How to Hold a Laser Tag-Style Halloween

Halloween is a mystical night when all sorts of evil spirits gather for a noisy Sabbat and let loose with entertainment. This holiday is usually associated with pumpkins, blood, the undead, and vampires. The standard way to celebrate Halloween is to apply makeup, dress up as a witch or some kind of corpse, and go to a party. But today, the world of entertainment offers many novelties, so we can save the dinner parties or discos for Christmas or mom's anniversary, and for Halloween, head to a laser tag arena with a fun group of friends to stage a real battle of the undead and try to save the world. This is where you'll find a true immersion into the holiday atmosphere and unforgettable experiences that will make you want to come back for more.

These ideas for organizing a Halloween party, which, by the way, falls on the night of October 31st, will be useful for:

• Laser tag arena owners – to offer a new game format and attract an additional audience.

• Professional event planners – a Halloween-style party can be arranged for a child's or adult's birthday, a class reunion, a corporate event, or even a wedding.

• Owners of entertainment venues – cafes, nightclubs, hotels, etc., to diversify their usual range of services with a themed party.

• A group of friends or a team, or anyone who wants to independently plan and organize an unforgettable night on All Hallows' Eve – another name for Halloween.

For the party to be a success, and for all the living to survive and be satisfied on the Night of the Dead, it's important to know the specifics of conducting laser tag games and to work through ideas for integrating them into the themed holiday.

Planning a Laser Tag Halloween Evening

A scenario is the foundation of any festive event, so you should start by thinking it through. But before that, it's important to decide where and for which group of people the party will be held.

Since this is literally a "frightening" holiday, it's better not to involve children, so the main demographic for organizing this kind of event is youth and adults. A fun party with a laser tag battle, a feast, and dancing until dawn can be organized as:

• A corporate event for colleagues.

• A class reunion (an unusual option if you're tired of standard get-togethers).

• An event for students of secondary and higher educational institutions.

• A gathering of a group of friends.

• A family event for relatives and loved ones.

Where is the Best Place to Organize a Halloween Party?

Since the celebration of this holy day falls in late autumn, weather conditions can be an obstacle to outdoor games, so laser tag is mainly organized indoors. However, for the bravest and those craving thrills, laser tag can be organized on an outdoor field, having first taken care of suitable warm clothing and appropriate accessories that convey the holiday atmosphere. The most popular options for organizing a laser tag Halloween party are:

• Organizing a full-fledged party at a specialized laser tag club (the full program is included: from transfer and refreshments to laser tag battles and contests with prizes).

• Organizing an independent trip to a laser tag arena for a battle as part of the main celebration, which can then continue anywhere (a cafe, a rented cottage, your own home, a nightclub, etc.).

• Ordering mobile laser tag to your location, including it in the event program as part of the entertainment. These battles will surely leave no one indifferent. Mobile laser tag can be ordered wherever is convenient for you: to a hotel, a resort area, your own house, etc.

Depending on whether you include arena-based or mobile laser tag in your event program, the preparation specifics will vary.

What to Wear for Laser Tag Battles

Usually, specialized clubs provide vests or suggest wearing comfortable sportswear. Since the games involve running with weapons, hiding behind obstacles, and other active movements, it's important that clothing is camouflaging and loose. For example, in semi-darkness, dark-colored clothing is relevant, while on a snow surface, light colors are better.

The rules can be bent on Halloween night, as the color scheme of many costumes and makeup involves black, white, red "blood," and bright elements of orange, yellow, red, and green tones. However, it must always be considered that clothing should not hinder running or create risky situations for the players' health, so long dresses, robes, cloaks, and floor-length capes are better changed out of or avoided altogether.

Instead of heels and dress shoes, it's necessary to bring comfortable athletic sneakers or trainers. Thus, participants of the laser tag games should be aware of the upcoming game; it shouldn't be a surprise to them, so people can plan an appropriate look for the upcoming event.

If the scenario is known in advance, you can organize a costumed battle. For this, half of the team should dress in a pre-agreed image, for example, zombies or vampires. This will make it easier to distinguish allies from enemies during the battle. But roles can also be denoted using accessories and laser tag game equipment.

Venue Decoration and Halloween Decorations

To immerse yourself in the atmosphere of real mystique and horror, you need to plan the decoration of the hall where the game will take place in advance. Improvised means can be used, from which you can make the necessary decorative elements with your own hands:

• Pumpkins carved from real vegetables or created from various other materials.

• Cobwebs made from gauze or threads – it looks very realistic.

• Splatters of blood from ketchup, beet syrup, or paint.

• Candles to create semi-darkness and other lighting fixtures like massive lampshades.

• Halloween-style garlands – with figures of various evil spirits – black cats, bats, skulls, spiders, the Grim Reaper, a witch's hat and broom, ghosts, pumpkins, etc.

