This and Christmas are the best for me! I LOVE ideas and plans for Halloween parties. Much as I don't like Martha Stewart, she has an amazing recipe for witches fingers. A shortbread type cookie you shape into fingers and put either an almond on the end for a nail or some icing. They are easy and yummy and not too sweet. I will find it for you.
One year I baked a cake in a two metal bowls, one larger than the other. I got a box of twinkies at the dollar store and bought black icing from the bakery at Thriftway (to make truly black icing with food coloring takes a LOT of food color, so it is the one icing I try to buy - and you get better icing from the bakery at the grocery than from the baking aisle, in my opinion). The cake was a basic yellow cake. Once the cakes were cool I sliced the tops so they were even and turned them out onto a big foil covered board. I cut off the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the biggest round cake and made a hollow area. I filled that with green jello made with about 1/2 cup less water than the recipe called for. The jello got all stirred up after it set fully and then went into the cake. I put the top back on, arranged the twinkies to be the spider's legs, covered it with black icing and used candy and icing to make a face. It was a HUGE HUGE hit with the kids. And it was EASY.
You could also do a pirate treasure cake. Just bake a cake in a jelly roll pan and cut and stack it so that you have the bottom, 2 short sides and 2 long sides. Hold it together with icing and toothpicks or skewers. Fill the center area with wrapped candies and then use iced graham crackers as a lid. Have the lid propped up with toothpicks. Brown icing on the outside looks great. You can also use this to make a pyramid cake if an event lends itself that way - just make gradually smaller rectangles out of the jelly roll cake, stack them, cut out a center to put candy in, and have a layer of cake to put on top. I did squares like Mayan pyramids rather than the smooth sided pyramids that you would see in Egypt.
If you are doing the graveyard, use white icing on nutter butters to make ghosts (or almond bark/white chocolate).
You can have activities for the kids, maybe a treasure hunt in the yard rather than trick or treat - give them glow sticks to use while hunting. They are usually pretty cheap at party places.
If you go to familyfun.com you will find TONS of cool ideas. You can decorate the house by cutting paper bats out of black paper, pumpkins out of orange paper, etc....
Have the kids paint their pumpkins with water soluble paints (like those in the little bottles at the store) and then after Halloween have them wash off the paint, help you pull the guts out, then cook the pumpkin and make bread or pie out of it. Gives you several activities instead of just carving pumpkins. Also lets them see how to stretch one item for different types of fun!
If you get a pumpkin that goes bad, toss it out into the yard in an area where you are not likely to mind something growing. we have two areas and if we have tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, whatever that goes bad because we didn't eat it fast enough, we toss it there. we have gotten LOTS of veggies growing with no effort this way. Three years in a row we had pumpkins for each of us, my parents, my niece and several friends - and we just made sure they had water during the hot months after something sprouted. It is fun because you never know what to expect, lol.
Sorry, off topic there.
One activity that may seem very strange but my children LOVED when little and choose to do each year now, and many of their friends now do also, is to graph the candy they get. They take all the candy they get trick or treating and sort it into categories. Then they made different types of graphs of how much of each they have. I know, sounds strange, but it gets a lot of math skills into their fun and even kids who HATE math will not mind because you won't tell them it is math!
Also, if you get a lot of the fun size milky way, snickers or 3 musketeer candy bars, or see a good deal the day after Halloween, put them up until Thanksgiving. Then you can use graham crackers, some chocolate icing, fudge stripe cookies and sprinkles to make turkeys for them to share with their class at school. My kids could each assemble these by 2nd grade with little help, so it doesn't take much coordination to do them.
Try getting a bag or two of nerds, esp grape ones, and emptying them all into a little cake pan. Add unwrapped tootsie rolls and a slotted spoon. Yup, gross, looks like kitty litter - but kids LOVE it.
