Throw a Halloween Party!

There are so many Halloween ideas to make the holiday special it is hard to think of just a few to cover.  The wonderful thing about Halloween is people typically come up with their own traditions that are so special to them!  From hayrides to tricks and pranks, Halloween is a scary good time!

Here are some of my favorite Halloween ideas:

• Watch Horror Movies – this is typically the only time of the year I like to watch these type of movies.  My husband and I like to turn off all the lights, and pop in a good scary movie or two.
• Visit a Haunted House – we live in a fairy average sized city and there has to be at least 10 haunted houses in a 10 mile radius.  We usually stop by one or two a year, and it is a lot of fun.
• Carve a pumpkin – Jack-O-Laterns are a must for me!  If I do not visit a local pumpkin patch every year, I am one sad girl at Halloween.
• Throw a fun Halloween party – I like to invite my best friends and family over for a night of tricks, treats, and pumpkin carving!

These are just a few of my favorite Halloween ideas – what are yours?

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Halloween Nom Noms

Halloween recipes can be a lot of fun, and you truly do not have to do any elaborate tricks to make great recipes.  Something as simple as a bit of red food coloring added to a beverage or dish can invoke the image of a bloody crime scene.  Another easy idea is to use ice cube or jello molds in scary shapes to add a bit of Halloween spirit to a dish.

I mentioned early one of our favorite recipes to make at Halloween is meringue cookies in the shape of skeleton bones.  Super simple and they look great as the centerpiece on a Halloween spread.  Another cute idea is to make little smokies or hot dogs in crescent rolls to look like mummies.  Simply dot on eyes with bits of black olive or pepper.

The great thing about Halloween foods is you can let your creativity shine and make the most interesting foods!  One of the neatest, tastiest, and grossest Halloween foods I have seen is MEAT HEAD.  You simply find a skull and layer the head with deviled ham or pate.  Serve with crackers and your guests will go wild!

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Monster Munch

The sweet treats of Halloween have to be one of my favorite things about the glorious holiday.  Some of the treats I like to indulge in that time of year are just about the only time of year I will eat them.  As it is a splurge, I will really go crazy and eat some pretty delicious things!  I also like to have a variety of sweet treats for my Halloween parties.

One of my favorite ideas is mini brownie bites. I make delicious double chocolate or caramel brownies, cut them into bite-sized pieces and top with a single piece of candy corn.  Cute and definitely a great sweet treat.  Another simple idea is to make sugar cookies and use a cookie cutter to cut them in the shape of owls, ghosts or bats.  You can decorate however you’d like and they are not only cute, but also yummy!

Something that is super simple to make is caramel popcorn balls.  I like to make mini balls so they are easy to bite into! If you’re looking to really add an extra layer of flavor think about making salted caramel balls – trust me, it is so delicious!  I also love to make monster munch which is popcorn, candy corn, peanut m & m’s, peanuts all covered with glorious almond bark.  TO DIE FOR!

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Halloween Props

Halloween props are a lot of fun and great if you plan to decorate your home or throw a party!  They can range from rather inexpensive and simple to quite grand, depending on what you want to achieve and how much you want to spend.

Some of my favorite Halloween props, are the most simple ones: apples and pumpkins.  You can set up an apple bobbing station by simply getting an old barrel, adding water and apples.  It is a lot of fun and something I love to do each year.  The next Halloween prop that I adore is pumpkins!  You can never have enough Jack-O-Laterns and carving them is a half the fun.  Plus, pumpkins sell for around $5 so you’re not breaking the bank.

Other prop ideas include:  hanging skeletons, scarecrows, ghosts, witches and other scary ghouls and goblins.  Some of these things can easily be made a home, or purchased online as well!

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Meringue bones

Every year my husband and I have a big Halloween party!  We typically do it on the weekend before Halloween as often times friends and family will have other plans on the actual holiday.  One of the best things about our Halloween parties is the food, of course!

We have an array of appetizers we utilize that people love.  One of our favorite ideas is to make “Bedeviled Eggs”.  This is simply a delicious deviled egg recipe (use whatever version you like) and then add some small devil horns from red bell peppers.  We like to serve them on red trays and guests love them!

Another great appetizer recipe is baked brie.  We take brie cheese, top it with cranberry chutney or a cherry compote, and form the pastry into the shape of a heart.  When people cut into it, ooey gooey cheese and red filling oozes out.  It is so delicious and a lot of fun!

Something my sister likes to make for dessert, is meringue bones.  She simply  makes the meringue cookies in the shape of skeleton bones.  Everyone loves them and always wants more!

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Halloween ghosts like these can be made from tissues, cotton handkerchiefs, or coffee filters, as you'll see below! They're an easy and fun way for the family to get in the Halloween spirit!

Some of the best craft projects can be made from common household items, and here we’ll learn how to make two fantastic Halloween craft projects from coffee filters and a few other items: Coffee Filter Ghosts and Coffee Filter Bats.  These are both easy projects that children and adults of all ages can enjoy!

It is recommended that adults accompany children with these crafts, as scissors are used – and besides, it’s more fun for everyone that way!

