How to Style a Cute Halloween Party with Meri Meri

There are two kinds of Halloween party. The fake-blood-and-cobwebs kind, and the kind you actually want photos of.

This post is about the second one. Meri Meri do Halloween the way they do everything: beautifully drawn, properly made, and more charming than scary - shaped plates, honeycomb ghosts, jointed skeletons that look like they've stepped out of a picture book. It's the "cute Halloween" look that's everywhere on Pinterest right now, and it works for a toddler's first Halloween just as well as a grown-up supper. Browse the full Meri Meri Halloween collection to get started.

Pick your Halloween colour palette 🎃

Meri Meri's Halloween palette is black and orange with a twist: ivory, lilac and plenty of gold foil, so the table feels warm rather than gloomy. Decide early whether you're going ornate (gold-edged plates, pillar candles, lanterns) or playful (cat plates, ghost garlands, tattoos) - or, honestly, both. The ranges are designed to mix, so a cat plate on an ornate placemat looks intentional, not accidental.

Set the Halloween party table 🕸️

For the grown-up table, start with the Ornate Edge Halloween Party Plates - the scalloped gold edge does most of the styling for you. Pair them with the matching Ornate Edge Large Napkins and Ornate Halloween Party Cups, and lay the Halloween Heads Paper Placemats underneath each setting. Twelve placemats, eight plates: enough for a table and a side table.

For the children's table, go shaped. The Halloween Cat Shaped Plates with their matching cat napkins are the ones everyone picks up first; the Ghost Shaped Plates, Witch Shaped Plates and Spider Plates let you give each seat a different character. Mixing all four down one table looks brilliant.

If Halloween is an every-year fixture in your house, the Patchwork Halloween Reusable Plates, Halloween Portrait Reusable Plates and Halloween Cat Platter are melamine - dishwasher-safe, and out again next October.

Dress the room with Halloween decorations 👻

One big piece above the table, then layers. The Halloween Lantern Party Garland is the big piece - hang it along the mantelpiece or over the table and the room is done. Then the Hanging Ghost Decorations (or the ombré ghosts) from the ceiling at different heights, so they drift when someone opens a door.

The Giant Jointed Skeletons are the ones guests talk about - pose them on the stairs, peering round a door, sitting at the table. The Honeycomb Witch Hats and Honeycomb Spiders fill the corners, and the Halloween Heads are pure Meri Meri: three honeycomb characters that unfold in seconds and have more personality than most party guests.

Light it with candles and lanterns 🕯️

Halloween is the one party where you turn the big light off. The Mixed Halloween Icons Table Candles - six characterful icon candles with coloured wicks - run down the middle of the table; the Bat Table Candles and Striped Pillar Candles go at either end. Around the room, the Halloween Party Lanterns with a battery tea light inside give you the glow without the worry when there are small witches running about.

Party bags and dressing up 🧙

Skip the plastic bags. The Halloween Cauldron Party Bags are the party bag and the trick-or-treat bucket, and the Trick or Treat Ghost Bag is the one to give the birthday child or the host's own small ghost. Fill them with the Halloween Icons Temporary Tattoos and Stick-On Party Earrings - 124 of them, so nobody runs out - and you've sorted the arrival activity too: everyone gets tattooed before they get fed.

Capture it before the guests arrive 📸

Take your photos with the candles lit and the ghosts still, before the first coat comes off. Then tag us on Instagram at @littlebigpartyco - we'd love to see your Halloween table.

Shop the cute Halloween party look

Everything above is in our Meri Meri Halloween collection, with UK delivery. Want to mix in balloons, banners and the rest? Our full Halloween party collection has every brand together, and if you're starting from scratch, our guide to planning a Halloween party covers the food, games and timings.