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Most folks don't celebrate Halloween as a holiday religious or otherwise. But it is sure a good excuse for a fun party, especially a party designed for kids to have a good time. We started having our own parties in order to keep the kids from going door to door in unknown neighborhoods.

To start getting ready for a party, make a list of all the children you will be wanting to invite. Have all different ages but require a parent for younger children to attend. Older kids can be helpers and in charge of activities. Keep a list of those signed up and keep in touch to be sure they will be attending. Don't leave things for the last minute. Make the calls, keep numbers and responses.

Make a list of the fun activities and decorations you will be wanting. Begin your search and gathering by asking those who will be helping. Make a list of bigger items you will need like tables and chairs. The basic stuff that will be decorated appropriately. Mark and list every item so you will easily and quickly return things to their owners. Make a visit to a party supply store even if you cannot afford their rates. Get ideas on how to best do it yourself. Now, make a trip to several of your local dollar stores and start buying the cute little trinkets that make partying really fun. The plastic spiders and silly toys that little kids will sure like. Make sure you have no children under three who could swallow small wheels and such.

My favorite dollar store carries a full line of decorations including specialty helium balloons. Be looking for colorful streamers and tissue paper. Have your list of activities and decorations in hand as you do your looking around.

Make sure you include name tags so new kids are not left out of the fun, everyone will learn their name. Have some face paints in case some children have no costume or their mask gets too hot and heavy. Find an artist in your older kids and the others will line up to get their faces painted, or their arms. Have some designs handy to help the process. Have some Halloween stamps on hand with some skin safe ink. They are lots of fun. If you are serving drinks with ice, freeze some gummie worms in the cubes for special effects.

If you are having pumpkin carving, make sure no little ones get to the knives. Give them chores where they can be the helpers. Have cleaning supplies handy for the mess and make cleanup easy. Have the proper candles to show off the finished handiwork. Takes pictures as you can, they will be loved by all.

Have the materials for making scary mobiles, keep the work simple so they can be completed quickly before interest wanes. If you find some plastic toy spiders, make easy webs by pulling plain white cotton into long strands. Hang from ceiling and doorways. Gather templates for the traditional cat with the arched back, ghosts, goblins, pumpkin faces and others you find available. Use simple material like felt and plain glue since it won't have to last for long or hold up to use or water.

One of our favorite party bags was a simple pouch shape with drawstring of colorful yarn. Sew three sides together with right sides facing together. Turn and attach yarn. It will be worth a trip by the fabric section or store to find some appropriate scary prints. These are great for carrying home the special party favors they will receive.

An excellent activity for during the party is a table set up for making long chains to hang from the ceiling. Use black and orange construction paper but make the paper lengths fairly long so the chain goes together fast not slow with tiny links.

You may not be able to find spooky noises for background music but what is even more fun is to set up a cassette recorder and have older kids doing the special effects, noises, screams, clanging of metal lids and real metal chains dragging and falling. Be creative and let the kids suggest things as you go along. Don't be afraid to say no to ideas you don't feel are appropriate or safe.

Draw a giant pumpkin on a piece of poster board and play pin the stem on the great pumpkin. Pi�atas have been a favorite for any theme of party in these parts for a long time. I came across a place selling a "kit" for making a little trap door to pull a string and allow the contained treats to fall to the waiting party goers. Many folks already have the image of some wildly swinging little one hitting not the pi�ata but other kids, the light fixtures or such unwanted objects. The new idea is to create a ribbon that would release the entire load but to also attach many other ribbons so the kids don't know right away which ribbon will release the goodies.

For a cute but simple ghost, take two sheets of white tissue paper. Fan them apart so that you turn them length to width. Take a medium sized white balloon already blown up and draw the tissue paper around the balloon. Using a white ribbon, tie the paper lightly. Make a loop of scotch tape sticky side out to where you can put it on the very top and adhere to ceiling. It has very little weight and should stay in place for the few hours needed. Don't use plastic bags because of the danger of having them around small children.

If you are making costumes and need some ideas, browse the Simplicity catalog to find what they have to offer. Buy a pattern and make something much more complicated. There are scores of websites that offer online sales and many great ideas for the creative sort.

As your plans are taking shape, make sure everyone invited has returned an RSVP. If you find you are short on helpers, hire a babysitter or two to lend a hand. Keep in mind old time favorite games like bobbing for apples. Let the big kids go first to help show the little kids what to do. Otherwise the little ones will be scared and won't even try.

A fun project is to make small personal Scrapbooks of the event. Have the title and name page finished and plenty of extra pages in place. Have binding done and leave only the fun decorating part for the party. Have a wide selection of pictures to glue into place with small trinkets for adornment. Keep it simple and buy your supplies at the dollar store or where you find the best bargains. Make the size to fit into the pouch they will take home as well.

Do as much as possible before hand so you will be able to enjoy the funtime. If you have a Polaroid camera and can afford plenty of film, kids love having their picture taken. Especially when they get to take it home.