How to Have the Best Halloween Office Party Yet

Halloween is a favorite time of year for a lot of people from all generations and naturally the topic of having a Halloween office party is bound to come up. Celebrating holidays at work usually isn’t that big of a deal, winter holiday parties happen every year for plenty of businesses, egg hunts in the spring, fireworks and BBQs in the summer, all common place but Halloween’s very nature proposes challenges in a workplace. If your office does decide to celebrate Halloween, you’ll surely ask yourself “How can I get them to do this every year?” and the simple answer is not to mess it up! So in the interest of spreading Halloween to every office across the globe here’s how to avoid messing it up:

1. Censor Your Costume

Costumes are the best part of Halloween really, for one day of the year you can be anyone you want from Superman to Spider-Man to something that not nerdy people would want to dress up as. Yet there is a temptation too great for some people to pass up and that is taking their costume too far in one direction or the other. Overly sexy costumes are the fastest way to get HR to cancel Halloween next year. The fact of the matter is that there is little to no reason for you to dress up as a sexy nurse or a cherub wearing only a diaper. There is a stereotype that only women do this, but a number of men flaunt what they’ve got during Halloween as well. Excessively gory costumes are frowned upon too. While the work it took for you to get your mask to squirt blood is appreciated, reports need to be filled out and you are making a mess! Office workers already get distracted every three minutes, they really don’t need the extra distraction of your overly elaborate costume.

2. Prevent Pranking

Okay, everyone loves a good prank and Halloween is second only to April Fools Day in the prank department but sometimes things go too far. Pranks tend to seem like things that won’t hurt anyone or anything but that isn’t always the case and it is HR’s job to step in when they do. While the internet is full of “pranks that won’t get you fired” lists, don’t buy the hype. People get fired for pranks all the time so don’t think you are immune. All of that being said you are all probably going to use those prank ideas anyway. So if you HAVE to pull a prank make sure to think about who you are pranking and make sure to make your prank memorable.

3. Leave the Candy at Home

If you cut out the revealing costumes and pranks that really only leaves Halloween with one thing…CANDY. Americans buy over 600 million pounds of the sweet stuff every Fall and then proceed to cram as much of it down your throat as is allowed by physics. People fall for it every single year and the large bowls of candy in offices don’t help. The fact of the matter is, though, bringing snacks and treats around Halloween is inevitable so try and make it something people won’t regret eating later. After that, it’s just a matter of getting your coworkers to share.

4. Leave Your Kids at Home

With the whole office decked in black and orange, it must seem like the ideal time to bring young Billy with you to work. Just don’t. The main reason being that all of the above rules are likely to be broken so you probably don’t want your kid in an office filled with scantily clad people throwing eggs at each other. It’s just not a place for the youth. On top of that, bringing a kid into the workplace on any day has a lot of hassles associated with it. It’s best to leave them out of the equation for a Halloween office party.  

5. Don’t Smash Your Pumpkins

If your Halloween party is an out of office affair then chances are the booze will flow like wine and the wine will flow like a silkier wine. What better way to end the day, or week since the 31st is on a Saturday this year, than with a drink or 8. Well, getting drunk at an office party is kind of a tricky thing to do right. So probably best to leave it alone altogether. Just take it slow and enjoy the night like a responsible adult. Pretend, if you have to.

So there you have it, the 5 things you can mess up at your office around Halloween. When the time actually comes you will likely forget everything this article says and end up ruining Halloween for everyone, but now you can’t say you weren’t warned. Just remember that the really hardcore Halloween stuff is for after work, not during.

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.