Get clear gloves, the thin kind used for food service instead of the stretchy latex kind used in hospitals and fill them with popcorn. Takes a bit of time to get the popcorn into the fingers, but it is worth it. You can put a piece of candy corn or jelly bean into each finger first as a fingernail. This gives a not sweet treat.
for class parties, consider getting the mini bags of microwave popcorn to give out instead of candy. Kids here love it more than candy because they get candy from everyone. Some of the pretzel companies also make halloween bags to pass out.
Serve worms or octopus for dinner. Worms are made by slicing hot dogs lengthwise into strips and then heating for a few minutes in boiling water. they get all curly. then put them on a bun with "blood" aka ketchup. For an octopus, cut the hotdog lengthwise up to about an inch or so from one end, Cut it so that you have eight legs (or six if your kids are not so Aspie that they would argue with you for a week because there were not eight legs, lol) and then heat the hot dogs a couple at a time in boiling water until the tentacles curl up. use ketchup and mustard to put faces on them.
Make eyeballs out of icing and marshmallows. You can dip the marshmallows into melted white chocolate and put an m&m onto the center of the end. Then use a toothpick dipped in food coloring to make the eyes look bloodshot. these can be done with-o a popsicle stick or lollipop stick stuck into one end or can be done with the stick. If you have them on a stick, put a bunch of candy corn or whatever into a cup and then arrange a bouquet of eyeballs in them.
Put a bunch of different foods into bags and have the kids close their eyes and try to figure out what they are. Cold cooked spaghetti would be worms or snakes, peeled grapes or hardboiled eggs would be eyes, etc....
If you get some flower pots, the clay ones or plastic ones shaped like them, you can paint faces on them to be jack o lanterns and use them as giveaways/party favors. Or you can use the craft paints and turn them into candy corn.
If Nichole was still preggo she could have gotten a white shirt and had you draw a circle around her belly and paint a pumpkin on it. I did that while preggo with thank you.
Use this time for you, easy child and nichole to scour thrift stores for those little kid costumes that are made of polar fleece and are dragons, ladybugs, etc... NOT the walmart quality costumes, ones made of either sweatshirt or fleece material that are one piece. Buy all you can find that would fit the kids now or the little ones in the next year or two. they make AMAZING pajamas and dress up clothes and will be on sale right after Halloween or in thrift stores as they put out the costumes. the kids CAN wear them as costumes, of course, but they also make super warm jammies for those cold winter nights. I know Old Navy used to make them each year, as did Land's End and Talbot's kids.
Depending on how much time you have with the kids, how able they are, and what craft supplies you have, you can find some really cute activities to make small craft items and then take the kids to a nursing home, place that serves free meals to seniors, or wherever the local meals on wheels are cooked and send the crafts to the people there. It is an awesome way to teach the kids about helping others. I doubt seriously that Katie's boys could participate much, but Kayla likely would be able to and easy child's kids and Aubrey could. It doesn't have to be much, just something cute. I remember doing this as a kid through school and in the summer when we visited my gparents we would make things to take when they (gparents) delivered meals on wheels - they took us to deliver too. Not only do the kids learn to give back, they learn that old people are not scary and are actual people. So few kids now ever spend any real time iwth seniors , so this is a good way to broaden their lives. Plus it is fun.
Look for some Halloween music. We somewhere have a cd of Disney halloween songs and it was great to set the mood with-o scaring the little ones. I am sure you could find it somewhere, maybe the library?
You can use halloween cookie cutters to cut out jello jigglers - fast and easy and kids love it. Or to bake brownies in a bigger than usual pan and cut them itno shapes for a fast treat.
If you have halloween jello molds or candy molds, fill them with plaster of paris and let the kids color the shapes with markers or paint. Or just use some water based paint as part of the water to mix the plaster and then they will be colored.
If you have a big container of broken crayons, peel the red and orange and yellow ones and then carefully melt them on the stove or in the oven and pour them into lined muffin tins or any round container that won't melt. Take a dark colored crayon and cut it into small bits to make the eyes and mouth and you have a pumpkin crayon. Use a pan you won't want to use again or a metal can set inside a pan of water. I ahve seen directions to melt them in the microwave, but it made a giant mess and burned the crayons the time I tried it - and that is a stink that is nasty. Peeling the crayons would be a good sitting task for husband - keep him busy and involved.
