I am fully aware hosting a small gathering isn’t exactly rocket science, so the aim of this post is to show that you can do so without breaking the bank. I’m a student so I know money doesn’t grow on trees around here (I’ve checked).
For a majority of the earlier years of my childhood, my mum used to host the most amazing little Halloween parties for my brother and I and we absolutely loved them. The house would be decorated with cobwebs, pumpkin lanterns and all kinds of sweets and treats and at that age, it was truly magical to come home to. It was something so simple but yet it brought us so much joy.
Whilst reminiscing over those fond memories, I was also surrounded by Halloween vibes in the city that I live in. Nottingham is the host of amazing seasonal and fairground-esque markets, their Christmas one being my favourite (an entire stall dedicated to chocolate covered marshmallows might have something to do with that). This year they have embraced the spooky season which has come with stalls selling hot foods and drinks and even a catapult ride which nobody would go on with me (I am a self-diagnosed adrenaline junkie)
With all these memories of Halloween shindigs and a fully decked out city centre it would have been rude not to participate this year. So I decided to hop on the Halloween bandwagon and threw a movie night for all my friends. I have been trained by the best (my mother) with seasonal decor being something she practically specialised in whilst I was a kid. I knew where to go to find the right stuff and luckily it was fairly affordable. Keeping in mind I also asked for small contributions as I was putting on quite the spread for everyone.
I mainly shopped in pound shops for decorations (if this doesn’t scream student budget, I don’t know what does) and I couldn’t believe how much variety there was in them. I’ve written the prices for everything and I’ve grouped together things that were the same price to make it easier to take in the info! I have labelled some things twice deliberately, depending on what photos they feature in.
Poundland – Lenticular Photo Frames £1, Large Chocolate Eyeballs (9PK), Casper Candy Sticks (28PK), Casper Marshmallows, and Fruitella Mix – ALL £1
Poundworld – Webbing & Spiders, Chocolate Coins, Orange Serving Tray (2PK), Large Chocolate Pumpkins, Paper Bowl (x 10) Haribo Mini Mix All £1 Cadbury’s Mini Rolls (15PK) £2
Tiger – Black Spiderweb Bowl & Coffin snack holders (6PK) £1 each,
Sainsbury’s – Skeleton Wind Up Walker £1
Poundland – Gel Letter Stickers £1
Poundworld – Webbing & Spiders £1
Sostrene Grenes – Paper Skeleton Cups £1.57 and Paper Ghost Plates £1.39
Poundland – Green Trick or Treat Bowl, Ceramic Handled Tealight Holders (differing designs) All £1
Poundworld – Purple Paper Ghost Cups (far right), Orange Table Cloth, Chupa Chups (in green bowl) & Spooky Straws, Fanta, Coke, Sprite, Table Confetti (4PK) All £1 Swizzels Sweet Pack (also in green bowl) £0.75 Popcorn Holders £0.50 each
Poundland – Pumpkin Decoration (2PK) £1
Poundworld – Chewitts Vampire Fangs, Black Table Cloth £1
Wilko – Maynards Bassetts Chews (red sweets bottom left) £1.75 – These are amazing
Sostrene Grenes – Skeleton Cups £1.57, Chocolate Foiled Sweets All £0.81
Tesco– Cocktail Sausages £1, Mini Breadsticks £1, Cheese Twists £0.99
I hope this post showed just how much you can get for your money whilst also being able to have loads of fun decorating and hosting at your place! Although Halloween has passed it’s still not too late for a horror movie night with your pals and these shops are still selling some of the bits I mentioned and have items extremely similar to this every year so keep an eye open for them. It’s also worth keeping in mind that all of these stores do amazing Christmas bits and pieces too. I hope this was useful to all the party planners out there and for those that love a movie night in. Let me know if you would like to see a Christmas version of this post as I have a similar night planned for the occasion!
N xxxx
