Is Halloween for babies?  Pictures, albums and home video may be the only way children ever know they even participated in trick or treating as a baby.  Who are we kidding?  We all know the fun of baby’s first Halloween is for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and brothers and sisters.

Here are some suggestions for saving money on baby’s first trick or treat experience as well as safety tips to make the night as fun as it can be.

Be Frugal with Baby’s First Halloween Costume.

The first Halloween costume should be special, but that doesn’t mean it has to break the bank?  Before you go crazy spending on baby’s Halloween outfit, try networking with other parents.  Many parents save their own children’s first costimes.  They may be open to swapping costumes with you or willing to sell their little one’s old costume at a minimal cost.  If this isn’t an option for you and you find you need to purchase your baby’s costume, there are lots of options very cheaply online or at the big chail stores.

Safety tips to keep baby safe and sound

• Avoid Scary Masks and Costumes

Babies do not like to wear masks and most will fight and cry in discomfort if you put them in costumes that restrict their movements.

Don’t be surprised if older babies are frightened by other people’s masks and costumes as well.  This is not time to instill fear into your baby.  Sometimes adults and older children find it funny to show babies their costumes and do not realise that they can be genuinely scared.

• Keep Weather conditions in mind

When choosing your costume keep in mind what your weather will most likely be at that time of year.

• Give Family and Friends a call ahead before visiting

You want to share your baby’s first Halloween with family and a phone call ahead will ensure they are at home.Make your plans ahead.  You don’t want to be disappointed later when trying to scrapbook your child’s first trick or treat experience and someone is missing.

Celebrate Baby’s First Halloween again and again

Just like every other first for your little one you will want to keep a record of the first Halloween, with pictures, video and other keepsakes.  One way you can do this is by creating a scrapbook that will preserve these items for years to come.  Get creative in how to layout your album.  Don’t be afraid to take pictures with props that symbolize the holiday.

Memories are something that we all have, and with extra care and planning Halloween and your baby’s first trick or treat experience can be most memorable for everyone involved.

No matter what costume you choose or how you remember the day, keep the tips and suggestions above in mind for a safe, happy and fun Halloween

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This is a fun project that you may want to break up across a couple of days, so be sure to start a few days before Halloween.

Mom, you can join in the fun as well and make a Homemeade Halloween wreath of your own too!

Material List

Paper Plate (One per child/adult)

Scissors

Leaves

Glue Sticks

Orange Construction Papers

White Construction Paper

Black Construction Paper

Washable Black Marker Black

Yarn (optional)

Adult Preparation: (To Be Done Prior to Actual Wreath Making)

Cut the center from each paper plate prior to giving one to each child.

These will be the base for the homemade wreaths.

Day 1: Grab the kids and head outdoors.

Gather as many fallen leaves of different shapes and colors as you can find. Once you’ve collected enough leaves to cover each paper plate, head back inside and glue them to the paper plates.

You can glue the leaves to cover the entire plate, randomly around the plate or even as a border around only the edge, whichever you prefer.

Once you’ve glued the leaves to the paper plate, leave the plates to dry for 24 hours or at least overnight.

Day 2: Creativity

Depending on how much time you have to complete this project you can have the children do the next step after the leaves have been glued on, while you’re waiting for them to dry or you can make another day of it.

Let the children draw Halloween images on the construction paper.

Here are some ideas for each color of paper:

Orange – Pumpkins (Use the black marker to draw the face on their pumpkins)

White – Ghosts, Mummies, Bones

Black – Cats, Witch Hats (You can use the yarn to put a tail on the cat and hair on the witches head if you’d like to put that under the hat)

Once the children have picked out and drawn which decorations they’ll be using, carefully cut them out and paste them to the wreath.

Tip: Pre-placement (before gluing) will give the child an idea of what the wreath will look like once it is all glued together.

When the children are happy with the way the decorations are placed, it’s time to glue them to the leaves.

Again, allow the decorations to dry completely.

Day 3: Decorating Time

Congratulations! You’ve made your very own homemade Halloween wreath. Enjoy your child’s creation by hanging it on the front door or his or her bedroom door for all your friends and family to see and admire.

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Dress your table according to your theme.  There is such a fantastic array of tableware available you have absolutely no excuse for not creating your most fabulous Halloween Table Decorations ever, to display your fabulous Halloween Party food!!

Spiderweb Placemat

Skeleton Parts Table Sprinkles

Bloody Hand Table Cloth

Cemetery Terror Table Decorations

Square Dinner Plates

Mummy Snack Plates

Halloween Horror Platter

Creepy Champagne Flutes

Bewitched Dinner Plates

For a greater selection of each tableware item click the following links:-

Dinner Plates

Snack Plates

Bowls

Tablecloths

Glasses

Table Decorations

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Your Halloween party invitations are really important and let your guests know exactly what the party will involve.

You should always make it clear what the party theme is, the start and end date.

This is a really nice example of an invitation you can buy if you wish your invitations to look professional.

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By:   Jennifer Anderson

Halloween is the one time of year where you want your refreshments to look absolutely ghastly

Putrid Punch

A big bowl of punch is the perfect prop for gory and ghastly Halloween trickery. There are lots of ways to make your party punch extra eerie!

