| Issue #30, October 20, 2006 |
Just For Kids
A Spooky Halloween Celebration
Ghosts and ghoblins and witches galore...are all waiting for you at the party store! Ahhhh…It’s that time of year again. Ccars are filled with eager children ready to pick ripe orange pumpkins right off the vine and run like crazy through the corn mazes. The aroma of fresh cider is wafting through the newly-chilled air and you are reminiscing about Halloween parties that you attended as a kid as you eagerly plan one for your child. Those cute little farmstands have gourds, ripe, red apples, corn stalks and hay, some of the ingredients useful for a fun-filled event.
Now that your child is a little older, you don’t need to worry so much about keeping the little cowboys and ballerinas calm. You can plan for some party activities that will keep the partygoers occupied, slightly spooked, and highly entertained. Your festive invites have gone out, written in ghoulishly curvy handwriting, setting the stage for what is sure to be the greatest party in town. Now, your children’s friends need to walk up a path to get to the party. Here’s a clever idea for setting the scene from that very first step. Buy some very large sponges. Trace various size footprints of family members and cut out the imprints, Dip the foot-shaped sponges in black, washable paint and stamp the footprints up your driveway. Post a sign that reads “Party This Way,” with an arrow attached to a cornstalk, held by a scarecrow (you don’t want it to be too scary, with a witch or ghost, just yet).
Replace your light bulbs with black and orange bulbs for a cool lighting effect. Wrap balloons in cheesecloth or burp cloths (leftover from those younger kid years), draw a ghost face on the cheesecloth and suspend the “ghosts,” with string, from the ceiling. Have each ghost hold a message for each party guest: “Hope that you have a spookily good time,” “Get ready for some hauntingly good fun.” You can also attach goody bags or party favors to the makeshift ghosts, such as 3-D glasses, lollipops decorated like ghosts, spider rings, baggies filled with candy corn, and marshmallows stacked like ghosts. Create a hauntingly good effect by stringing fake cobwebs across your stairwells and ceilings. Right before the guests come, spritz them with water. The glistening effect from the wet cobwebs and the dripping water will help create a spooky feel. Buy a tape or CD of spooky sound effects and play it as the guests are coming into the house. The sounds of creaking chairs and laughing witches are sure to send shivers down the spines of those cute guests, and parents dropping their children off.
Now for the real fun. With songs like “The Monster Mash” and “Time Warp” playing in the background, set up vats of apples floating in water with hooks attached at one end. Give each child a plastic fishing rod and let them fish for apples. Mark each apple with a permanent marker in different colors. Have each color stand for a prize. Oriental Trading Company has a wonderful assortment of gumball-machine-type prizes that are reasonable in price and a lot of fun. Buy an assortment of mini pumpkins and gourds, provide paints, and let the kids decorate them. Have a contest to see who can make the funniest pumpkin, the scariest, and the zaniest. The kids will have a blast. For a fun game, play Pin The Nose On The Witch. Buy a ready-made witch door-decoration and remove the nose. Carefully blindfold each child, spin them around and lead them over to the witch. Whomever comes closest to the witch’s nose’s proper location wins the prize.
After the games are over, have some cupcakes decorated with orange frosting. Decorate them with sprinkles and spiders made from black gumdrops and licorice. Create a ghoulish, green punch with some orange slices thrown in, decorated like floating pumpkins. For some instant fun, put out bowls of ice cream and assorted toppings, and let the kids go to town making monster-sized sundaes. Top them with some tinted whipped cream in Halloween colors, and zap them with some green slime (vanilla frosting melted and tinted green). The sundaes are guaranteed to be a hit. Make some chocolate lollipops using molds in the shapes of cats, witches and ghosts, for a take-away treat. Craft and candy stores sell meltable chocolate in a variety of colors. Wrap them up, and tie them off with orange and black streamers.
Halloween is so much fun for children of any age, but your older children will thank you for years to come for throwing them a bash that will be the talk of the neighborhood. So get ready for a hauntingly good time! – Jessica Gold
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