Since you have been making bread with easy child, make a couple of batches of pizza dough (can use regular bread dough for this if you want) and shape the dough into round shapes, or witches hats or whatever. Prebake them for about ten minutes or so and put them aside. The day of the party you can make them into jack o lantern pizzas using cheese and toppings and sauce for a not-sweet treat for the kids. You could let the kids decorate them or just tell you what they wanted on theirs. You could do a big one for everyone, or smaller ones so the kids can have their own.
You can use cooked biscuits and put a layer of ham or salami or pepperoni on the top. Take a piece of american cheese or other fairly thin sliced cheese and cut it to a little bigger than the size of the biscuit. then use a sharp knife to cut out eyes and a mouth (some cookie cutters will cut out the mouth and eyes of the cookie to make a pumpkin face. I have a couple, but have also just used a knife) and then put the cheese on top of the biscuit. Melt the cheese a little bit in the oven or microwave so that it will stick to the biscuit and hold the meat on.
If you have tootsie roll pops or other lollipops, put a white kleenex or a square of white cloth over them and fasten it with a piece of yarn. Use a marker to put a ghost face on it.
Have a tree and want to put ghosts on it outside? If you have some white cloth, or else white tissue paper, ball up some newspaper or blow up a balloon that isn't too bright a color and then put the tissue or cloth over it and draw a face on with a sharpie or marker. I find this to be an AWESOME use of husband, Wiz, thank you and my dad's old tshirts that need to be replaced. They are ALL bad about digging them out of the trash even if they are dingy, stained or even have holes! Cutting them up for this stops that. Use string to hang them from branches.
Like those big bags for leaves taht look like pumpkins? Use a black garbage bag and pieces of orange felt, fabric or paper. Fill up the bag, tie it shut, use hot glue or fabri-tac to put the face pieces on. You just cut out the eye shape, mouth shape, whatever. In the dark the orange bags are not real noticeable and these won't be either, but in the daytime they make cute reverse pumpkins. And they don't cost more money because you problem already have the bags.
Use clean empty water bottles to make zombies, frankenstein, tall skinny pumpkins. Make sure they are clean and dry, then drip in some craft paint. roll the bottle around and shake it so taht teh paint covers all the sides. Turn them upside down into a container to let the excess drip out. then either paint faces ont he outside or glue on paper or fabric or felt to make the faces. If you REALLY want to make pumpkins that look like pumpkins, get the aquapod bottles taht are short and round.
I know your husband likely is not terribly into crafts, but he can do a LOT to help with the prep on these things - even while he watches tv if he wants. It will keep at least his hands moving and give him soemthing productive to do. Plus he can then show the grands what all HE did to make the party special. i NEVER thought my dad would help with that kind of thing, but he did when it was for the grands - and he reallly enjoyed it after the first time when the grands were all so thrilled with what he had done AND with the idea that gpa did it. They expected gma and I to do these things, but having gpa involved was extra special.
For an activity, print or draw pics of various Halloween themed things onto cardstock. make sure there are two of each picture, then mix them up and play a memory game iwth them. Most of the kids should be able to do that.
If you have plain shirts or sweatshirts in the kids' sizes, get some of the craft paint I keep mentioning (about a buck or a buck fifty in the craft stores or walmart) and mix it wtih textile medium - equal amounts of paint and textile medium - and guide the kids through painting a shirt. You could use dark shirts and neon paint or glow in the dark paint and have them just do eyes and a mouth, or use lighter shirts and more colors and stencils. Or have the outline of whatever painted on and let them fill in the details, or use handprints for various things. You CAN just use the paints, but the textile medium makes a HUGE difference in how long it lasts.
