The problem of providing suitable entertainment for one's informal parties is something which has perplexed many a host and hostess.  How often has it happened that just when you had gotten your guests nicely seated around the parlor listening to the Caruso record, some ill-mannered fellow would remark, "Oh, Lord--let's go over to the Tom Phillips' and get something to drink."  How many times in the past have you prepared original little "get-together" games only to find that, when you again turned the lights on, half the company had disappeared for the evening.

Of course we cannot all be  startlingly clever, but Halloween, which comes on October 31st, offers a splendid opportunity for originality and "peppy" fun. The following suggestions are presented to ambitious hostesses with the absolute guarantee that no matter what other reactions her guests may have, they will certainly not be bored. 

INVITATIONS:

The whole spirit of Halloween is, of course, one of "spooky" gayety and light-hearted ghastliness. Witches and ghosts run riot; corpses dance and black cats howl.  "More work for the undertaker" should be the lead motif of the evening's fun.  The moribund spirit can be delightfully observed, first of all, in the preparation of the invitations. I know of one hostess, for instance, who gained a great reputation for originality by enclosing a dead fish with each bidding to the evening's gayeties. It is, of course, not at all necessary to follow her example to the letter; the enclosure of anything dead will suffice, providing, of course, that it is not TOO dead. There is such a thing as carrying a joke beyond the limits of propriety, and the canons of good taste should always be respectfully observed.

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Another amusing way of preparing invitations is to cut out colored paper in the shape of cats, witches, etc., upon which appropriate verses are inscribed.  Such as: "Next Monday night is Halloween, you big stiff." Or "On Monday next comes All-Hallows-Even, my grandmother's maiden name was Stephens."  Or, "On Halloween you may see a witch if you don't look out, you funny fellow." or "Harry and I are giving a Halloween party; Harry says you owe him four dollars; please be prompt.” or "Monday night the ghosts do dance; Why didn't you enlist and go to France, You slacker?"

Another novel invitation is made by cutting a piece of yellow paper thirteen inches long and four inches wide, and writing on each inch, one of the lines given below. Then begin at the bottom and fold the paper up, inch by inch. Fasten the last turn down with a "spooky" gummed sticker, and slip into a small envelope. When the recipient unfolds the invitation, he will be surprised to read the following:
 

It would perhaps be best to telephone the next day to those guests whom you REALLY want, and give them further details as to the date and time of the party.   Additional fun can be gotten out of this invitation by failing to put postage stamps on the envelopes when you mail them; the two cents which each guest will have to pay for postage due can be returned in a novel manner on the night of the party by inserting them in sandwiches or stuffed tomatoes.

RECEIVING THE GUESTS:

On Halloween night great care should be taken in the preparations for receiving the guests in a mystic manner; no pains should be spared in the effort to start the evening off with a "bang."  Several novel ideas are offered for starting the guests off on the right informal spirit.   Before they arrive, it is a good plan to take the street number off your house and fasten it to the porch of your next door neighbors, who will, of course, be at home because they are perfectly impossible people whom no one would invite anywhere. Extinguish all the lights in your own house. Your neighbor, as he comes downstairs twenty-five or thirty times in the next hour, will obligingly tell your bewildered friends specifically where to go. 

When the guest finally learns from the neighborhood policeman which house on the block is really yours he will discover on your door a sign reading:  "If you would be my Valentine, follow please the bright green line."  Leading from the door is a green cord which the mystified guest proceeds to follow, according to directions.  This cord should guide the way to the coal cellar of your other neighbor who has recently purchased an automatic revolver under the delusion that burglars are operating in the neighborhood.   As your bewildered guest gropes his way about the cellar, it is quite likely that he will be shot at several times and by the time he emerges (if he does emerge) he will be quite delightfully full of the informal spirit of Halloween and ready for anything.

HOW TO MYSTIFY:

At this point, your wife, dressed as a witch, should unexpectedly rush out at him; there is always the delightful possibility that he will pick up a convenient rock and brain her on the spot—an event which often adds an unexpected touch of gayety to the evening's fun. If, however, no such event occurs, the guest should be blindfolded and led into the house.  Once inside he is conducted upstairs to the attic, where he will find three or four earlier arrivals also blindfolded.

The hands and feet of these four are then securely tied and they are told that they are to be left there all evening.  This is really a great joke, because they do not, of course, at the time, believe what you say, and when you come up to untie them the next morning, their shame-faced discomposure is truly laughable.

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The green-cord-into-neighbor's-coal-cellar joke can be cleverly varied by taking the lid off your cistern and making the green line lead in that direction.  Great care should be taken, however, to keep an exact account of the number of guests who succumb to this trick, for although an unexpected "ducking" is excruciatingly humorous, drowning often results fatally.

"You will meet a well dressed, good looking man who understands you better than your husband.  How about Thursday at the Plaza?"

"You are about to receive a shipment of Scotch whisky that you ordered last month.  And it's about time you kicked across with some of your own."

"You will have much trouble in your life if you lie about your golf score as you did last Sunday on Number 12."