Whey hey it is nearly time again to dust of the Halloween decorations and get out the ghoulish costumes!
If like me you love Halloween and use it as an excuse to throw a party and have a bit of fun then this is the blog for you!
First you need to send out the invitations! If you are going to spend a great deal of time and effort on this you want to make sure that your guests can make it! If unlike this year Halloween doesn't fall on a Saturday it may be worth doing it the Saturday before Halloween as parties on a school night are never as successful!
Make sure you let guests know whether they are expected to trick or treat! (although in this day and age I think there are just to many risks so I always opt for no!)
As Halloween is a family event make sure to invite all members even the very little ones.
Ask guests to R.S.V.P as you will need to know how much food and drink to buy as well as treats for the kids.
Don't forget to state on the invite that Fancy Dress is a must for all ages (much more fun if everyone dresses up).
Then you need to plan your party!
Make sure it suits the age group,not too scary for the little ones and lots of age related games.
Download lots of spooky scary background music so it adds to the atmosphere! You may some for the games too.
Make a do to list with a list of things to do in advance, things to do the day before, & things to do on the day. This way you won't forget anything and give yourself plenty of time on the day to get yourself and the kids ready and make sure you enjoy the party too!
Decorations
You can buy everything you need these days but it so much fun to make your own and get the kids involved too for a bit of arts and crafts fun! I feel you can never have too any Halloween decorations (unlike Christmas) the more the better and take lots of photos so you can remember (and show off) all your hard work.
Instead of using just pumpkins for your jack-o-lanterns try using red, green and yellow peppers instead! Line them up at the entrance or along a mantelpiece in groups of 6-10 for maximum effect.
Do these ones on the day of the party if you think you will have the time or else last thing the day before!
Throw old white sheets over furniture and drape muslin with holes in from doors and windows to create a scary house of horror.
Cut out cats and bats from black card and tape over lights to give a spooky effect. Make bunting with black string and cut outs you can use anything from witches to monsters and ghosts to spiders! Use black, red and orange paper for this and get the kids to help.
Make lots of spiders from egg boxes and put all over the party area and on the food table.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/mistermaker/make/eggboxcreatures_vplayer.shtml
Dead Persons Brain
I found this wonderful scary brain on Family Fun looks great and sooo easy to make!
To make
Use 1 small watermelon
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the entire green rind, exposing the inner white rind.
Slice off the bottom of the melon to create a flat base that will keep it from rolling. With a toothpick, outline squiggly furrows that resemble the folded surface of a brain.
Finally, carve narrow channels along the tracings with a sharp paring knife (a parent's job) to expose the pink fruit beneath the rind.
Ghoulish Ghosts
Crumple up a piece of tissue paper into a ball. Place it into the centre of a flat piece of tissue paper. Pick up the corners of the flat tissue and twist it around the ball. Tie a twist tie or a piece of string around the ghosts neck. Draw a face with a felt pen. You can hang them up all over the house! You can also glue on yarn, and make a black hat and cape from coloured paper to make a witch!
I saw these in a shop but they are so easy to make. Get a few metres of muslin and either dye black or use them as they are. Get a coat hanger and drape over, shape like a ghost. Secure the top, and make a hood shape. You will need to stiffen the fabric with spray on starch and may even need the help of some gardening wire to keep the face area pronounced.
Cut and fray the bottom of your ghost and then hang around the house. But keep away from any naked flame.
Another option is to tie the fabric over a helium filled balloon - white, black or orange look great. Draw a scary face on the balloon whatever you want ghoul, witch, ware wolf or ghost. You can put some ghosts in a box and when people open the box the ghosts will float up and scare everyone! Or tie them with string in front of an open window or a fan and watch them gently move in the breeze. Or you can just let them float around the hall ( make sure you have no lit Jack-o-Lanterns or naked candles in the area).
For a glow in the dark ghost you can activate a mini glow stick, slip it inside a balloon, follow instructions above. This looks great inside or out (but for inside the room must be dimly lit).
Monster Footprints
With a marker, draw a footprint in a big sponge. Cut out the footprint. Pour washable paint into a old container and press the sponge into the paint. Make sponge footsteps up your path to your front door for guests and trick-or-treaters to follow. Flip the sponge upside down to stamp the other foot.
Crunching Bones Underfoot
Spread some dried bread and pretzels under a rug. When your guests walk across the rug it will sound like crunching bones underfoot!
Make sure the room is dimly lit and if possible get a black light bulb it makes any skeletons who come to the party stand out a mile! Looks great.
