Every Halloween we hold a month-long celebration. I choose a theme and we have activities all month on that theme. Our average group size is about 10 people.

This year we went with a Spiritualist Theme. We made spirit boards, had a scavenger hunt in a park that's haunted, held a seance in a haunted hotel, and on Halloween we're culminating it with dinner in a haunted restaurant & a graveyard tour!

For the spirit board party, we designed invites to look like an old Victorian-era photo album. I created 4×6 pages, complete with little stories about where we'd be going, maps, directions, and ghost photos, and mounted each photo into a little album. It was a lot of work, but I only had to make 8!

Here, enjoy our spirit boards!

Before our guests arrived, we set up the blank boards.

And before we got started, we had to share that awkward time that comes with waiting for inspiration. You can see we have a variety of materials out — spray adhesive, magazines, scissors, paint. You can also see the painters tape on the edge, there! We used it to tape off a border around the boards.

Reina struck first, outlining her letters in pencil before painting them in.

Jen used a scrapbook page background, and then hand-stamped all of her numbers and letters.

After staining the board with a dark gray stain, I cut and glued drawings from an Edward Gorey book.

Jeanie brought in borders and glitter stickers to give her board sparkle.

Reina hand-painted her Star Wars-themed board.

It took about four hours to make the boards.

Guests were given a 9×12 art board, an acrylic cover, and all of the paint, glue, and other accessories they needed to create their own Ouija Boards! We watched horror movies that featured Ouija Boards, ate yummy junk food, and had a nice afternoon creating Halloween art.

Materials to make your own spirit board

Gather your supplies on a table — cover it if you want — and pair with spoooooooky drinks. Or, you know, a Jack and Coke. Have fun!