Make a slime ring from green punch.

* Freeze green punch in a gelatin mold along with plastic bugs, spiders and eyeballs. And place a few small glow sticks underneath the punch bowl: when the lights are turned down, the brew will radiate in a mysterious and unearthly fashion.

Float life-size zombie hands made from ice.

* Buy a couple of latex or rubber gloves. Wash them thoroughly with dish soap and turn them inside out. Carefully pour in water. Fasten tightly at the wrist with a rubber band.
* The shape will turn out best if you hang the gloves, fingers down, from your freezer shelf. Plan to freeze your uncanny hands for at least one full day.
* When it’s party time, run warm water over the gloves very briefly–just long enough to loosen the gloves from the ice–and carefully peel them off the frozen hands. The ice fingers break off easily, but that’s okay–the disembodied digits just add to the “zombie” effect.

Turn your punchbowl into a steamy, smoky witch’s cauldron.

* Nothing makes a party spookier than an ominous witch’s brew. First, visit your local supermarket’s fresh fish counter and ask if they carry dry ice; if they don’t, they may be able to tell you where you can purchase some.
* Mix up a punch of your favorite fruit juices in a large bowl and place it inside an even larger bowl, pot or cauldron. Throw on your best witch or warlock costume and add (using tongs or extra-heavy-duty gloves) chunks of dry ice to the bigger container. This allows you to create that delightful creeping mist without putting dry ice directly into the punch, which can be extremely dangerous. When you’re ready to create some magic, simply pour some hot water over the dry ice. Continue to add hot water and dry ice as needed.

Note: Never ingest dry ice! Be very careful when using dry ice. Always keep it out of reach of children and never touch it with bare skin; use tongs or extra-heavy-duty gloves.

Quite a spooky sight!!

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Fancy a lovely tasty Halloween spooky eyeball?

For details of how to make this tasty treat , courtesy of www.halloweentreats.com please CLICK HERE

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You can download this great Halloween Recipe Book – it contains some great recipes and comes courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Download a screamy Halloween Screensaver courtesy of www.thundercloud.net

Download a slightly less scary Pumpkin Screensaver here, courtesy of www.thundercloud.net

This is a really great idea – When you download this program you can open up and write an email which has Halloween animated images - this would be great for sending out your invitations bt email, courtesy of www.funletters.net

Would you like a spooky soundtrack for your party?

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• Gross Cakes (yesbutnobutyes.com)

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By Jorj Morgan

Throwing a holiday party does not need to be an overwhelming event. It can be as easy as opening the door to neighbors and inviting them in for a fast nibble. Here is a plan for a simple party that you can pull together in a matter of days. Use this design for your next party and you will see how effortless (and rewarding) entertaining can be.

THE MOTIVATION: Halloween is the perfect opportunity for a neighborhood open house. Tired parents and over-sweetened kiddies need a break from door-to-door tricking. When the hobgoblins come to the door, in addition to sweet treats, offer a simple soup buffet.

THE BACKDROP: You want to have as much fun at your party as your guests will. Besides, every good hostess knows that on Halloween her job is answering the front door to scary ghouls and ghosts just dying to frighten her to death! In order to be properly scared and throw a terrific party at the same time, choose a menu that allows you to prepare everything in advance.

The best party plan for serving guests who come and go is to utilize a buffet table. Each dish is prepared, arranged and then placed on the table in an organized fashion. For this simple party buffet, a variety of soups, a chopped veggie salad and several types of home-baked muffins are readily available so that guests can make their way to the table, nibble and move on.

Create a refreshment station next to the front door. Place pitchers on a table to hold fruit punch for the kids. Stack plenty of paper cups with a waste basket close by. Fill a huge barrel or aluminum tub with chilled libations for parents. Iced cold cans of beer and sodas and one or two bottles of good chardonnay are easily plucked from the container so that bartending services are unnecessary. Everyone can grab and go – no need for designated drivers when walking the neighborhood!

THE PLAN: Offer at least two soup choices, a veggie salad with dressings on the side, one savory muffin and one sweet muffin. Place paper cups (the kind that are designed to hold hot drinks like coffee) and plastic spoons next to each covered soup tureen. You can also serve the soups from large pots or a crock pot. For this holiday – even a hollowed out pumpkin makes a great soup tureen.

Offer a huge wooden salad bowl filled with chilled lettuce and chopped cucumbers, carrots, blanched and chilled green beans, grape tomatoes and sliced radishes. Use several containers to hold a variety of salad dressings like balsamic vinaigrette, blue cheese with cilantro and creamy ranch. Sturdy throwaway paper plates or plastic bowls will work well next to the salad bowl. Place plastic forks nearby.

Heap aromatic muffins into cloth lined baskets and pile paper napkins close by. A huge tray filled with wrapped sugar cookies or fruit slices are the perfect dessert treat “to go.”