Halloween Party Games
Mummy Wrap Game
Suitable for all ages incl adults!
Divide the guests into 2 teams and give each pair a roll of toilet paper. Instruct the teams to race to wrap up one of the team members , from head to toe like a mummy. Play scary music and when you stop the music the team that wins is the one that has covered their mummy the most!
Noises in The Night
The big box should be about the size of a dishwasher. Seal the bottom of the box, and tear off the top flaps. Turn the box over. A few days before get your children to decorate the box with crayons, markers, or paint -- a haunted house is the best option. But whatever you do, don't cut any windows or doors. This game requires no peeking.
A child sits inside the haunted house. One at a time, the other children tiptoe to the box and give their best howl. If the child inside can guess the howler's identity, he or she can "escape" the haunted house and the identified howler must enter. Make sure each child has a turn sitting in the haunted house.
Candy Catch
The guests line up and are given say 5 sweets. A small pumpkin or decorated bucket is placed on the floor against the wall. One by one, each player tries to toss sweets into the Halloween pail one at a time. Their score is kept and when every player has taken their turn, all of the scores are added and the player who successfully tossed in the most pieces of candy wins all of the treats in the plastic pumpkin.
Pin the Broomstick on The Witch
Draw a large witch and pin it to the wall. Make a separate broomstick from paper.
Guests are blindfolded and spun around, then they have to pin the broomstick to the witch. The one who gets it in the best position wins a prize.
Halloween Treats Hunt
Make some witches and cats from cardboard and decorate in advance.
Then hide these around the house and set 2 teams against each to find them. You can give clues if you wish.The team that finds the most in an allotted time wins a prize (or prizes).
For more decoration ideas and free Halloween printables check out: http://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/printables/halloween-printables/ From invitations to front door decorations these are really useful.
Frightening Food
As the kids will be filling up with lots of sweets you need to make sure there is other (proper!?) food on offer too. But you can make it part of the decorations too. Well at least the adults will eat it!
Pizza
Decorate home made or store bought pizzas as monster and devils - just use a little imagination. Use pieces of red pepper, sliced black olive for eyes, sweetcorn for teeth, and you can even add some spaghetti hair at the end.
Get kids to help they will love it and are more inclined to eat food that they have helped make ( mind you mine need no convincing to eat pizza anyway!)
Serve whole then cut at the table for best effect.
Blood Punch
To make the punch add orange and grape juice to a bowl top up with lemonade or sparkling water! Float segments of blood grapefruits and pieces of red apple. Depending on how sweet you want it you add a few spoonfuls of sugar! If you want a really blood red colour add a few drops of natural food colouring!
To make the punch look super scary add a dead hand to the bowl! To make a frozen hand, a few days before the party, wash a disposable glove, fill with water, seal with a rubber band and freeze until hard. Then just before serving dip the hand in warm water and peel off the plastic. Float the ice hand in the punch for a spooky effect!
Make an alcoholic version of this for the parents! Add either a bottle of red wine or a bottle of vodka depending on your tastes. (Or both if you are Irish or Scottish, lol). Making sure that you serve in different containers so you don't get mixed up, or put the alcoholic version out of reach of kids!
Monster Toes
Try This Ghoulish Treat From Family Fun. I love these.
You will need:
Cocktail sausages
Tortilla Wraps
Tomato Ketchup
Cocktail sticks
Use cold cooked cocktail sausages, cut a wedge in the shape of a toenail from the end.
Slice wraps into strips about 1cm shorter than your sausages, and approx 10 cm in length. Soften these in the micro between sheets of damp kitchen paper for approx 20 seconds. Then roll around each sausage and secure with cocktail stick. Fill the toenail with ketchup and serve.
You can serve these cold or hot (for hot pop in hot oven for 7- 8 mins), but if you do make sure you add the ketchup after they have been in the oven.
Monster Hands
Try This Ghoulish Treat From Family Fun
Recipe Ingredients:
Clear plastic gloves (available at beauty supply stores and supermarkets)
Red wine gums
Popcorn
Ribbon
Directions:
Begin with washed gloves. Stick one wine gum at the tip of each finger for fingernails. Fill the glove with popcorn. Use the ribbon to tie a bow at the wrist.
Witches Fingers
Use homemade houmous or buy it in the supermarket!
