17th birthday party

Hey!
I want to have a party this year, I usually have one and since my birthday is the day before Halloween I usually have everybody dress up and come over to my house, but it never seems that great.
We play some games and usually watch a scary movie,...

but I want to invite a LOT of people (like some that I want to get to know or don't know very well) and I want it to be a costume party also.
I switched schools 3 years ago so I've got two different sets of friends and it's really hard to mix them up without it being really uncomfortable.
Any ideas on how to make it run smoothly or just plain party stuff ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

alright well I had the exact same thing going on, the first thing I did was turned my garage into a dance floor, put some hay bails around(they're not to expencive and go with Halloween) to sit on, and pick out some music. then have a costume contest. pretty basic. food(its weird but get a lot of veggies because for some weird reason they go really fast) and some punch. maybe some contests just because and when they show there costumes make em say there name so everyone gets to know each other. hope I helped, and message me for anything else if you want