October finishes with a bang – HALLOWEEN!!! There is also the conflict between Oktoberfest and October – which will you choose?
When you use National Days and weeks for your party theme, you could do some fundraising for them as well.
- From mid-September to early October is Oktoberfest, the annual beer festival held in Munich every year since 1810. You can have your own Oktoberfest Party at home, or a German party to celebrate other aspects of German culture..
- October is also the major fundraising event for Life Education, who provide drug and health education programs through Australian schools – Ocsober challenges Australians to cut out alcohol for the month of October.
- The 10th of October is National Firefighters Remembrance Day.
- Canada’s Thanksgiving Day is on the second Monday in October. Celebrate with a Canadian party or Thanksgiving Party.
- National Water Week – There are events around Australia and you can register your own.
- Pink Ribbon Day, the Cancer Council’s fundraiser for breast cancer research – Have a pink party to raise funds for breast cancer.
- National Bandanna Day, annual fundraiser for young people living with cancer.
- Loud Shirt Day – Loud Shirt Day is an annual appeal of an Australian Alliance of five organisations who are dedicated to teaching deaf and hearing impaired children to listen and speak with clear natural spoken language like their hearing peers
- And don’t forget Halloween on the 31st of October.
Famous October Birthdays
Have a party to celebrate the birthdays of these famous people or characters. Like current birthdays, you can have them on the nearest weekend.
- 1 October – Julie Andrews – The hills are alive with the sound of music! Celebrate the birthday of this Broadway and movie star, best known for her musical roles Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
- 2 October – Groucho Marx – Get those glasses and moustaches out and brush up on your quotes.
- 3 October – Chubby Checker – Lets twist again! Like we did in the Sixties.
- 4 October – Charlton Heston – Hollywood star of Ben-Hur, Planet of the Apes, and the Ten Commandments.
- 5 October – Bob Geldof – Lead singer if the Boomtown Rats, whose big hit was “I Don’t Like Mondays”. Bob Geldof is also known for his activism, particularly organising Band Aid who recorded “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and the Live Aid concerts. Celebrate his birthday with a fundraising party.
- 5 October – Donald Pleasence – Played iconic baddie Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films.
- 8 October – Paul Hogan – Time for an Aussie party? Throw another shrimp on the barbie and see our Australia Day page for more ideas.
- 9 October – John Lennon – Get out your Beatles records and have a Sixties party.
- 10 October – Harold Pinter – playwright.
- 11 October – Henry John Heinz – yes, founder of the Heinz brand.
- 12 October – Luciano Pavarotti – One third of the Three Tenors, and singer of Nessun Dorma which has become synonymous with World Cup soccer.
- 13 October – Margaret Thatcher – The Iron Lady – UK’s Prime Minister for all of the 1980s.
- 14 October – Cliff Richard – Have a party where everyone has to dress as Cliff, or focus on one song or film eg Summer Holiday
- 14 October – Roger Moore – Played a famously witty James Bond.
- 16 October – Oscar Wilde – Writer and wit.
- 17 October – Evel Knievel – Motorbike stunt performer.
- 18 October – Chuck Berry – Rock’n’roll pioneer – Celebrate by returning to the fifties, or having an Americana party.
- 21 October – Judge Judy Sheindlin – TV’s sternest judge. Dress as Judge Judy, her bailiff, or one of her hapless litigants.
- 25 October – Pablo Picasso – Painter.
- 25 October – Georges Bizet – Composer of opera Carmen.
- 27 October – John Cleese – Have a silly walk competition, bring your dead parrot, and revisit Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, or A Fish Called Wanda.