Get ready for a frightfully festive movie night this Halloween with a Nightmare Before Christmas-themed party! Deck the halls with pumpkins and candy canes, craft some ghoulish goodies, and queue up the movie for maximum atmosphere.
From costumes and crafts to food and drinks, there are so many wickedly creative ways to set the scene. Your guests will love the spooky fun of partying in Halloween Town! With the right attention to creepy and cute details, you can conjure up some killer movie night magic.
Planning Your Party
Go All-Out With a Nightmare Before Christmas Costume
Encourage your guests to dress as their favorite characters. For Jack Skellington, go with a pinstriped suit, skeletal mask, and bowtie for the Pumpkin King's iconic look. Pair it with some face paint to get his ghostly pallor.
For Sally, put together a patchwork dress, a vibrantly colored wig, and stitches drawn on your skin with makeup. Accessorize with a basket of deadly "nightshade." Or try creepily clever group costumes, like the trick-or-treaters Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Even pets can get dressed up as Zero!
Creating Spooky Nightmare Before Christmas-Themed Recipes
The food and beverages you serve should match the creepy yet whimsical spirit of a Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween party. Bake cupcakes decorated with ghostly faces or make Jack Skellington cake pops. Brew up a steaming cauldron punch with dry ice fog and creepy gummy eyeballs or worms floating on top.
For appetizers, make pumpkin or bat-shaped pizzas or cheese cubes speared with pretzel stakes. Cookies in the shape of Jack, Sally, ghosts, or Christmas trees make tasty dessert options. Provide DIY popcorn and candy buckets so guests can fill up on snacks during the movie. With the right mix of spine-tingling and sweet treats, your movie party spreads will be a nightmare come true.
Ghoulish Decorations
Setting up the Scene with Nightmare Before Christmas Decorations
Set the scene by turning your home and yard into a Halloween Town haunt. For outdoor party décor, put out signs with the iconic main characters to welcome your guests, as well as tombstones and jack-o'-lanterns. Inside, decorate with spider webs, string lights, balloons, and life-size props of Jack Skellington, Sally, and Oogie Boogie. Use Nightmare Before Christmas-themed tableware and drinkware to fully immerse your guests. Don't forget to incorporate color schemes from the movie — black, purple, and orange for Halloween and red, green, and white for Christmas.
Ensuring a Nightmare Before Christmas Feel with Lighting & Fog
To nail the creepy ambience of a Nightmare Before Christmas, lighting and fog effects are a must. Dim the overhead lights and switch to spooky string lights, lanterns, lamps with colored bulbs, and plenty of LED candles to cast an eerie glow. Hang translucent scene setters or printed character silhouettes in doorways, windows, and in front of light sources to create a shadowy, ghostly atmosphere.
Project a looping video of the spiral hill background onto a wall for added motion and color. Use a fog machine and cauldron to generate wispy clouds of fog that drift around your guests' feet.
Party Games and Entertainment Ideas
Planning Nightmare Before Christmas-Themed Party Games
A Nightmare Before Christmas movie family party isn't complete without some themed games! Consider doing movie trivia, "Pin the Bowtie on Jack Skellington," an Oogie Boogie sack race, or a contest for the best Nightmare Before Christmas-themed costume. For prizes, hand out goodie bags full of classic Halloween candy and candy canes, or Nightmare Before Christmas toys or mini plushies.
Selecting Your Music
The Nightmare Before Christmas movie soundtrack is perfect for a themed party. It adds an extra dash of spooky magic and helps set the theme. It's easily accessible on various music platforms, so make sure to prepare your playlist in advance. Start by queueing up the official soundtrack, which includes classics like "This Is Halloween," "Jack's Lament," "What's This?," and "Sally's Song."
Hosting a Nightmare Before Christmas Movie Viewing
What's a movie party without the movie itself? Create a cozy viewing area with bean bags, pillows, and blankets. For a more authentic feel, get a projector and display the "The Nightmare Before Christmas" movie directly onto your backyard wall, a big white sheet, or a rented movie screen. Don’t forget the popcorn!
Wrapping Up Your Nightmare Before Christmas Party
Giving out Party Favors
Make your guests remember this fantastic movie screening by offering Nightmare Before Christmas-themed party favors. You can make gingerbread skeletons, hand out stickers or temporary tattoos featuring your favorite characters, or provide Nightmare Before Christmas-themed masks. Themed gifts can have a lasting impression.
Capturing the Moment with Photo Ops
Finally, don't forget to capture all the fun and frightening moments of your Nightmare Before Christmas party! Create a dedicated photo booth with scene setters, banners, and photo booth props and cutouts of your favorite characters, like Jack Skellington and Sally. Consider using a Polaroid so everyone can take home a treasured memento from your party.
Let Party City Help You Plan the Perfect Nightmare Before Christmas Party
Planning a themed party can be daunting, but Party City makes it easy and affordable. With our huge selection of party supplies and decorations, you can create a fantastically frightful bash inspired by Tim Burton's classic film. Save time and money by getting everything you need in one place — from scene setters and garlands to tableware and favors. Whether you go cute or creepy, Party City has everything to make your Nightmare Before Christmas party an event to remember.
Plan the perfect party with our extensive online selection of Nightmare Before Christmas decorations, costumes, and supplies. If you want to browse in person, find a Party City store near you.
FAQs About Nightmare Before Christmas Parties
How do you throw a Nightmare Before Christmas party?
Decorate with a mix of Halloween and Christmas decor — think jack-o'-lanterns, garlands, string lights, candy canes, etc. Make food and drinks inspired by the movie like boogie fries, Sally's deadly nightshade punch, and creepy cookies. Make it a movie party, then after the film, play the soundtrack for the rest of the night's festivities.
What food should I serve at a Nightmare Before Christmas party?
Great food ideas include pumpkin or spider shaped pizza, worm's wart soup (aka tomato), Halloween candy, cookies in the shape of Jack's head or Christmas trees, eggnog, and a cake decorated to look like Oogie Boogie.
What should I wear to a Nightmare Before Christmas party?
Dress as one of the movie's characters like Sally, Jack, Oogie Boogie, or Dr. Finkelstein. Group costume options include going as the trio of trick-or-treaters Lock, Shock, and Barrel or as a group of ghosts, vampires, werewolves or creepy clowns. If you don't want to buy or make a full costume, incorporate touches like Jack and Sally masks or fashion accessories like striped socks, bowties, witch hats, skeleton gloves, Halloween shirts, and creepy jewelry. Go all-out to embrace the weird and wacky spirit of a Nightmare Before Christmas!
What are some activities for a Nightmare Before Christmas party?
There are lots of fun ways to keep your guests engaged at a Nightmare Before Christmas bash. Host a trivia quiz or bingo game focused on facts and quotes from the movie. Carve pumpkins inspired by Jack Skellington, Sally, Zero, and Oogie Boogie or decorate small pumpkins as party favors. Get crafty with activities like making Christmas ornaments, designing Jack and Sally dolls, or decorating Christmas cookies with the characters.
You can even recreate some scenes from the movie and have guests act them out! End with a costume contest to show off everyone's ghoulish getups and vote on favorites like "most creative" and "best couple/group costume."