• Balloons (usually for Halloween, orange and yellow balloons are used, drawn on with a black marker).

You can tackle the hall decoration yourself or entrust this matter to professionals. You can find many ideas online.

Event Running Order

If the laser tag club offers a comprehensive service, you can offer guests the full range:

• Transfer from the meeting point to the club and back.

• Services of a professional makeup artist.

• Conducting a laser tag game.

• Banquet.

• Festive show.

• Contests and prizes.

• Photo session.

But even with self-organization, it's important not to forget the main components of any festive event. After the guests arrive, you can work on their looks, as not everyone can apply makeup themselves, and this is perhaps the most interesting part—when once a year you can try on the image of some villain or the living dead.

It is highly desirable to organize at least a small buffet so that guests don't get too hungry before arriving at the main party venue, if you decided to stop for laser tag games along the way. Light snacks in the form of terrifying Halloween attributes will be relevant here. Food can also be bought at the store, prepared yourself, or assembled collectively, for example, as a potluck where everyone brings something. For a buffet, fruits, vegetable and meat platters, sandwiches, sweets, etc., are suitable. The options for presentation are limited only by your imagination. Usually, tangerines are turned into pumpkins, bananas into some kind of horrors, sandwiches and sweets are decorated to look like spiders, zombies, fingers, eyes, brains; salads are presented as skulls, pumpkins, etc. Again, ideas can be found online.

In addition to the actual laser tag battle, the celebration should include a show program, animation, fun contests, and, of course, prizes and gifts. Quests and contests corresponding to the evening's theme should also be planned in advance. It's important not to miss the contest for the best costume on such an evening, additionally announcing several other nominations (the most original look, the scariest makeup, etc.). As gifts, you can give guests small souvenirs with the laser tag club's logo (if the club is organizing the party) or with Halloween attributes (pens, notebooks, keychains, soft toys, etc.).

Guests will certainly want to preserve their impressions in the form of photos, so it is advisable to organize a special corner for photo sessions, decorated in the appropriate style. You can also invite a professional photographer or videographer to capture the best moments of the party. Video recording is especially useful during the laser tag battle to capture the most exciting parts.

Laser Tag Game Scenarios for Halloween

Usually, scenarios for games are taken from various computer games or plots of popular films. In the case of Halloween, you can come up with something new or adapt existing scenario options to the themed holiday.

The software allows for configuring laser tag equipment for various scenarios, so club owners can quite feasibly implement the first option for conducting games—preparing unusual plots. If the party is organized independently, then you can play games by standard rules—just in appropriate costumes—which is even simpler in terms of preparation. For example, in a "every man for himself" game, any characters can participate—witches, ghosts, the Grim Reaper, the Joker, Dracula, the vampire queen, etc. In team games where two teams fight, it could be humans vs. zombies, humans vs. vampires, female evil spirits vs. male evil spirits, etc.

The Living Dead or Zombies. Two teams – zombies and humans – fight for survival. Out of 10 people, two are assigned the zombie role. If the dead hit humans, they don't die but switch to the opposite side. Zombies have more health points, and "humans" have inverted mode enabled (to identify infected participants who are now fighting for the zombies). The game continues until one of the teams is completely eliminated.

Zombie Boss. In this scenario, a team of humans fights against a team of zombies led by an almost invulnerable boss, who has an increased number of cartridges and health points. Defeated humans also switch to the zombie side, so players on the human team must have inverted mode enabled.

Battle Against Vampires. The peculiarity of this scenario is that with equal preset weapon parameters, a team of humans and a team of vampires fight. If you hit an opponent, you can replenish your health by the amount of damage dealt (the main condition is that you cannot exceed the starting health parameter).

Vampire Lord. In this scenario, two teams fight, but the vampires have a Lord who possesses increased health and damage. And in the human team, there are snipers, assault troops, and medics. The equipment must be configured accordingly.

Ultimate Weapon. Two teams play. Points are awarded for killing an opponent. The team with the most points wins. Scenario devices are set up in the game, for example, a Base where you can restore health, an Arsenal – for replenishing ammo by any participant from either team (their quantity in the Arsenal is limited).

If desired, you can come up with your own scenarios, taking into account the players' age, number of participants, their physical fitness, and previous experience in laser tag games. Tasks can be complicated or made simpler. Options can be discussed in advance with the event organizers so that participants are prepared, and the game turns out exciting and thrilling.

A laser tag battle is perhaps the best idea for a Halloween party. When else can you battle zombies or a clan of vampires if not on the most mystical night of the living dead? An excuse for a regular sit-down in a cafe can be found another time, but a chance that comes once a year should not be missed. Such a battle will surely be remembered for a long time.