and take a dip! Offer heated towels — fresh from the dryer or off a heated towel rack to warm them after they’re done swimming.
How to host a haunting pool party
Throw your Halloween party as the last pool party bash of the year. Your guests will remember your party long after it’s over and after winter has settled in.
Here are ways in which to host a Halloween pool party that is sure to be the talk of the neighborhood.
Gather Halloween pool party supplies
- Your swimming pool! Turn on the heater if you have one.
- Decorations: Skeletons, coffins, webs and spiders, headstones, inflatable decorations
- Pumpkins: Carved and ready-to-be-carved
- Orange bulbs and black lights to set the party mood
- Fog machine
- Spooky music
- Halloween-centric snacks and treats
- Candles and other Halloween decorations to float in the pool
- Halloween-themed flashlights, glo sticks and glo bracelets and necklaces
- Battery operated tea light candles to go into the carved pumpkins and on the tables
- Halloween table decorations and centerpieces
Halloween party fun
What kind of Halloween-themed fun can you offer your guests? Before you make this decision you need to know whether you want to have an adult party, a children’s party or an all ages party.
- Halloween pumpking carving station. Have child-friendly pumpkin carving utentsils or make certain you have enough adults available to do the carving for the little ones. Use stencils to design elaborate pumpkins. Let your guests take their pumpkins home with them. Get some paints and paint brushes for those artistic guests who would rather paint than carve. Use battery-operated candles that can be put into the pumpkins.
- Have a Halloween pumpkin design contest. Let your guests vote on the winning pumpkin. Have categories such as: funniest, scariest, most unique. Offer Halloween themed prizes.
- Costume contest. Let guests know there will be a costume contest and the categories are:
- Scariest
- Funniest
- Coolest
- Most unique
- Best use of a theme
Have a grab bag available to hold prizes for the winners of the contest.
- Swimming pool treasure hunt. If the pool is open and the water is warm, have a Halloween pool party treasure hunt. Drop Halloween-themed items into the pool and either give prizes to the person who finds the most items or you can have a competition in which you holler out the item you want found and award a prize to the person who finds that. Turn on the in-pool lighting or give party goers a glow stick to swim with to help them find the sunken treasures.
- Halloween pool party safety. The pool nees to be lit to make it safe for swimming. Make sure you have dedicated responsible adults to keep track of everyone in the pool. Have enough life vests for anyone who needs one, require all children to wear a life vest — no exceptions. Have additional towels on hand for guests who didn’t bring one.
Make it memorable
This won’t be difficult. Time spent in and around the pool always makes for lasting memories.
Greet your guests with a fully decorated yard! Fill pumpkin and bat leaf bags, hang up ghosts, witches and bats. Play scary party music on your front porch to welcome them.
Have a stuffed scarecrow (not so scary) or a mummy or zombie (more scary!) on your front porch in a chair by the door. Consider having another scarecrow or mummy or zombie in a chair in a darkened corner of the pool and have a motion activated scary sound machine in place by the chair. Great for a scare or two!
Trick-or-treating
If you’re hosting the pool party on the day in which trick-or-treating happens, take some time to take the little ones door-to-door and don’t forget to hand out treats at your front door — or beware the wrath of a trick-or-treater who doesn’t get a treat!