Halloween
Growing up I have never celebrated Halloween. Now that we live in an International community and my daughter goes to an International school we got to experience it for the first time last year at a friends place.
And this year, I had a go at it. After spending too much time on Pinterest, I finally decided what I want to make and invited a few friends , big and small. The party was a big hit, the food was yummy and fun and the kids loved the games. I was really happy with the result. Here's is what I made and how I did it:
Drinks & Snacks
There is a bit of work involved, so make sure you start on time. By downloading a Halloween font online you can easily make food labels to put on the table.
Wicked witch cupcakes: Bake any type of cupcakes and choose an icing of your choice. Make the icing green by adding a little food colouring. M&M’s are great for making eyes, a sour bean candy can be used to create a nose and dried instant noodles for the hair. Finish it off by putting an ice cream cone as a hat on top!
Spiderweb pretzels: Add about 8-10 stick pretzels (in half) onto wax paper in a snowflake shape, repeat this for each web you want to make. Melt chocolate (white or brown) and fill a pastry bag with it. Make a small opening at the bottom of the bag. Put a drop of chocolate in the middle of the pretzels to hold them together and squeeze the rest of the chocolate in a circular motion over it. Let the web cool down in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the chocolate is hard. Gently peel the spiderwebs off the wax paper.
Spooky Banana: Peel the banana’s and cut them in half. Place the cutside down so the banana halves stand up. With chocolate chips create ghosts eyes and a mouth. If you are preparing this in advance, you can lightly sprits the bananas with either lemon or pineapple juice to prevent it from turning brown.
Manderin Pumpkins: Peel the manderins and put a cucumber stick (1-2 cm) in the middle.
Halloween Poison: Make lemonade and put it in a large bowl. Freeze gummy snakes in ice cubes and add it to the lemonade to give it a creepy effect.
Decorations
To save some money, look around your house to see if you have any decorations that fit within the Halloween theme; plastic spiders or snakes, witch dolls, fake pumpkins, black and orange cups or bowls. Here are a few more easy decorations ideas to create your ‘haunted’ house:
Bat mobile: Find a branch outside and remove the leaves. Print a few black bat images and add them with a little bit of yarn to the branch.
Pumpkin balloon: Buy a few orange balloons and decorate them with pumpkin faces using a permanent marker. Choose shapes that are easy to make freehand like (half) rounds and triangles.
Mummy door : Wrap toilet paper around a door, taping each side. Add 2 large eyes made out of black and white paper. A perfect way to decorate the front door and give your guest a spooky welcome.
Floating ghost: You can easily create a ghost by blowing up a black balloon and cover it with a white sheet that has holes in it for eyes and mouth. Add fine fishing line to the balloon and tape it to the ceiling.
Games
To keep the kids entertained, set up a few party games. When planning your activities bear in mind the age of the kids to make sure it is suited for their age.
Mystery box : Create a feel box and let the kids guess what is inside. Fill a few cups and place them in a large cardboard box, cut out holes and decorate it in style. Cover up the holes or have the kids wear a blidfold so don’t see what is inside the box. You can use cooked spagetti as brains, peeled potatoes sticks as fingers, peeled grapes as eyeballs, yarn as hair and a banana peel as a tongue. Have your camera ready to capture the look on the kids faces when they put their little hands in the box!
Doughnut on a string: Tie a couple of doughnuts (one for each guest) with ribbon to a piece of rope. You could have 2 persons each hold one side of the rope or hang it or tie it between 2 poles. Make sure the doughnuts hang just above mouth level. Have your guests try and eat the doughnuts without using their hands!
Pin the spider on the web game: Print out or draw a spiderweb and hang it up on your wall. Print out or draw a couple of spiders (one for each guest) and cut them out. To play the game, everyone gets a spider with a small piece of tape stuck to the back of it. Each person then gets blindfolded (one at a time) and spun around in a circle a few times. The person then reaches out and tries to stick the spider onto the web. The one who gets the spider closest to the center of the web wins!
Pumpkin bowling: Use 6 or 10 toilet paper rolls and built a piramide from it. From black paper cut out 3 oval shapes per toiletpaper roll and glue them onto it to create ghost eyes and mouth. With a pumkin try to toss over as many rolls as you can in one go.
