Halloween is a Fall holiday that is celebrated by nearly every religion and culture on the planet. The celebration dates back to the early sixteenth century and has remained extremely popular ever since. Children love dressing up to go trick-or-treating door to door collecting candy. Teens and adults love to dress up in Halloween costumes too, but you're more likely to find them at parties rather than trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

Obviously you need somewhere to go once you've found the perfect costume. Enter the increasingly popular Halloween party. You need to buy a few accessories and holiday items in order to host your own party on All Hallows Eve. You'll need at least a few weeks to plan the party. This way your guest will have time to make their costume plans. And you'll be completely prepared when the big night arrives. Start out by making a list of all the things you'll need to get done. This will make things much easier on you..

Food is a very important at these types of parties. You'll definitely want to have munchies like candy corn, popcorn balls, caramel apples and gummy worms on hand. These are foods that make people think of autumn and/or Halloween. You could also decorate cupcakes with a holiday motif. Give them scary faces with big scared eyes, or mean eyes with sharp eyebrows. What about cutout cookies shaped like pumpkins or ghosts?

Enforcing a costume rule will make your party even more fun. You could even throw together a costume contest among all of the event's guests. Ask everyone who wants to participate to contribute five bucks and award it to the person who wins the vote. Or get prizes ahead of time and give them out for the scariest, funniest and most original costumes.

Get into the scary spirit of Halloween by setting apart a few rooms of your house and making a haunted house. Hang fake spider webs in the corners and put on a CD of scary music and noises in the background. Lighting is a major part of the special effects. Try black lights or a strobe - but not in the same area. Everyone will enjoy going through the haunted rooms again and again, especially children and teenagers. They may even get involved and try to scare one another.

You'll need a few games to keep your guests entertained. There are a number of activities that are traditional at Halloween parties. The tried and true favorite fall game is bobbing for apples. This is great for all ages, and is one of the few games that puts adults and kids on a level playing field. Get a large clean tub, and fill it with cold water. Then add plenty of ripe apples. They'll float to the top and look easy to get. Add a handful of ice to the tub throughout the night to keep the water chill.

Another popular and slightly spooky activity is a blindfolded tactile tour of scary Halloween substances. Put things like cooked spaghetti, grapes, hot dogs, and chopped peanuts into separate bowls. Have the guests dip their hands into each of the containers and tell them the contents are guts, amputated fingers, eyes and witches nails. Have younger children skip this activity and have them decorate their own cookies or cupcakes instead.

Last but not least, the decorations can sometimes make or break a Halloween party. Dim the lights and hang stuffed witches and plastic skeletons around the house. Get Halloween themed paper plates, cups and tablecloths at your local party store. Not only will this add to the ambiance, but it will make cleanup a breeze. Get a fog machine or pick up some dry ice at the grocery store. The fog will send a shiver up your guests' spines.