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If there is ever a time of year when the ghosts and goblins roam the streets of the modern world, that time would be Halloween. Today’s ghost and goblins are probably a little more frightening than at any other time in history but they are often tempered by a princess seeking frogs and a few witches and wizards along the way. Halloween is a great day to be a kid but can also be a great day for grown ups as well. Decorating for Halloween can be almost as fun as going out and begging for candy any day of the week.

Besides, having a well decorated home for this holiday gives you the perfect excuse to scare the evil out of some young ghoul or vampire that thinks he or she has the market cornered on frightening. The really cool thing about decorating for Halloween is that it is not one size fits all. You are perfectly free to find some very scary home decorations for this delightful holiday or take on a kinder, gentler, more kid friendly style of decorating. Either decision is yours and yours alone and should carefully monitor the scare-ability of your own children when deciding. You certainly don’t want them afraid to come home.

For a more frightening Halloween scene you will probably want to use some strobe lights, frightening music and sound effects, dry ice in order to incorporate spooky fog, and plenty of spider web type netting in order to give those who dare approach your door bells a complete and thorough case of the willies. Doesn’t this sound like so much fun? Coffins with headless straw men are also a great addition as well as skittering spiders and the occasional chainsaw or two. A glow in the dark hockey mask may also be a good choice. Bodiless heads suspended by fishing wire are also quite the highlight for a true and robust fright.

If your goal is to create a kid friendly Halloween atmosphere there are cheerful pumpkin decorations that can be found in many shapes and sizes as well as Casper the friendly ghost, Frankenstein piñatas, and countless other fun party favors that are designed to bring entertainment and delight rather than terror and far. String pumpkin lights around the porch for added lighting and another friendly face in addition to keeping plenty of candles and lanterns lit nearby. Not all trick or treaters are older kids who appreciate a good scare so keep this in mind as the little ghosts, goblins, princesses, and super heroes arrive.

For adult gatherings all bets are off when it comes to home decorating for Halloween. There are all kinds of themes that can be followed from the incredibly zany and outrageous to the frightening or flamboyant. The biggest suggestion in these matters is to have fun at all times and bring the be the life of the party rather than having the decorations upstage your efforts. Far too many people spend more time concerned with how they will decorate their homes rather than wondering how they will decorate themselves for the festivities. If you find the perfect costumes all eyes will be on you and not your decorations.

Favorite suggestions for adult parties would include strobe lights, much like the frightening scene described above, low additional lights, perhaps black lights near the food and drink area of the party. More dry ice (if tolerable some people have difficulties with the smell particularly those with allergies or asthma so you may want to avoid this inside your home and leave it for the exterior). Bales of hay in the corner make excellent additional seating and can contribute to the harvest/autumn/Halloween atmosphere you are attempting to create. Just remember that the underlying goal is for you and your guests to have a great time. Have good food, good music, and good friends, and the decorations really and truly should be a secondary concern.

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If you are throwing a Halloween party, one of the things you have to prepare is the food. Since people won’t be sitting but rather taking a few dips of what is available, here are some great treats you should have.

1. First is the Brown Spider. For this, you will need a few Ritz crackers, pretzel sticks, a pack of Hershey kisses, a tube or red and white cake frosting. Now take one cracker and spread it with some peanut butter. Then you put 4 pretzels and place this on each side to act as the spider’s legs. Put another cracker on top to cover it up then spray it with cake frosting.

2. For the vegetarians out there, you can serve them Fungi Salad. For this, you will need spinach cream, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and red onions. Put the spinach in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool while you wash the other vegetables in cold water. Dry the lettuce using a paper towel and then cut the other vegetables into small pieces. Put this into bowl and then pour in cooled spinach cream.

3. Next is the Meatloaf Mice. For this, you will need some catsup, ground beef, turkey, onions, carrots, uncooked spaghetti noodles, spaghetti sauce, raisins, oatmeal, salt and paper.

When you have all these ingredients, start by cutting the carrot horizontally to make some mouse ears and vertically to make the mouse tail then steam until it becomes crisp tender.

Put the meat loaf on a baking sheet after you mix the rest of the ingredients and shaping it into a mice shaped loaf before throwing this into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes and when it is finished, cut little slits so you can put in the carrot ears and tail. Break the uncooked spaghetti noodles into small pieces so this will be the nose of the mouse. Pour the cooked spaghetti sauce and serve.

4. If you carved a pumpkin, then this recipe will make the most of the contents you removed since you are going to use it to make a pumpkin cake. Aside from the pumpkin, you will need some eggs, sugar, oil, all purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nut or raisins.

Put the eggs and sugar into the food processor until it is smooth. Add the other ingredients and stir until it is cooked. When it’s done, turn the batter into two round cake molds that are greased and lightly floured. Put this in the oven at 350F for about 40 minutes. Unmold these and then stack it together. Put orange tinted frosting on top and then put it on the dinner table.

5. As for refreshments, you can serve sewage slurpers. You will need chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate syrup and club soda.