Coffee Filter Ghosts

What you’ll need:

• Basket coffee filters (one per ghost)
• Ribbons in Halloween colors like orange, purple, and black
• Magic Markers
• String (optional)
• Assorted decorations like googly eyes (optional)
• Candy or tissue for stuffing the head
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Take a coffee filter and place a wadded tissue or some candy in the center.  This will serve as the stuffing for the head.  If you use candy, they make for super Halloween party favors!
2. Tie a Halloween colored ribbon around the neck of the ghost.
3. Use magic markers to draw faces on your ghosts.  You can also use googly eyes and other fun items to get creative with it!
4. If you want to hang your ghosts up as Halloween decorations, you can tie a piece of string around the neck and tuck it under the ribbon.  These are great for hanging in Halloween trees, or just around the house!

Coffee Filter Bats

What you’ll need:

• Basket coffee filters (one per bat)
• Black watercolor paint
• Paintbrush
• Clothespins
• Googly eyes
• Purple and/or orange ribbon
• Scissors
• Craft glue

Instructions:

1. Create an environment suitable for painting
2. Paint the coffee filters with black watercolor and set aside to dry.
3. Once dried, fold the painted coffee filters in half.
4. Fold them in half again, folding it in quarters.
5. Take a clothespin and pinch the new fold with the clothespin.
6. Open the filter and glue to the clothespin as needed to make the wings spread out.
7. Glue googly eyes to the front of the clothespin.
8. Cut semi-circles around the edges to make it more bat-like.
9. Tie with orange or purple ribbons for hanging.

And now you have two cute handmade Halloween decorations to adorn the porch, the windows, and anywhere else around the house!

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Ghost Meringues

I make this recipe every year for my family and for Halloween parties and it is always a big hit!  It’s great because the recipe is easy and the treats come out light and tasty.

It’s also a great Halloween project to do with the kids, because they can get creative with the shapes and decorations.  In our house our favorite Halloween meringue cookie shapes are ghosts and bones, but the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 5 egg whites at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to taste
• Black gel icing

Directions

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees fahrenheit.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with mixer until soft peaks form, this could take from two to five minutes.  I alwys use a Kitchenaid standing mixer but a hand mixer will work as well.
4. Gradually add sugar while also gradually increasing the mixing speed to medium.
5. Add vanilla extract and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
6. Spoon the mixture into a cake or pastry piping bag with a 1/4 – 1/2 inch tip or with a plastic bag and cut off a 1/4 – 1/2 inch tip at the corner of the bag.
7. Pipe a swirl to make a ghost and repeat until the cookie sheets are filled.
8. Bake for one hour. Then, turn off heat and allow the cookies to sit for at least an hour. Do not open oven at any time during the baking process.
9. Use black gel icing to make eyes and mouths on the ghosts.
10. Carefully remove cookies from parchment paper and enjoy them while they are fresh or store in an airtight container.

If you want to make meringue bones, simply pipe a 3-4 inch line and add two balls to the end of each.

Recipe yields 3-4 dozen.

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Once you’ve chosen a suitable costume, the first part of the process in making masks for Halloween is to download a template from one of the many websites which offer them. This might be a very basic mask that simply covers the eyes and bridge of the nose, or it can be one which covers the entire facial area. Free masks can be found in the following categories:

• Politicians
• Movie stars
• Animals
• Scary monsters
• Cartoon characters
• Starwars characters

Once the decision has been made about which mask to make, the picture should be downloaded and printed on very heavy cardstock. Be sure that the printer being used is set to handle the chosen thickness. At this point, younger children may have fun just coloring their simple masks with crayons or felt tipped markers. Glitter, feathers, sequins, and other decorative items may be glued on if desired. The more complicated masks will print out in solid ink colors and will be ready for further treatment once printed.

To prepare the mask to be worn, the following materials will be needed:

• Scissors
• Heavy cardboard
• Craft knife
• Hole punch
• Clear tape
• Strong rubber or elastic string

Using the scissors, cut around the facial features of the printed copy, eliminating any none-printed portions. Then, hold the mask to the face to determine the positioning of the eye holes and mark them. Some masks templates are printed from the Microsoft Word program and allow adjustments on the positioning of eyeholes before the mask is printed.

Because cutting the eyeholes requires such precision, the mask should be placed on a piece of cardboard, and a craft knife used to create these openings. Parents should always do this job for young children. Next, place a square of clear tape on each side of the mask, about a half inch from the edge. Punch a hole through the tape with the hole punch to form a place to attach the rubber or elastic.

Insert about two feet of rubber or elastic string through the holes on each side of the mask, loop it around and tie it behind. Test the mask for size and adjust as necessary by cutting and retying until it fits properly and feels comfortable.

Many people find making Halloween masks to be such an enjoyable activity that they make it a traditional family craft event each year. It can certainly bring out the smiles and giggles faster than most other craft projects and allows every member of the family time to show their creative side.

You can find more ideas for a Halloween party, from cupcake recipes to party games, at HalloweenPartyIdeas.org.

