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Host A Halloween 'Spook-tacular' With Tips From Party City

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — Don't plan your Halloween spook-tacular without a trip to Party City!

"Spooks-person" Jennifer Jackson visited the KCAL9 studios Wednesday to show viewers how to "eat, drink, and be scary" with creative and simple decorating tips for an adult Halloween party!

Décor Tips

• Traditional Halloween colors like orange and black are still in. But this year we went with a little more sophisticated color scheme of purple and black. Starting with our tablecloth. We used a regular purple tablecloth and added this black cheesecloth overlay for a little extra drama.

• The black leaf garland you'll see in front of the table works great to line your display table with, but also as decoration throughout the house. When paired with some classic white spiderwebbing, it makes a great accent to the mantle or wrapped around a railing. I found this great idea at the Idea Gallery on Homes.com. Not only is Homes.com a real estate listing website with more than 3 million homes for sale, but also has a fantastic Idea Gallery full of festive Halloween projects.

• These tombstones also set the scene. Not only do they look great outside on the lawn, but also here on our table. Just add a little moss and they look as eerie as ever. They also add a little height to our display, as we don't want everything laying completely flat on the table.

• Since we're going for a little more sophisticated look this year, we even dressed up our skeleton with some extra flair. We found this life-size posable skeleton at Party City and dressed him up in this embellished tophat that even matches our purple and black color scheme. Now he looks ready for a party!

Tablescape Tips

• Something that's really easy to do, and most people might even already have an accent piece like this already in their home – probably placed on the mantle or as a centerpiece on the coffee or dining table – a tall candle inside a clear glass candle holder. Then simply take these plastic bones party favors and fill the glass candleholder about a quarter of the way up – surrounding the candle. The eerie glow through the bones adds a great atmosphere to your party scene. This tip also works great with candy, acorns or leaves for a more fall-theme.

• For a sit-down affair, write guests' names on black cardstock and place in-between a set of vampire teeth for an unexpected, festive detail.

• Good design tip: for your place setting, balance vivid colors with neutral tones – for example, we've paired purple plates with black charger and ornate black and white napkin. As another unexpected detail, we added a spider to our napkin tie.

• Speaking of spiders, the eight-legged creature is taking over the styles of Halloween this year. Cover a bouquet of fresh flowers with the faux creepy-crawlers for really eerie scene.

• For a full infestation, pick up a variety of creatures from Party City – they have a great assortment of spiders, rats, crows, etc. These all look really cool placed in glass canisters or "trapped" atop a covered cake stand.

Halloween Entertaining

• While we're setting the table, let's talk about entertaining. Party City's assortment of "Shocktails" is perfect for an affordable, yet sophisticated scene at your Halloween party wet bar.

• Disguise bottles of wine or soda with Shocktails bottle labels, personalizing them with phrases like "Witch's Potion" and "Spider Cider."

• Dress up martini glasses with appetizing accents like olives and lychee nuts to make "Eye-catching Martinis" or black licorice candy draped over the edges to form the "spider legs" of a "Spider Cider-tini."

• We can't have all these tricks without at least one treat! While the kids collect all the candy this Halloween, adults want something sweet to satisfy their inner child. Cupcakes are universal – I don't know anyone who will pass up a good cupcake.

• Party City makes cupcake decorating fool-proof this Halloween with stencils from celebrity pastry chef, Duff Goldman and adorable icing decoration kits like this graveyard scene.
• For more budget-friendly ideas on Halloween decorating and entertaining, visit PartyCity.com and Homes.com.

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