THE MOOD: Make sure that you allow your buffet table to blend into the “spirit” of the holiday. Use flickering jack-o-lanterns as a winking centerpiece. Choose several pumpkins of various sizes. Use a stencil or cookie cutter to create coordinated patterns on each one. For example you can cut out circle patterns on a large pumpkin, stars on a medium pumpkin and triangles on the third. Use metal cookie cutters to outline the pattern on a hollowed-out pumpkin by first pushing the cookie cutter into the outer hull. Then use a sharp pairing knife to cut through and push out the shape. For the really talented carver, ghost and black cat shapes can create a terrific jack-o-lantern. To illuminate the pumpkins place small, non-aromatic votive candles in holders. Place at least one votive candle holder inside each pumpkin to make refilling melted candles an easy task.

For an even spookier atmosphere fill containers with dry ice and let the wisps of vapor float from the corners of the room. (Make sure that tiny hands don’t dip into the tubs.) Haunting tunes played from the scariest compact disks will howl and boohoo and crackle through each room. Remember to turn on the outside speakers to help draw in the guests.

THE MENU: Choose at least two soups and balance your choice by complimenting a rich, smooth soup with a spicy chunky one. For example, velvety Swiss cheese soup or a classic curried pumpkin pairs nicely with either beef vegetable stew or lentil soup. Be sure to include condiments like fresh herbs, cheese or croutons that guest can add on themselves. The choice of soups should offer enough variety so that every age guest will find something that they like.

Similarly by serving both a sweet and a savory muffin each one compliments the soups differently.

SHORTCUTS: This is a really simple party to throw – but even a simple party can be made simpler. Purchase fresh muffins or scones from a local pastry shop in place of baking your own. A bowl of candy bars will do fine as the on-the-run dessert. I absolutely draw the line at purchased soups. Making soup is good for the soul – so don’t shortcut the process. However, feel free to purchase prepared chicken stock as a base for your favorite recipe. Likewise, a fresh salad deserves a fresh salad dressing, but you may substitute with good quality bottled dressings
to save time. Just hide the bottle!

COUNTDOWN :

* The week before, pick up the telephone and invite a few neighbors to drop by for refreshments during Halloween evening. Better yet – invite your good buddies to make your house the last stop of the night.
* Three days before, purchase and carve the pumpkin centerpieces. Remember to keep carved pumpkins in a cool, dry area or purchase a preserving spray to use on the inside of a hollowed-out gourd.
* Two days before, prepare both soups. Cover and refrigerate. Make cut out cookies in ghostly shapes and frost with orange, black and white frosting. When the frosting is set, place the cookies in individual plastic bags and tie with curly orange and black ribbons. Refrigerate.
* One day before, bake the muffins and cut up veggies and lettuce for a toss salad. Store each vegetable in a separate bag to maintain freshness. Prepare salad dressings, cover and refrigerate.
* The evening before set the buffet table and stock the libation station.
* One hour before dark, reheat the soups, place the muffins in baskets, fill small pitchers with salad dressings and toss the salad.

There you have it. A simple plan for a terrific neighborhood party. Open your door, welcome friends and offer a tummy warming treat that is sure to calm even the scariest ghosts and goblins.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS:

* Swiss Cheese Soup
* more recipes

This article and recipe were contributed by Jorj Morgan, author of At Home in the Kitchen: The Art of Preparing the Foods you Love to Eat.

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The most important part of your Halloween Party is the ambiance.  Go all out on your decorating ideas.

Here are some Halloween decoration ideas for you -

• Throw old sheets over furniture and decorate with spider webs.

• Hang glowing in the dark skeletons from ceilings

• Light dark hallways with strings of Halloween lights.

• Decorate your table with a Halloween centrepiece and cover.

• Hang Halloween balloons in orange and black in clusters around the room.

• Decorate your doors with spiders, webs and Halloween bats.

• Try replacind lightbulbs with red ones.

• Use Halloween spooky music in the background.

• Buy some Halloween outdoor decorations too!

Take a look at some FAB PARTY DECOR !!!

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Here are some ideas for scary tricks for Halloween.

Dress up as though you are Halloween Decor for your lawn. Example: scarecrow, Frankenstein, etc. When anyone walks by, jump out and scare the heck out of them. Another idea is to lay flat on the lawn, pretending to be in a grave marked with a tombstone. Imagine their surprise when you rise from the dead.

Visit friends’ houses and write on the mirror with your finger, delivering a scary message such as “I’m watching you!” Breathe on the mirror and you can see your words. Let it dry naturally. When your friend takes a shower, the words will appear again when the mirror fogs up.

Get dressed up so you are unrecognizable. Join a group of trick-or-treaters, preferably some you know. It will drive them nuts not knowing who you are.

Decorate your yard with all things superstitious. Ladder, black cat, broken mirror, crows. Put the number 13 on your door.

Traditional, ring doorbell and run.

Gather neighbours jack o’ lanterns and line them up on the sidewalk in middle of the block.

Before guests are to arrive at your Halloween party, get someone to dress up and “haunt” the route your guests will take to get to your house. Later on, tell a “true” story about how someone died a horrific death and the ghost haunts the neighbourhood.

At your party, keep a cooler on hand for beverages, and put in fake spiders and insects near the bottom. Someone will discover it sooner or later.

When serving food at your Halloween party, add a fake set of fangs or teeth to the serving bowl.

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