A trick-or-treat party
Halloween is a fun time of year! It’s a time to think about costumes, carving pumpkins and just plain fun. A Halloween party is an alternative to the normal trick or treat. You can plan an inexpensive party for your child. From the invitation to saying your goodbyes at the end of a fun filled night, this article will give you affordable ideas for the perfect party.
Tips for Planning a Trick-or-Treat Party
Tips for planning a trick-or-treat party that does not cost a fortune. that is.
The Internet has some inexpensive invitations that you can download for the price of the ink and paper. Choose a color that would fit the season or theme of your party. Deliver or mail these invitations to arrive three weeks prior to the date of the party.
Costumes are a huge part of a successful party. If you choose a theme, such as Star Wars or Character theme, you want to put that on the invitation so people can dress accordingly. Choosing a comfortable costume is in your best interest. You can often find what you’re looking for at thrift stores. if you look for white sheets, full skirts, old vests, boots, scarves and other things throughout the year, You can put them together to make easy outfits. Colored hair sprays, wigs and gloves are some things you will want to look for. With some planning you can easily make a costume that will be comfortable and cute.
Next comes feeding your guests. Whatever you choose, use key words in your recipes like Zombie Punch and Graveyard Chips with Blood Salsa. For instance, make iced pumpkin bars and design black spiders on them. You may call these Spider Bars. For Zombie Punch, take one each of 12 oz frozen orange juice and limeade. Mix with half the water as the recipe calls for. Refreeze these into tubs. At party time put them frozen into a punch bowl and add key lime sherbet and 7-Up to taste. For Graveyard chips and Blood salsa, buy blue corn chips and find a very chunky salsa... or look to add some things to everyday meals to make them into Halloween specials.
For games, the web is full of ideas. Mummy Bingo is fun for young children. I bought orange poster board; cut it to the size I wanted and with a black marker made the Bingo pattern. Candy Corn made great “bingo chips and was fun for munching. You can laminate these and re-use. A white sheet simply placed over a child creates another game; Guess the Ghost!
Let’s get our decorations up and we will be ready to party. Carve 5 to 6 pumpkins prior to the party. I found a cool carving set at Wal-Mart’s and I use it each year. There are a lot of ideas in the package that you simply follow. Put one pumpkin in the window closest to your entryway. You can line your porch or steps with a few as well. No matter where you place your pumpkins, remember safety in keeping them lit. You might choose a battery operated LED light. They flicker like a candle and are safe. Hanging creepy spiders and cobwebs are an inexpensive way to decorate and can be bought in discount stores. Keep spooky music playing in the background.
These are just some ideas for an inexpensive party. Whatever you choose to do, be safe, have fun and Happy Halloween!
Easy Additions for Perfect Halloween Meals
It’s Halloween! With just a few little changes or additions to things that you probably already make, you can put the spirit of Halloween on your table.
Scary Eyeballs – Add a little more mustard into the egg centers or a thin dollop under where you will lay a black olive into the creamy center.
Ghost Sandwiches – Cut your bread into ghosts, add the filling of your choice and your children will have a ghostly treat for their school or after school sandwich.
Wormy Hot Dogs – Thinly slice your hot dogs and then microwave. This will make them curl to look like worms. Put them on a hamburger bun and dress with mustard, catsup and pickles to make a slimy swamp underneath.
Ghostly Toast – Toast your bread. When it is cool enough to cut, with a gingerbread girl cutter or a plain knife, cut to make a ghost body. Top with whipped cream cheese or flavored yogurt with raisins or dates cut for eyes.
Orange Jack O Lantern – With a toothpick, gently carve a face into the orange. Careful not to injure the meat/pulp of the orange, your child will have a small version of the Jack O Lantern that is healthy and edible.
Graveyard Snack – Take a cup of plain or buttered popped popcorn; add a half cup each of mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, goldfish crackers and raisins.
Spider Snack – Taking two round crackers, such as the Ritz, put peanut butter in the middle. Take 8 small pretzels and stick all around, 4 on each side to make the legs. Add raisins for eyes.
Salty Bones – Making bread sticks for your spaghetti tonight? Here’s a Halloween twist. Unroll a tube of refrigerated bread stick roll and separate the triangle pieces. Stretch each individual piece to make a long bone like figure. Cut about a 1 and a half inch slit in each end with your kitchen scissors. Roll the remaining 4 flaps into what would make the end of a dog bone. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake as directed.
Goblin Tongues – Using mini bagels, spread cream cheese or mayonnaise, your preference, onto bagel. Cut slices out of circular pieces of bologna lunch meat to look like tongues and put into the top center of the bagel, leaving it to hang out like a tongue.
These are just a small sampling of things you can do to impress the kids or grandkids. Nothing fancy, quite simple for you but they’ll love them. Presentation and excitement is part of children accepting new and different things. Let them help you when creating these treats and they may just be a little more receptive to the new Halloween changes in foods they already love.