Top 10 Halloween Party Tips (Slideshow)

If you're short on time, just decorate beverages you picked up at the store. Labels, stickers, string, and plastic arachnids can turn an innocent bottle of orange soda into a frighteningly awesome drink.

Make a menacing drink area by adding spooky signage, scary skulls, and creepy garnishes for cocktails to your table and framing the whole works with some ghostly decorations.

Ready-made snack items can help fill out your menu when you've reached your limit of cooking and baking. Bakery cupcakes in particular are easy to doctor with spooky details.

It's always good to stick to the tried-and-true, but there's no reason why you can't spook up tradition. Serving apple cider in gothic-looking cups or dressing up caramel apples can turn classic seasonal favorites into memorable treats.

Christening a blood-red cocktail with a chilling name creates instant Halloween chic. Labels or signage will put the name of the drink on everyone's lips and help ensure your rep as the best bloodcurdling bartender in town.

Nothing adds instant spookiness (and hides a multitude of sins) like ambient lighting. You can go full-out with a Halloween lighting scheme or simply turn the house lights low and light a bunch of candles for effect.

Swap out your family photos for some sinister-looking stock images downloaded from the Internet and printed on photo paper, then group them to decorate the food table where people congregate most.

A pumpkin-carving table complete with tools, waste bins, and flame-free illuminators makes it easy for guests to get into the spirit. You can save the pumpkin seeds for roasting, plus the jack-o'-lanterns, once carved, can decorate your party.

It's a good idea to prep kids for Halloween beforehand so they don't get too freaked out by what they see and hear.  Showing them all the props and making it clear that everything is just for play goes a long way toward assuaging fears (and cutting the risk of any meltdowns from fright).

Devoting an area for photo-taking is easy and gets guests excited to snap and share images of themselves having a great time (courtesy of you). A Mylar-curtain backdrop affixed to the wall with painter's tape makes a great, all-purpose background. Just add some spooky props and signage and your pals will be posing in no time.