Go Inside the Ghostly Birthday Party Designed for a Halloween-Loving Eight-Year-Old

Photographer Shannon Von Eschen, who lives with her husband, Jason, and son, Eli, in a 100-year-old schoolhouse in Colorado, has made a tradition of hosting large, elaborate parties for her little one's birthday each year. But after five years of turning their airy, open home into a variety of themed locales, she enlisted her husband and extended family in an even more ambitious plan: Building a creepy haunted house inside the school building to create a backdrop for a "Ghostly Gathering."

"This haunted soirée was frighteningly perfect for our Eli boy, who was turning eight," says Shannon. "As a lover of all things Halloween like his mama, nothing could have been more exciting than to throw a party filled with happy—though they don't look it!—haunts." The family used old wooden pallets to build new walls inside the space, creating an indoor front porch and hallway that led to a dining area, socializing space, and creepy, decorative dead-ends: talking mirrors, ghosts hovering near the ceiling, and a kitchen, bathroom, and child's bedroom dressed with vintage furnishings. "The open pallets allowed cool air from outside and the crawling fog from our haze machines to weave throughout the walls and into the open stream of light that poured through the windows and the ceiling that afternoon," says Shannon. "It was a Halloween delight to see it all come to life."

A carefully-curated menu of ghostly, all-white snacks—from white chocolate pretzels to peeled pears and sharp cheddar cheese—preceded the cutting of a white cake decorated with friendly-looking ghosts. Eli and his friends wore their best white outfits and spectral face paint as they navigated a spooky basement maze and played outside. "When Eli ran by me with a white balloon while blowing me a quick kiss, it was then when I knew," says Shannon, "it'd been a good, good party. Frightfully good."

M Harris Design provided torn-edge paper invitations printed with the barest of party details, leaving plenty to the guests' imagination. Spidery calligraphy and sepia-toned stamps set the mood on the envelope.

Eli and his parents donned white suits, grayed their hair, and darkened their eye sockets with makeup for a supernatural style.

A weathered sign hung over the schoolhouse's front entrance and dried ornamental grasses flanked the doorway, while Eli's grandfather (his Papa!) welcomed guests inside.

The cobweb-covered front door of the schoolhouse opened into a faux front porch built by Shannon and her father, Frank, in the building's existing foyer. Two old posts propped up a roof of reclaimed wood, while dried leaves and ornamental grasses helped create an abandoned atmosphere and a chiffon ghost swayed from the ceiling.

The front porch area opened to a long hallway that led guests to the main party space. "A tiny detail that came together at the last minute that may easily be one of my most favorite details is the porch numbers that look to have half-fallen off," says Shannon. "371, it reads. Or perhaps it says Eli?"

A large room framed by old pallets and decorative cobwebs offered space for displays of snacks, beverages, and cake. "Of course, we had to have our family of skeletons dress up as ghosts and ghouls, too," says Shannon. Nine skeletons, covered in "ghostly chiffon," were placed around the party space. Eli's father, Jason, built four rickety-looking chandeliers from wood and wire. "I strung them with webbing and Spanish moss, as if they'd forever been there," she adds.

Shannon used family portraits from Eli's previous birthday party to create haunted-looking pictures for the living room, overlaying an image of a skull on each for "ghost-like" results.

A buffet of all-white snacks—laid out on tables covered in wispy gauze cloth—included popcorn, angel food cake, coconut-topped Rice Krispie treats, cake pops, frosted donuts, white cheese, peeled pears, bread, string cheese, cauliflower, and ghost-shaped veggie chips. White pillar candles, black tapers, ghost-shaped ceramic platters, and vintage baking tins contrasted with the reclaimed wood elements that defined the space. "There were also tiny snack bags full of marshmallows and lollipops adorned in coffee filters to look like tiny ghosts that were handmade by Cheryl, Eli's grandmother," says Shannon.

Donut holes were wrapped in cheesecloth, tied off with string, and adorned with paper eyes. "I also just particularly like this image for the way in which the fog produced an eerie, smoke-like effect behind these treats," explains Shannon.

Other treats included white chocolate ghost candies—hand-poured by Eli's great-grandmother, Bernice—displayed on a silver platter next to white cupcakes topped with candy ghosts.

A hot chocolate bar included custom marshmallows laser-engraved with ghosts—perfect for popping into a rich brew.

Shannon and her husband spray-painted cans of soda and juice a glossy white, and then added custom "Boos" stickers and ghost illustrations. "Boos—not to be confused with booze," she notes. "And what was even more fun: whipped boos—mini shots of freshly whipped cream," which guests served themselves from custom shot glasses. "Perfect for even the tiniest ghosts!" she says.

A white-frosted cake from Shamane's Bakery sat atop a black cake stand, decorated with faux cobwebs and backed by a distressed-framed mirror.

Eli gave his guests small white favor bags, decorated to look like phantoms, filled with sweets and candy—plus small wooden puzzles, designed and laser-cut by Eli's parents. "Each puzzle was slightly different, but all adorably frightful, too," says Shannon.

The family asked Eli's guests to wear attire they described as "white and ghostly." "Our extended family and Eli's friends did not disappoint," says Shannon. "Their tiny, happy faces, mostly dusted with white powders and painted, dark eyes, still shined with happiness as they ran throughout each room, role-playing as if they were all ghosts living in their very own haunted house."

Though Shannon didn't plan any formal party games, Eli and his friends amused themselves for an hour with white balloons that they held on sticks while playing. "In the basement, we'd built a maze of other pallets, where the kids could crawl through to find their way to other dark rooms," she says. "The memories of Eli's laughter and all the kids' happy screams is something I won't easily forget."

Photography and Event Design, Shannon Von Eschen
Ghost Cookies, Small Batch Cookies
Trees, Ornamental Grasses, and Custom Woodwork, Creekside Boulder
Stationery, M Harris Design
Cake and Meringue Ghosts, Shamane's Bakery