P.S. And don’t forget to plan your costume!
And this year, I had a go at it. After spending too much time on Pinterest, I finally decided what I want to make and invited a few friends , big and small. The party was a big hit, the food was yummy and fun and the kids loved the games. I was really happy with the result. Here's is what I made and how I did it:
Drinks & Snacks
There is a bit of work involved, so make sure you start on time. By downloading a Halloween font online you can easily make food labels to put on the table.
Wicked witch cupcakes: Bake any type of cupcakes and choose an icing of your choice. Make the icing green by adding a little food colouring. M&M’s are great for making eyes, a sour bean candy can be used to create a nose and dried instant noodles for the hair. Finish it off by putting an ice cream cone as a hat on top!
Spiderweb pretzels: Add about 8-10 stick pretzels (in half) onto wax paper in a snowflake shape, repeat this for each web you want to make. Melt chocolate (white or brown) and fill a pastry bag with it. Make a small opening at the bottom of the bag. Put a drop of chocolate in the middle of the pretzels to hold them together and squeeze the rest of the chocolate in a circular motion over it. Let the web cool down in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the chocolate is hard. Gently peel the spiderwebs off the wax paper.
Spooky Banana: Peel the banana’s and cut them in half. Place the cutside down so the banana halves stand up. With chocolate chips create ghosts eyes and a mouth. If you are preparing this in advance, you can lightly sprits the bananas with either lemon or pineapple juice to prevent it from turning brown.
Manderin Pumpkins: Peel the manderins and put a cucumber stick (1-2 cm) in the middle.
Halloween Poison: Make lemonade and put it in a large bowl. Freeze gummy snakes in ice cubes and add it to the lemonade to give it a creepy effect.
Decorations
To save some money, look around your house to see if you have any decorations that fit within the Halloween theme; plastic spiders or snakes, witch dolls, fake pumpkins, black and orange cups or bowls. Here are a few more easy decorations ideas to create your ‘haunted’ house:
Bat mobile: Find a branch outside and remove the leaves. Print a few black bat images and add them with a little bit of yarn to the branch.
Pumpkin balloon: Buy a few orange balloons and decorate them with pumpkin faces using a permanent marker. Choose shapes that are easy to make freehand like (half) rounds and triangles.
Mummy door : Wrap toilet paper around a door, taping each side. Add 2 large eyes made out of black and white paper. A perfect way to decorate the front door and give your guest a spooky welcome.
Floating ghost: You can easily create a ghost by blowing up a black balloon and cover it with a white sheet that has holes in it for eyes and mouth. Add fine fishing line to the balloon and tape it to the ceiling.
Games
To keep the kids entertained, set up a few party games. When planning your activities bear in mind the age of the kids to make sure it is suited for their age.
Mystery box : Create a feel box and let the kids guess what is inside. Fill a few cups and place them in a large cardboard box, cut out holes and decorate it in style. Cover up the holes or have the kids wear a blidfold so don’t see what is inside the box. You can use cooked spagetti as brains, peeled potatoes sticks as fingers, peeled grapes as eyeballs, yarn as hair and a banana peel as a tongue. Have your camera ready to capture the look on the kids faces when they put their little hands in the box!
Doughnut on a string: Tie a couple of doughnuts (one for each guest) with ribbon to a piece of rope. You could have 2 persons each hold one side of the rope or hang it or tie it between 2 poles. Make sure the doughnuts hang just above mouth level. Have your guests try and eat the doughnuts without using their hands!
Pin the spider on the web game: Print out or draw a spiderweb and hang it up on your wall. Print out or draw a couple of spiders (one for each guest) and cut them out. To play the game, everyone gets a spider with a small piece of tape stuck to the back of it. Each person then gets blindfolded (one at a time) and spun around in a circle a few times. The person then reaches out and tries to stick the spider onto the web. The one who gets the spider closest to the center of the web wins!
Pumpkin bowling: Use 6 or 10 toilet paper rolls and built a piramide from it. From black paper cut out 3 oval shapes per toiletpaper roll and glue them onto it to create ghost eyes and mouth. With a pumkin try to toss over as many rolls as you can in one go.
P.S. And don’t forget to plan your costume!