A Nightmare Before Christmas Birthday

Boys and girls of every age. Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see. This, our town of Halloween!

My son is a big fan of Jack Skellington. He developed a love for Tim Burton’s movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, a few years ago and spread that love to the rest of the family. We’ve watched the movie a million times, and since my son’s birthday is in October, we hosted a frightfully fun party for his fifth birthday.

So come with me — if you dare — and I’ll show you all the spooky particulars of this party!

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS-INSPIRED PARTY ITEMS

I designed the invitations and printed them on white glossy card stock. For added effect and texture, I adhered them to black glitter card stock with double-sided tape. Most of the invitations were delivered in person, but a few were mailed in handmade purple envelopes.

In the movie, Jack conducts a series of experiments trying to understand the meaning of Christmas. As he tries to figure it out, he writes an elaborate equation on a chalkboard. Since I happen to have a chalkboard in our kitchen area, it was an easy re-creation.

When the crew from Halloween Town takes over Christmas, they make some pretty wicked toys and decorations. One of them is a monster wreath with sharp, pointy teeth… kind of like this guy.

Lastly, Oogie Boogie is the “bad guy” in the movie. He’s made up of bugs and threaded together like a burlap sack. My sister and I made a bunch of these Oogie Boogie goodie bags and stuffed them with gummy worms, bubbles, stickers, tattoos and plastic bugs.

To make the Oogie Boogie goodie bags, I adapted this template by omitting the feet and pipe cleaners and sewing the felt pieces together with orange and brown embroidery thread using a blanket stitch. I thought the kids would be grossed out by the bugs, but they were a huge hit!

THE SPOOKY SPREAD

Parties are a great reason to gather with friends and family around good food. The menu for this frightful and delightful fête included:

• Charcuterie Board
• Halloween Harvest Mix & Caramel Popcorn
• Creepy Crawly Checkerboard Cake
• Hamburgers and Hot Dogs
• Potato Salad, Baked Beans and Cornbread

We love a good charcuterie board and include one with every entertaining opportunity. This board featured four meats {pepperoni, genoa salami, spicy capicola and beef summer sausage}, four cheeses {brie, extra sharp cheddar, blue and port wine}, fresh grapes, dried figs and apricots, olives, and a variety of crackers.

Another wickedly fun and delicious snack is this Halloween Harvest Mix.

It’s quick and easy to make; combine the following together in a large bowl.

• Honeycomb cereal,
• pretzels,
• Bugles corn snacks,
• Muddy Buddies cookies and cream,
• candy corn, and
• plain M&Ms.

I served this mix, along with gourmet caramel popcorn, in Halloween-themed cupcake liners. {Leftovers pack well in lunch boxes, too.}

For birthdays, I enjoy baking the cake from scratch. This year’s theme provided an opportunity to try my hand at a Creepy Crawly Checkerboard Cake. {Click for the How-To.}

To create the spider webs, I melted a handful of marshmallows in the microwave and strung the ooey-gooeyness around and on top of the cake. Tiny plastic spiders finished the look.

When we cut into the cake, we were met with a fun checkboard surprise!

I used my favorite chocolate cake and vanilla cake recipes and topped it off with my signature cream cheese frosting. {Tip: Use imitation vanilla extract to keep the frosting white.}

The Chief manned the grill to serve up hamburgers and hot dogs, and I paired them with homemade baked beans, potato salad and cornbread for a full spread.

HAUNTINGLY GOOD FUN

Instead of organized games or activities, the kids played outdoors and burned energy between our backyard playset and a rented bounce house.

And what’s this? What’s this?

As the day wound down and the sun started to set, we were visited by the one and only Jack, the Pumpkin King!

As you can see, we are big fans of Halloween and The Nightmare Before Christmas so this party was a scream to plan and attend. Stay tuned for this year’s super-‘Sonic’ birthday party coming up. Thanks for reading!  — v.

For more Nightmare Before Christmas ideas, check out this collection from Disney Family.
For more ideas and inspiration for kids birthday parties, please follow my Pinterest board.