Ghosts, goblins and black cats of all ages will have a blast at this spooky gathering. Play up the holiday’s theme with decorations in black and orange, a costume chest, and finger foods fit for witches. Kids entertain themselves with dressing up, bobbing for apples and helping to make their own trick-or-treat goody bags.
 Invitations
Send or hand out invites that match the theme. Cut out Halloween-inspired shapes, such as pumpkins or witches’ hats, from orange construction paper, and write the message with a glitter pen. Or, use black masquerade masks, which kids can then wear.
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 Decorations & Favors
Weave the holiday’s colors and spooky themes into the decor: black and orange paper chains, a white, gauzy table covering, cobwebs over the windows, and spiders and skeletons everywhere.
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 Food
To balance the sweets, serve an array of savory treats that are fun to eat, like celery with peanut butter and raisins (ants on a log), halved hard-boiled eggs with sliced olives (eyeball eggs) and cheesy bread sticks.
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 Take-Home Draculas
Wrap extra popcorn balls in black tissue paper and attach eyes and fangs for creepy (and delicious!) takeaways.
Party Beacons Include freaky harbingers of things to come in the invitations, such as witches’ fingers and spiders. A paper-covered matchbox makes a nice kid-sized container.
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 Jack-o’-Lantern Plates
Layer orange and black paper plates, cut a face through the top layer with an X-Acto knife and watch the jack-o’-lantern appear.
Spread a piece of gauze fabric (found at craft or Halloween stores) over the serving table. Add spiders, rats, bugs and a mummy’s hand for frightening appeal.
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 Blood-Red Punch
Creepy black spiders imprisoned in cubes of ice and colorful straws crawling with ants add intrigue to any fright-night beverage.
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 Caramel Apples
For a chocolate-dipped variation, dip each apple into the caramel, letting the excess drip off, and then into melted chocolate, coating only the bottom half. Or, drizzle the chocolate over the apple, letting it drip down the sides. |
 “Dirty” Popcorn Balls
Sticky popcorn balls slithering with gummi worms and rolled in cookie-crumb dirt are gooey snacks kids can make themselves.
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 Halloween Cookies
For a spooky treat, use decorating icing to dress up sugar cookies with holiday symbols and colors. Try ghosts, black cats, pumpkins, witches, spiders or bats. |
