A few years ago, I was invited to a BYOP Halloween party for adults - that's Bring Your Own Pumpkin. We carved our favorite ghoulish designs on our pumkins (or Jack-O-Lanterns if you prefer), ate great food, watched Tim Burton movies and enjoyed good company.

But your BYOP parties don't have to be so mellow or adult only. They lend themselves perfectly to adaptation to different age groups and family Halloween celebrations. Check out these tips for hosting your own BYOP party.

Most young children love halloween.  More and more people are opting to hold parties for kids instead of taking them trick or treating because of safety issues.  Why not add to the fun by having the kids carve pumpkins?  Younger kids will definitely need supervision with carving tools, so make sure you plan accordingly.  You can turn it into a family event or decide to just have chosen chaperones.  But remember to get permission from parents regarding what carving tools they will allow their kids to use.

Older kids may not need so much supervision and would like to be involved in the party planning.  Kids of all ages love dressing up, so you can combine a costume party with the BYOP theme quite well.

Dressing up isn't just for kids. At the BYOP parties I've been to costumes were encouraged but optional. In fact, it's a great time for us grownups to step outside of ourselves and have a little fun. Instead of movies you can have music and dancing or background music with games.

The parties I went to had an area set up on a porch to carve the pumpkins and inside the movies were playing in the background with a table spread with food. Guests were told when the party started but could come and go when their schedule permitted. It was informal, and the laidback atmosphere made it more fun.

Make sure you plan your BYOP Halloween party space appropriately. If you're the host you will need to have a large enough space for several people to carve pumpkins which is a messy job. Even if you don't have an outdoor space, deck or patio, you can lay down newspaper or preferably plastic tablecloths or dropcloths for people to work. If you have kids, then you know how important this really is or else half the pumpkins will end up on your walls.

You can ask people to bring some of their own supplies too including carving tools and candles. It's nice though if the host has some extra supplies on hand. I brought a plastic container to take my pumpkin seeds home to cook them, though the hostess cooked some for her guests. Due to the amount of people with pumpkins, it would have been too time consuming for her to cook all of our seeds for us.

BYOP parties are a great way to connect with friends and family.  After all the guests have carved their pumpkins, light candles in them and line them up outside to take pictures. Or maybe this can be an event to start off your Halloween celebrations. Families might enjoy coming to a BYOP party just before traveling together to take their kids trick or treating. Use your imagination and plan the BYOP parties around your guests. You'll be surprised how fun scooping the guts out of squash can be.