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If there’s someone who goes hand in hand with Halloween, it’s Tim Burton! So many delightfully enchanting and wacky movies to love—which makes for A LOT of great themes for a party. What did we do? Combine quite a few of his hit movies for one spooky Tim Burton Soirée!

Whether you go big or keep it an intimate group, a little Halloween party never hurt no body!

I teamed up with a friend this year to throw a Tim Burton themed soirée and it was frightfully fun! Some things we kept pretty simple, and some aspects we put a little more time and money into. But really, you can do a Tim Burton themed Halloween party without spending a lot! BONUS we added some of the party decor to our annual Halloween decor bin, which is a total win!

Tim Burton Party Food

• Deviled Eggs: use your favorite deviled egg recipe. You can get a lil’ spooky with it by using food coloring to dye the filling black, purple, or green (I did green!). You can also top with thinly sliced black olives to give it a spooky eyeball effect. We said these were from the kitchen of Barbara Maitland (Beetlejuice) to further tie it into the theme!

• Frankenweenies: We did these two ways! A party guest brought pigs in a blanket (you can do homemade or store bought!), and I did crockpot cocktail weiners (I guess they are officially called “Lit’l Smokies Smoked Sausages” lol). I did something different this year with these and they were SO GOOD. Mix equal parts BBQ sauce and grape jelly, then mix with the smoked sausages. Place in crockpot on low for 2-3 hours to heat. I used Kinder’s Zero Sugar BBQ sauce, because the grape jelly gave it PLENTY of sugar. And you don’t want these TOO sweet!

• Pumpkin King Cookies: use your go-to sugar cookie recipe (here’s mine!) or use store bought sugar cookies. Using white royal icing, outline the cookie. Allow it to harden slightly, then flood with white icing. Allow to harden, then use black royal icing to pipe Jack Skellington’s face, “Jack,” etc. I wanted to keep mine super simple, but you could totally do other characters from Nightmare Before Christmas, too!

• Deadly Night Shade: Mix two parts Simply Limeade with 1 part water. Add mint leaves to give it that deadly vibe. 😉

Other Tim Burton inspired eats:

• Sliders or Meat Pies (Sweeney Todd)
• Oogie Boogie’s Ants on a Log: just your basic ants on a log!
• Circus Animal Cookies (in theory, Tim Burton ate mounds of these while filming “The Nightmare Before Christmas!”)
• Beetlejuice Truffles: you favorite truffle recipe dipped in white chocolate and decorated with black, green, and/or purple stripes.
• Veggie Platter
• Fruit Skewers
• Frog’s Breath Soup: a favorite tradition of ours! Add a soda, lemonade, or juice of choice to a cauldron and carefully add dry ice! Note: as much as I love diet soda, I’ve found it doesn’t work as well with the dry ice. Not as much bubbling.

Decoration Ideas for a Tim Burton Party

We did simple disposable table cloths (Dollar Store and Hobby Lobby never fail me!) with black and white striped runners. My friend mixed in vases with red roses (Alice in Wonderland), small pairs of scissors (Edward Scissorhands), and playing cards (Alice in Wonderland). She had some other amazing ideas for tying in different movies, but we simply ran out of time!

For the food table, I printed off little labels from Canva and taped them onto my mini chalkboard signs.

Here are some of our favorite decoration finds:

• Nightmare Before Christmas ribbons: I DIY-ed these and am quite proud lol. Wire edged satin ribbon + Tulip puffy paint. Boom. That easy! They would also be SO cool with glow in the dark puffy paint!

• Charlie’s Chocolate Factory: old fashioned candy jars + scoops. You can do any kind of candy really (Winco is great for bulk candy!), but it would also be SO fun to do all Wonka candy! (Nerds or Nerd Clusters, Fun Dip, Sweet Tarts, Spree, Gobstoppers, Bottlecaps, Runts, Laffy Taffy, etc.). Don’t forget goodie bags for your guests to bring home their treats!
• Skeleton
• Letterboard
• Disposable table cloths: Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby never fail!
• Black tealight candles
• “It’s Showtime” sign: one of our AMAZINGLY talented friends made this! Isn’t it fantastic? There are other incredible ones on Etsy if you want to splurge!
• Fog machine: (don’t forget the liquid fog!)
• Cauldron
• Reusable table cloths
• Spider web runner
• “Beetlejuice” black and white striped runner: these were my FAVORITE, but unfortunately were misplaced after loaning them out! We ordered these in a pinch and they looked great!
• Spider webs:I buy a bag every year to decorate the exterior of my house…this kind is SO good!
• Mini Pumpkins

Other party essentials

• Paperware
• Straws
• Silverware
• Napkins
• Serving trays
• Drink dispensers
• Lifetime tables
• Folding chairs

Tim Burton Party Activities

What do you even do at a Tim Burton themed par-tay? Endless options! We kept it super simple and mostly chatted. We had the fun “Office of the Deceased” photo booth that my friend took on and totally nailed, voting for favorite costumes, and some live music provided by the one and only Jack Skellington (and by the one and only “Old Rockstar” aka my awesome father in law). Here are some other ideas!

• Bingo
• Minute to Win It games: as is, like this one, OR make up your own Tim Burton inspired ones!
• Limbo (with Harry Belafonte playing, of course)
• Tim Burton trivia: Write in answer sheets, Family Feud or Jeopardy style
• Tim Burton Charades

Tim Burton Movie Costume Ideas

Really any of the couples could be done individually, but here are some pairing ideas!

Couples:

• Jack and Sally
• Morticia and Gomez
• Willy Wonka and Violet Beauregarde
• Beetlejuice and Lydia (red bride would be fun!)
• Barbara and Adam Maitland
• Edward Scissorhands + Kim
• Victor + Emily (or Victoria)
• Mad Hatter + Alice (or Queen of Hearts!)

Individual:

• Oogie Boogie
• The Mayor (Nightmare Before Christmas)
• Wednesday Addams
• Cousin It
• Emily, the Corpse Bride
• Joker
• Batman
• Mad Hatter

We love to party in our house! Although I am shy, I am an extrovert through and through. I THRIVE and am so charged by being around people! We love to host get togethers and find ways to throw cute and fun parties while sticking to a budget. I hope you love these Tim Burton inspired party ideas! Drop a comment or tag me on social if you give any of these a try, I would love to hear/see!

More Spooky Season Favorites from Sweetly Petite

• Halloween Birthday Party
• Black Buttercream Recipe