How to Plan a Halloween Party

Spook adults and children alike, using simple decorating ideas and easy recipes. Your Halloween party guests will love sipping slimy green punch and eating coffin sandwiches. Add fun to the party with exciting games that will provide plenty of laughter and a frighteningly good time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Toilet paper
• Pie tins
• Gummy worms
• Whip cream
• Pumpkins
• Carving knives

Decorations

1. Give your home or party location a ghoulish look by placing white sheets over all of the furniture. Use safety pins to hold sheets in place.

2. Create creepy flower bouquets for centerpiece. Place black silk flowers in a vase stuffed with black crepe paper. Instead of artificial flowers, go to your local florist and ask for any old or dead flowers. Arrange decorative centerpieces around the party area.

3. Place cotton spider webbing around the corners, entry ways and on the ceiling. Buy webbing at a craft supply or Halloween store. Use tape or tacks to adhere to the ceiling and door frames. Finish by putting plastic spiders on the webs.

4. Use colored light bulbs to set the mood of the party. Buy orange, blue, green or any colored bulbs. Add a colored bulb to the entry light outside your home.

Food

5. Start your party with a slimy punch. In an extra large punch bowl combine a lemonade mix with sugar, meringue powder and seltzer. Add green and yellow food coloring to make a slime green color. The mixture will be very frothy. Squeeze red decorating gel down the insides and around the rim of serving glasses before adding the punch.

6. Make spooky gloved munchie mix using clear plastic gloves. Put a few pieces of candy corn in each finger of the glove. Add popcorn, chocolate coated candy pieces and marshmallows to fill the gloves. Tie shut with a piece of black string.

7. Cut small sandwiches using Halloween cookie cutters. Make the sandwiches with bread, butter, your choice of meat and cheese. Use the cookie cutters to cut coffins, bats, pumpkins or witch sandwiches.

8. Complete your party with an old-fashioned caramel apple. Put a wooden stick into each apple. On medium heat, cook carmel pieces with two tablespoons water until melted. Dip apples in caramel, spooning mixture over the apple if necessary. Place on a dish lined with wax paper and refrigerate until the party.

Games

9. Play wrap the mummy. Have a minimum of twelve rolls of toilet paper on hand. Divide guests into teams of three or four, one person being the "mummy" and the others the wrappers. Give each team two or three rolls of toilet paper. Give prizes for the first group to finish wrapping their mummy or the best looking mummy.

10. Play Worms in a Pie. Before the party, fill pie tins with several gummy worms and cover with whip cream. Give guests a time limit to find as many worms as they can using their mouths. The winner is the person who finds the most worms.

11. Hold a carving competition. Buy several pumpkins and have small carving knives on hand. Break guests into teams of two to four. Give them time to create a masterpiece pumpkin. This game suitable for adults or children with adult supervision.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't allow young children to handle carving knives. Be sure to have adult supervision when carving is involved.