Halloween Party Ideas!

Make a Scary Luminary!
Decorate your walkway, stage, porch or patio. Print works and/or faces on brown paper bags. Lay out your design, place a small cutting board or a piece of cardboard between the layers and cut out the shape with a utility knife. Tape a sheet of plain or tissue paper large enough to cover the cout-outs to the inside of the bag. Place a small amount of kitty litter in each bag to anchor it, and nestle a votive candle in each.

Bewildered Booquests!
Create eerie centerpieces by filling vases with dead flowers (ask your local florist) brown leaves and dead branches.

Smoldering Pot
Place your punch in a large bowl and place it inside an even larger bowl, pot or cauldron. Add chunks or dry ice to the larger container (Use tongs or heavy-duty gloves when handling dry ice.) Pour hot water over dry ice and watch it smolder!

GlowGlow Worms
Use nontoxic plastic glow sticks to make your food look radioactive! Place some glow sticks in a clear bowl, and pile gummy worms on top to cover the sticks!

Have a Costume Party...
But you supply the costumes. Pick up a few inexpensive "finds" at thrift shops and garage sales ahead of time. Have your guests choose items to create their own concoctions! Awards for best dressed, worst dressed, most unique, etc.

Charades
Play using words such as Dracula, black cats, candy corn, dead leaves, bat wings, pumpkins... etc.

BYOP
Bring Your Own Pumpkin (and carving equipment) and have a pumpkin-carving contest.

"Fun Fall Idea: Have participants bring in their favorite healthy pumpkin or fall vegetable recipe, and vote on the best one at the end of the month. You'll have a whole month of munchin' fun! Give a prize (pumpkin, gourmet store gift certificate, grocery store gift certificate, etc.) for the hands-down winner. Pillsbury Bake-off anyone? (Thanks to Debbie Higginbotham for the suggestion)

Turkey Trot!

From November 1 to December 15, run a promotion called the "Turkey Trot". It is geared to enhance class participation in what can be some of the slowest months of the year.
Each participant receives an orange punch card with a picture of a Turkey, the game rules and numbers to be punched. Every time they take a class, the instructor punches the card. At the end of the 6 week period, the cards are turned in and prizes are awarded. Every participant receives a pocket planner from All That Glitters. The person with the most punches receives one free personal training session, the person with the second most punches wins 20 free group fitness classes, the third most punches receives 10 free group fitness classes.
This is a low-cost promotion which yielded good results for my program last year. The winner attended 4 classes a week during the 6 week promotional period. The overall average of all participants was about 3 classes per week.
Download Turkey Trot materials here (Word documents):
Promotional poster
Turkey Trot rules & guidelines
Turkey Trot punch card

(Thanks to Carolyn Barnard, Fitness Supervisor from the
City of Overland Park, Kansas, for the suggestion)

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