Haunting (and Hilarious) Halloween Party Ideas

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Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. If I had the time, an unlimited budget, and neighbors who wouldn’t think I’ve gone mad, I’d decorate my house Clark Griswold-style with every creepy decoration imaginable. Since I’m not going to do that (promise!)  throwing an over-the-top Halloween party is a happy solution. And there are unlimited ideas for kids’ Halloween parties. From silly decorations and games –  to gooey, yucky snacks and drinks – no matter what you provide will be a sure hit with the kids.

I am not one of the craftiest moms around, so I searched the Internet for what I think are the cutest – and easiest – drinks, snacks, crafts and games you can provide. At the end of this post I listed the web sites that provided these fun ideas. Each site has a ton of additional ideas – so if you really want to go all out this Halloween – I encourage you browse those sites. Have fun partying with your little ghosts and ghouls!

Dreadful Drink

Halloween Bug Juice

Ingredients
2 10-oz. packages frozen strawberries, defrosted
1 6-oz. can lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 qt. ginger ale
2 cups raisins
6 gummy worms

Instructions
Mix the strawberries and lemonade concentrate in a blender until smooth and thick. Gradually add ginger ale. Transfer the beverage to a punch bowl. Stir in any remaining ginger ale and the raisins. Place the gummy worms on the rim of the bowl for a swampy effect. Makes 10 servings.

Terrifying (but healthy!) Treats

Goblin Grins
Ingredients
1 pea pod
1 red bell pepper
few slivered almonds

Instructions
For each one, use the tip of a paring knife to cut a slit centered in one side of an edible pea pod (a parent’s job).

Cut out a tongue shape from red bell pepper and insert the top of it through the opening in the pea pod (it looks best if the inside of the pepper faces up).

For the finishing touch, insert a few slivered almonds for teeth.

Cheese-y Fingers
Ingredients
Mozzarella string cheese
Green bell pepper
Cream cheese

Instructions
Wearing plastic gloves or sandwich bags over your hands to keep the cheese as smudge-free as possible, use a paring knife (parents only) to cut each string in half and then carve a shallow area for a fingernail just below the rounded end of each half.

Mark the joint right below the nail as well as the knuckle joint by carving out tiny horizontal wedges of cheese, as pictured.

For the fingernails, slice a green bell pepper into 3/8-inch-wide strips. Set the strips skin side down on your work surface and trim the pulp so that it’s about half as thick. Then cut the strips into ragged-topped nail shapes and stick them in place at the ends of the fingers with dabs of cream cheese.

Creepy Craft

Yummy Mummy Treat Cups
Items
Plastic or paper cups, bathroom sized
An old white t-shirt
Medium wiggle eyes
Felt, any Halloween color
Scissors
Glue stick
White craft glue

Directions
Cut a small section from the t-shirt, depending on how many treat cups you will be making. Start with a section about 6” x 6”. Cut that section into strips.

Use the glue stick to line one side of a t-shirt strip, then starting at the bottom of the cup, wrap around and press in place. Repeat until entire cup is covered.

Cut a simple bow from felt. For a “boy” cup, use white craft glue to attach the bow tie to the bottom of the cup. For a “girl” cup, glue the bow to the top of the cup.

Use white craft glue to attach wiggle eyes.

Fill with treats for kids to take home!

Goulish Games & Dreadful Decorations

Ghosties
Crumple up a piece of tissue paper into a ball. Place it into the center 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’s 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 colored paper to make a witch!

Body Parts
This can be either a decoration or a game. If you go the game route, put the items behind a curtain and have kids reach in to feel the body parts and try and guess them. Gather several bowls for filling with body parts. Fill one bowl with  hot dogs for severed fingers (if displaying as a decoration, cut the hotdogs and use red food dye or ketchup for blood). Cook spaghetti noodles and add sauce to make a bowl full of guts (or add red and blue food coloring for veins). Fill a bowl with peeled grapes to make it feel like eyeballs (or use cocktail or pearlized onions to make them look like eyeballs). For brains, use cauliflower and coat with cottage cheese to make it slimy. You can also buy Jell-O molds in the shape of brains. For a bowl of maggots, try cooked rice in water. A bowl of salsa, corn and peas makes a great bowl of vomit.

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!

Other Oldies but Goodies
Don’t forget bobbing for apples! Kids of all ages love this game year-after-year, and it’s so easy to pull together. You can also do “Pin the Tail on the…” and add a tail to a ghost, a pumpkin, a skeleton, a witch – or whatever you desire. You can find any of these decorations at places like Party City, Targets, Walmart or a local Halloween shop. Just make or buy a “tail”, make or buy a blindfold, and this game creates hours of fun!

What are some other good suggestions for drinks, snacks, crafts and games? If you have ideas or links to web sites, share as a comment below!

Sources:
http://familyfun.go.com/
http://crafts.kaboose.com/
http://www.familymanagement.com
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/how-to-make-a-find-your-way-blind-haunted-house-with-food.htm