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Top 10 Halloween Stuff on the Web for 2009

Haunted Gingerbread House at Savvy Halloween

1. Make your own Halloween gingerbread house! Savvy Halloween shows you how to make a Halloween Haunted Gingerbread House, gives a recipe for the gingerbread and icing, and even provides a pattern for users to print off and use.

2. Halloween recipes galore!  Disney’s Family Fun has enough recipes to keep you and your family busy for all of autumn!  Most are easy, fun, and best of all, they come with pictures so you can get a good visual of the treats.

3. Who doesn’t love checking out pets in costumes?  Well the Baltimore Sun has a ton of user-submitted dressed up pets all for the looking.

4. Sometimes commercials can be just as entertaining if not more than the shows themselves, and Smashing Apps has highlighted 19 great Halloween ads for your viewing pleasure in their post, 19 Creative Halloween Advertisements.

5. Play one of our favorite Halloween games, Halloween Pumpkins, right here!

6. Pumpkin carving at Martha Stewart – MarthaStewart.com offers pumpkin templates, pumpkin projects for kids, pumpkin creatures, and more of Martha’s tips and tricks for creating gorgeous jack o’ lanterns of your own.

And the last four are our favorite Halloween videos with instructions on making some fun & spooky Halloween crafts and treats!

7. Halloween Cat Origami for kids and adults:

8. Halloween Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls Recipe:

9. Spirited Halloween Cupcakes from Food Network:

10. And finally, catch up on your Halloween history with this video from National Geographic:

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Nutella Spiced Sugar Cookies (recipe below)

Swarms of costumed Harry Potters, Powerpuff Girls, Pokémons, ghosts and witches will take to the streets this Halloween, begging for sweet treats from neighbors and friends. Because many parents worry about their child’s safety while trick-or-treating, do-it-yourself Halloween parties are becoming a popular alternative.

The Halloween Association (THA) indicates that Halloween is the third most-celebrated day of the year, and according to the 2000 American Express retail index, two out of three American households celebrate Halloween. Here are tips for everything from the food to the games for Halloween parties without too much fuss:

Make your own invitations
Let the kids help create invitations for the party. Decorate construction paper with colorful cut-outs, add Halloween-themed stickers or use stamps and ink to create clever invitations. Or, send e-mail invitations or online greeting cards.

Create homemade costumes
Work with your children to invent the family’s Halloween attire. This allows their imagination to reach beyond store-bought costumes and gives them a sense of pride when showing off their handiwork at the party. With a little paint and creativity, a cardboard box can become a die, a spaceship or a favorite book. Old clothing boxed-up in the attic is perfect for a retro look. Plus, you can find princess, wizard and farmer accessories in a second-hand shop.

Prepare easy-to-make Halloween-themed treats
While Halloween means candy overload for many kids and parents, hosts are heading to the kitchen to create homemade treats for partygoers. Serve goodies such as Orange Pumpkin Cupcakes (decorate orange frosting-spread cupcakes with brown and green sprinkles to create a pumpkin), Pumpkin Brains (macaroni and cheese served in a hollowed-out pumpkin with a face) and Nutella Spiced Sugar Cookies (recipe following) to add a ghostly touch. Continue the theme by serving treats on orange and black plastic tableware.

Decorate with style
To get your fright-seeking guests in the Halloween spirit, haunt a room in the house by covering windows with towels and adding cobwebs, jack-o-lanterns, black lights, pictures of witches and goblins and eerie sounds. For younger ones who won’t visit the haunted room, decorate the house with hay bundles, pumpkin lights, streamers and ghosts cut out of construction paper by the kids. Show kid-friendly Halloween-themed movies, such as “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” “Casper” or “Goosebumps” to add a festive mood to the party.

Play horrifically fun games
Add a Halloween twist to traditional games to keep kids occupied and make your party a hit with adults, too. Do the limbo to “Monster Mash,” conduct Halloween-themed scavenger hunts and have costume contests to add to the hair-raising experience. For even more fun, offer guests rolls of toilet paper and let them transform each other into paper-wrapped mummies or give kids markers, paper and other materials and let them decorate their own pumpkin.

Nutella Spiced Sugar Cookies
2/3 cup shortening
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Nutella
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, sifted

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar with a hand mixer on high speed for two minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for one minute. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Divide the dough in half and press each piece into a disk. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Divide the dough in half and roll out each piece on wax paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes (bats, pumpkins, headstones) and bake on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Make the Glaze:
Heat Nutella, milk and confectioner’s sugar in a small pot over low heat until combined and slightly warm. Spread each cookie with the glaze and decorate as desired with jimmies, sprinkles, mini chips or Halloween candy. Allow to set on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes 24 cookies

These cookies can be baked ahead of time and frozen, unglazed, for up to 6 weeks, if stored in an airtight container.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories: 210
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 22g
Fat: 12g
Cholesterol: 20mg
Sodium: 100mg
About the Author:

For additional easy-to-prepare recipes using Nutella, a chocolaty hazelnut spread from Europe, visit www.nutellausa.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content, www.ARAcontent.com, e-mail: info@ARAcontent.com

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