When the ice cream is easy to scoop, put this into glasses at least halfway. Now, pour in 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup. Last, fill it to the top with club soda and stir well with a spoon. You can top it off with an unwrapped tootsie roll and a straw.

There are other Halloween dishes which you can serve in the party. Although the names sound gross, don’t be fooled by it because you are sure to have a hearty meal once you put it in your mouth.

Organizing a Halloween party for kids can be both quite enjoyable and at the same time challenging. There are several things that you will need to plan ahead and a whole bunch of things that could possibly go wrong. Plus, you’re talking about planning a ghoulish Halloween party for kids whose attention span can be as short as a candle fuse. The party can easily go out of control with kids getting rowdy, trying to best one another with their costumes, treats, etc.

Although having some sort of control would be a great but also remember that this is a children’s party, an iron hand rule would be overdoing it. Now there are several ways to make your audience listen. One way would be to make them busy by having them participate in party games. There are quite a number of party games that you can organize that would certainly grab the attention of your kids.

If you’re familiar with the game called Mummy Wrap, you know the kids will be glad to participate with this one. As the name of the game implies, it involves wrapping someone with mummy wraps which in our case equates with a roll of toilet paper. The game is simple. You just need to group the kids into small groups and have them designate someone to wrap. At your cue, the wrap the “mummy” with toilet paper from head to feet. The group that were able to wrap fully their mummy the fastest would be the winner.

Several Halloween games I know are just variations of exiting party games. We have the Halloween musical chairs and the freeze dance. Both I’m certain you already know. It doesn’t hurt to be a little creative with your chairs. You can easily make the children feel it’s a Halloween game it you make the chairs ghoulish looking like maybe making them appear like tombstones or using darker colored chairs and adding some cobwebs.

And don’t forget the music. You can easily find Halloween music in the nearest record store or in the internet. For further enjoyment, you can ask the kids to dance in a “monstery” or ghoulish kind of way. You can even give a prize to the kid that will give the best monster dance.

Don’t forget to give prizes to your game winners. This will encourage them to participate ze to the kid that will give the best monster dance.

Don’t forget to give prizes to your game winners. This will encourage them to participate in the next games.

Another game which seems to popular is the building a scarecrow game. This involves having several groups of children make their won scarecrow using pillow cases, old clothes, newspapers, cardboards, tapes or adhesives, and markers. You will have to prepare some old clothes for this one. The children will definitely enjoy making something that often see in television and books.

You can also have a Halloween candy hunt which basically is a variation of the Easter egg hunt. By this time, we just hope that the kids haven’t discovered yet the candies you hid around the area.

Don’t forget to have a scary story telling time as well. Ask one of your guests or friends to tell a story to the kids at the party. Avoid making the story too scary though.

There are other ghoulish Halloween party games that can still do. Just remember that this is the children’s day and your objective is to have them enjoy the day.

Halloween continues to grow in popularity. Children anticipate Halloween almost as much as Christmas. But Halloween, with its scary side, holds a special attraction for children.

A Halloween class party, with the usual Halloween candy as prizes, is exciting for children of all ages.

How about a ‘cat walk’ for young children. Create a pathway around the room. Place paper cats along the path. All of the cats are white except one black cat. Children walk the patch as music plays. When the music stops, whoever is on the black cat wins.

Kids love to dance. Have them make up their own dance steps to the ‘Monster Mash’. Then get everyone involved in making up names for their dances.

The ‘mummy’ game is great fun. Divide the kids into groups of 3 or 4. Each group selects one member to be the mummy. The others then see how fast they can wrap their mummy in toilet paper (bring lots of toilet paper). The team that completes wrap-up first wins. Then the mummies compete to see who can unwrap themselves the fastest. While the game is being played, enhance the atmosphere with ‘Monster Mash’ or similar music.

For a story game have all the kids form a circle. Then have them make up a spooky story. You begin it with the time-honored phrase “It was a dark and stormy night”. Each child then adds a sentence to the story. You may have to act as moderator. Older children tend to get gruesome. It is a good idea to set boundaries ahead of time.

Another story game is done in groups. Form the children into small groups. Each group picks one person to be the writer. The children then make up a scary story. Give them a short time limit. Once the stories are written, have them turned in. Ask for volunteers to read each story, using as much dramatization as his imagination allows. The children vote for the best story and the best reader.

A game done at the desk is to give the children a list of scary words. Have each child write a short story using all of the words. Then have the children pass the story to another child. Each child now writes a sentence or two to change the ending of the story. Have volunteers read some stories to the class.

The black box always excites children. A cardboard box, painted black, with an opening only large enough for a child’s hand, is used. The child reaches in to grab an object which she gets to keep. Any Halloween-related item can be used but be sure to include squishy items like gummy worms.

Besides candy prizes, there are many other prize items that can be purchased inexpensively. These include felt Halloween sucker covers, jumping spiders, Jack-o-lantern goody bags and balloons, Halloween pencils, paper pirate eye patches, monster tattoos, goofy teeth, Halloween bookmarks, necklaces and eraser tops.

May this be the best Halloween party yet!
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