For the houmous
5 tbsp olive oil ,400g can chickpeas , rinsed and drained, ½ tsp ground cumin , 1 garlic clove - crushed, juice 1 lemon) To make the houmous, tip the rinsed chickpeas into a food processor. Add all the remaining ingredients and 3 tbsp cold water and whizz together. Keep adding water, a tbsp or so at a time, until you get a smooth spoonable paste. Serve with fingers.
For the fingers
4 long carrots
1 medium carrot
softened cream cheese
sliced-almond
baby carrots
Just fill a bowl with your favourite dip, I love houmous so I use this. Wash and peel your four long carrots and the smaller on for the thumb. Using a sharp knife cut a flat, shallow notch in the tip of each carrot. Then use a dab of dip or softened cream cheese to glue a sliced-almond fingernail atop each notch.
Arrange fingers in the dip to look like a hand coming out, serve with lots of washed baby carrots for dipping!
Vampire Fangs in Blood
by Jodie Shield
Try This Ghoulish, Healthy Treat at Halloween
Your guests will want to sink their teeth into these!
Recipe Ingredients
8 large Red Delicious apples
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 10-oz. jar strawberry or cherry sauce
Directions
1. Wash, peel and core the apples. Then cut each apple into 8 pieces.
2. Dip the cut apples into the lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown.
3. To prepare the fangs, cut the apple slices into long, narrow triangles, making pointy tooth-like shapes. Re-dip slices in the lemon juice and lightly sprinkle them with sugar.
4. Arrange the fangs on a serving platter with the strawberry dipping sauce in the middle. Make sure you splatter some of the "blood" over the fangs. Makes 10 servings.
Jodie Shield is a registered dietician and the mother of three enthusiastic trick-or-treaters.
Spider & Ghost lollipops
For the spiders -
Wrap each pipe cleaner around the base of the lollipop stick so there are four legs on each side. Bend the legs. Glue on googly eyes. This is definitely a treat!
The make ghosts wrap white tissue paper around the lollipop, secure with elastic band or string. Draw on eyes and mouth! Easy.
These are great for giving in party bags or to guest as they are leaving. Believe me you do not want bits of sticky lolly stuck to your curtains or sofa. But by all means display them as party of your decorations.
Dead Mans Eyeballs
. Wax paper
. 1 cup creamy peanut butter
. 2 tbsp. butter or margarine
. 460g icing sugar
. 1 Snickers bar
. 1 pack ready made icing in white.
. 1 bar white chocolate (melted over Bain Marie)
. milk chocolate buttons or drops (small ones) for decorating
. 1 small tube red decorator icing
Line 2 trays with wax paper. Beat peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar until mixture holds together and is moist. Stir in chopped Snickers bar. Shape into 1-inch "eyeballs." Place on prepared baking sheets. Chill for 1 hour.
Roll out icing to approx a few mm thick. Cut into squares big enough to cover the eyeballs.
Remove one baking sheet of frozen "eyeballs" from freezer (keep other sheet in fridge until ready to use). Cover each with the icing and mould round to give a smooth covered surface. When you have covered all the eyeballs add a drop of melted white chocolate to the top and place milk chocolate button on top. Then do 2nd batch.
Before serving, pipe red decorator icing around eyeballs to create bloodshot markings. Store in covered container in refrigerator. Best served cold.
Ghostly cookies
Ghost shaped cookie cutters
Lollypop sticks
Icing Sugar, Milk, Homemade cookie dough
Black string liquorice
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Use ghost shaped cookie cutter to cut out the dough - it takes two to make each cookie lolly.
Place half the ghosts 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Lay a Popsicle stick in the centre of each one, top with another ghost, and then pinch together the edges of the two layers.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a preheated 180 * C oven. Place the cookies on a rack to cool.
5. Spread on a glaze made by mixing 240g icing sugar with 2 tablespoons milk. Before the glaze hardens, top off your spectres by pressing on eyes and a mouth fashioned from snips of black string liquorice.
You can buy ghost shaped crisps and other scary sweets. Make some scary shaped sandwiches using pastry cutters in ghost, pumpkin and witch shapes. Keep these simple so they don't fall apart ham, cheese or pate.
For a table centre piece cover a small bowl with crepe paper so the interior cannot be seen. Inside have a smaller bowl full of vinegar. Have to hand a small cup of baking powder, as the guests arrive at the table pour the baking powder into the vinegar, then get your camera ready to capture the reactions.
Finally make sure you Halloween party is safe - put all candles and naked flames out of reach of children and away from decorations. Costumes can make people clumsy so tape down any rugs and make sure you put away as many ornaments as possible.