Get a bunch of beads and some threat and let the kids make necklaces. Oriental trading has a ton of this type of stuff or you can find it at craft stores or wherever. If you already have beads, maybe just pick up some special halloween ones and they each get X amt of them.
or have them make their own beads for a necklace. Have strips of magazines cut so that at one end it is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide and it comes to a point at the other end of the paper. the longer the paper the thicker the bead. Using a toothpick to roll the paper around, have them roll it as tight as tehy can (may need to help the little ones), then cover the outside with white glue - regular elmer's white glue NOT school glue because the school glue will NOT hold - One the bead won't unroll, they can start another one. Right after the glue goes over the outside ahve them take out the toothpick because that is where the thread will go to string them.
Instead of bobbing for apples, which will spread all sorts of germs between them - and if anyone is coming down with something but doesn't have it yet it could spread a lot to the baby or even husband if he eats any of the apples that are left over, try a clothespin game. get a bottle from either a 3 liter of soda or a gallon of juice that has a wide enough opening for a clothespin to go through. Get wooden clothespins, with or without the spring hinge. Paint a piece of cardboard to look like a hungry ghost, pumpkin, frankenstein, whatever and fasten it around the top of the container so the opening of the bottle is the mouth of the ghost. You could even use a paper plate and just have it stuck around the top of the bottle. Then each kid gets a few clothespins and they have to try to drop it into the bottle with-o bending over - or if tehy are older/coordinated have them stand on a stepstool or short ladder so they are farther away. You can give prizes for getting the pins in, or to whomever gets the most or whatever. If it is a competition between the kids, write their names on the pins with a sharpie so that they can be dumped out and counted if their is a dispute among the kids. You could even have them hold the clothespins in their teeth to drop them, sort of in the spirit of bobbing for apples.
You could rig a beanbag game with beanbags made of halloween fabric and a board or piece of sturdy cardboard to throw the beanbags through. Or make a board with a pumpkin face and have them throw black beanbags at the board. Velcro in the areas of the mouth, eyes, etc... would make beanbags made out of felt stick and the person who got the most features gets a prize.
Have a mummy contest. Divide the kids into groups, with an adult to help each group, and each group gets a roll of toilet paper or two and maybe a set of markers. they have to wrap up one of the team with the toilet paper and make them into a mummy. Best/fastest/most creative/whatever wins a prize. Toilet paper is handy for this because once it is done it gets ripped off. If you put it into a separate bag, it can be kept on hand to help mop up any spills during the party before it is pitched.
Another COOL treat to make with the kids. get some chow mein noodles, those crunchy ones, and some peanut butter or butterscotch or white or choc chips - or a combo of chips. Melt the chips and pour them over the noodles - the noodles will wiggle like worms - no joke. You can have raisins in with the noodles, or anything else you thing would be fun. The kids can help mix the noodles and chips, then you spread it out on a couple of cookie sheets to harden, then break into clumps. Tastes great, still looks like worms when set, but watching it happen is the really fun part. I did this in Jessie's second grade class for the Halloween party. The kids loved it but it became a super special thing when one of the moms helping with the party threw up after she saw the noodles wiggling. The kids said that made me the best party mom ever - apparently making a mom puke at the site of candy makes you the hero of second graders! That mom NEVER forgot and was a bit hard to work with the next two years, lol! But I think that was because her son never let her forget it and had a crush on Jessie.
As for drinks, if you can't get dry ice to put into punch, go with something that won't spill. One cute way to portion treats is to get some of those clear plastic cups for parties - about 8 oz or so - and use paint to draw spider webs or simple skeletons on the cups. A coat of clear nail polish (or some sealer from the craft paint area if you don't have clear nail polish on hand) will keep the design from rubbing off and that lets you do them ahead of time and put them back into the bag until they are needed.
The girls might like having halloween designs painted on their nails. Or just alternating black and orange nail polish. Walgreens has a line of polish for about 2 bucks that comes with a very fine brush for nail art. It would be perfect for spider webs or faces. Or you can just use a fine paint brush and clean it with nail polish remover.
Probably enough for now. I just LOVE halloween and kid parties!!!! Can you tell? lol!!!
umpkin:
