Halloween Party Activities

Whether you are throwing a little get together at your house or just need some ideas for a class party, here are some tried and tested activities and treats.

I borrowed this idea from a friend's son's birthday party.  We all have decorated pumpkins before but how fun for the kids to use cut outs from magazines for noses, mouths or eyes.  I had my older kids browse through the recyclable magazines in search for larger sized body parts.  At the dollar store I was able to find boas to cut up for the hair and packages of googley eyes. Using just Elmers glue here are some of the creations.

To traditional pin the nose, eye or mouth on the pumpkin, your choice.  If you have an uncarved pumpkin large enough you can do it right on that.

How about Ghost wind socks.  Again I got all the supplies at the dollar store and I made them a little smaller so I could cut out 12 heads out of one poster board.  Simply cut out stirps of the white poster board at your preferred length and width.  Cut strips of white streamers-2 rolls in a pkg for $1.  Simply tape the streamers to the back of the poster board.  Have the child decorate the front with marker.  Staple the poster board in a circle and then tape or staple a large piece of yarn for a hanger.  How fun to have these around your house hanging from a light fixture or fan?
Hot Pumpkin of course is an old and easy favorite.  Played the same as hot potato but using a pumpkin of course.  Make sure you have a treat available after the kids get out!
Any fun but messy game is Monster Hands. Basically the kids fill a glove with candycorns as finger nails and popcorn in the rest.  Tie up the open end and it looks like a monster hand. The dollar store surprised me again by having packages of them in several colors this year.  You can also give them as a party favor in a classroom.
Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt, for an outside party one year I had an abundant amount of acorns.  I took a little jar of acrylic paint and painted half of several acorns around the yard.  The kids then had to find the orange ones and race to fill buckets.  The kids were occupied and I had a simple chore completed!
Build a skeleton relay.  (probably not for a classroom as you need a lot of room)
Cut out a skeleton templete and have a relay with the kids with each child running to the other end to complete the skeleton correctly.  First team with a completed skeleton wins.

For a yummy and quick lunch or light dinner how about Jamaican pumpkin soup.  I found this recipe on Crockpot365.blogspot.com. I used an emulsion blender right in the crock pot and made the entire soup smoothe.  Also I left out the half and half and let each guest add their own amount.

Monster fingers are also a great hit.  Unlike the picture I was inspired by in a old book I have, "Delightful & Frightful Halloween Recipes", I still had a little oozing of cheese even after pinching them together.  I guess that makes it even more spooky.

Simply lay out a refrigerated bread stick on ungreased cookie sheet.  Put a line of mustard down each stick.  Then add 1/2 inch strip of sandwich meat, I used turkey, colby cheese and honey mustard, but any combo would work.  Then add another breadstick on top and pinch them together.  Score the knuckles and nail bed.  Then mix a egg yolk with food coloring and fill in the finger nail.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.  I allowed my to come to room temperature but you can serve warm as well.  The left overs are going into my kids lunch boxes!

Pretzel treats on the buffet

Halloween Pretzel Treats

Ok my kids will be the first to tell you that once I get into the holiday season I start obsessing about things I can do, usually food related.  Well last night I was seating at dinner with my kids and these EyeBall Suckers I got at the Dollar Store were staring at me.  My crazy mind started turning as I was thinking how I could transform a christmas treat I make into an eyeball.

Well I got the kids involved and started putting out the square shaped pretzels.  Then they placed a white chocolate disc on top.  I placed the tray into a 250 degree oven for a few minutes, only until the discs melt slightly.

Then I added an eye color eyeball- 'the M facing down' into the chocolate.

Using my Frosting Doodles I added the veins and pupil.

What a fun treat to put out in a bowl or a cellophane bag and watch your guests dig into!  And they will!

One of my first blog posts I blogged about chocolate covered pretzels.  Well come Halloween time my friends expect a little more than just chocolate.  I make double dipped pretzels or "Magic Wands".  I simply dip the pretzels first in creamy peanut butter or melted carmel and this year I had some Nutella on Hand.

 Cover the pretzel as you would with chocolate about 3/4 of the way.  Place in the fridge to cool slightly.

Then dip them as normal into chocolate or white chocolate.  I microwave the chocolate because the kids want to help but if you use a double boiler you will get a smoother consistency and overall product.

Add sprinkles if desired and place back into the Fridge.  Place them upright in a low vase or glass as a centerpeice or place two of these in a Pretzel cellophane bag for a great teachers treat.  I am wondering what is this years favorite!!

Halloween Quiche

My friend and I were making dinner for another friend whose little girl has been really sick.  I was in charge of the entree so I went with my stand by of Chicken Enchilada Quiche.  It seems to be well received and people often ask for the recipe which I dont think they are just being nice.  The recipe won the first prize for Pillsbury a few years ago and that is how I ran into it.

Anyway,  It is very simple and can probably be varied easily but for me who is not tasting it as much as I make it, I just keep to the recipe with a few tweaks.

However, as I filled the pie crust this time and was looking at the great orange color of the egg mixture, I just could not resist.  I told you I enjoy holiday themed recipes!!  Well I looked inside my vegetable crisper and found a few items like green peppers and red pepper that I transformed into a pumpkin face.  I think if I had olives and red peppers you could get really detailed.

I made the face and then showed my 3 year old son, and to my satisfaction he said, "Mom a Pumpkin", mission accomplished.  I was hoping by just taking a little extra step maybe the sick little girl and her family would get an extra smile in a tough time.

Here is the original recipe, I only use 2 cups of cheese, usually the mexican blend if they have it. Also I always buy mild salsas and skip the green chilis if it is for children or a new mom who may not want the extra spiciness.  You can always serve a spicier salsa as a topping if your eaters are willing.

1	Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crust (from 15-oz box), softened as directed on box
4	eggs
1	cup half-and-half or milk
1	can (12.5 oz) chunk chicken breast in water, drained (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2	cups broken tortilla chips
2	cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz)
1	cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1	cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
1	can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles
1/2	teaspoon salt
	Pepper to taste, if desired
	Sour cream, if desired
	Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa, if desired

DIRECTIONS

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. Place pie crust in 9- or 9 1/2-inch glass deep-dish pie pan as directed on box for One-Crust Filled Pie.
2.	In medium bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk until blended. Beat in half-and-half. Stir in chicken, chips, both cheeses, 1 cup salsa, the green chiles and salt. Pour into crust-lined pan. Sprinkle pepper over top of filling.
3.	Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until crust is light golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges. Serve with sour cream and/or salsa.

Halloween Oreo Truffles

My children had the day off of school and I thought we would make a Halloween treat. I love holiday themed recipes so it was a matter of finding out what I had in my house and did not have to go to the grocery store. My friend has made this recipe for a Christmas Cookie exchange and since I had most what I needed to make it I thought I would take it to a new level, Halloween Oreo Truffles. I think these would be delicious with Nutter Butters or flavored Oreos too.

Basically this is a no cook, easy recipe that your kids can help with and love to eat!

1 16 oz package of Oreos

8 oz Cream Cheese Softened

Melting chocolate bark, or discs in assortment of colors.

Simply pulverize the Oreos in the food processor until it gets crumbly consistency.

( I had only 2 pkgs of lance Oreos and 2 pkgs vanilla cremes that I mixed together)

Add the softened creme cheese and pulse until it forms into a ball.

Scoop out balls with a mini ice cream scoop or use a large tablespoon and roll them into balls. Place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place them in the fridge to cool, I only did it for 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or double boiler. Dip the cooled balls into the chocolate and coat evenly. At this point if you choose to decorate them for the holiday, add any candies before the chocolate hardens.

Place the completed balls into the fridge to cool completely. Once cooled you can add decorating gel accents.

I halved the recipe simply because of the ingredients on hand and I made 15 Truffles.

Here is what we came up with!

Eye Balls

Pumpkins

Purple Monsters

what you bite into!

Cheddar Corn Chowder-Barefoot Bloggers

This month's first Barefoot Blogger recipe, submitted by Jill of My Next Life, took me off guard as I am not on the mailing list and when I got to it I realized I needed to make it and blog about it in 2 days. Well to my surprise you can purchase most of the ingredients of the Cheddar Corn Chowder at the grocery store with little or no prep and just throw it in.

As I was looking for frozen corn because the corn around here is no longer around, I found frozen chopped up Onion. I have never used it before but because the recipe called for 3 cups of onion this sounded very appealing, plus it was only 1.25 for the bag-well worth my time and tears! Great tip even to do at home if you are in the mood to chop up a lot of onions and freeze them for future stews and sauces.

I decided to Halve the recipe as it yields 10 to 12 servings and not sure of the outcome I didn't want to waste all those ingredients. As it turns out a half recipe was more than enough to feed my family of 5 with enough for two other large servings.

I really appreciate feedback on recipes and as the recipe is posted on Food network I was able to read some of the comments and tweak the recipe.

I did not reduce the amount of flour, potatoes or cheese in this recipe. Also because of the bacon fat I did not add any of the olive oil suggested in the recipe. I think I could have reduced or eliminated the half and half as that caused the runny consistency many people complained about.

I also used an Emulsion Blender before adding the corn to give it a creamy consistency.

Once it cooled off a few minutes,it resembled more of a Chowder.

The result was a creamy and filling chowder that was a hit even with the kids-minus one very picky one! My daughter asked to bring it to school for lunch in her new "furnace"-according to my son.

I would definitely recommend this recipe and maybe make a little more bacon on the side because the kids love eating bacon.

For a simple side, I purchased the pre made frozen rolls and simply spread a little butter and dusted them with Parmesan cheese before baking. Thanks Ina for another great recipe that I will do again for both my family or casual get together.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes

Well if I don't have to decorate another cupcake for a while I will be thrilled. Between my children's birthdays I did 5 different designs in 3 weeks. The last two batches were not homemade..If they are only for kids I don't mind and if you have an milk allergy there are some specific ones that are dairy free, so no thinking.

Anyway, for my daughter's sleepover that turned more into a mini birthday party we did these great cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake. A great book full of ideas to decorate with candies and not a lot of experience. Well mine don't look like the book but the kids loved them. The blankets were made from starburst. I got some from a friend so they were not fresh out of the bag so be sure you have more than you need b/c I ruined a few in the microwave.

I made one to look like each of the girls and baby brother attending. (more ideas from this party in an upcoming email). There was a dairy allergy so we had to improvise one face. The girls loved deciding which one I made for them.

Then we had her school treat. Of course she was looking through the book when we were making the sleepover ones and saw the butterfly version. Of course I was somehow convinced especially since we have been seeing them a lot in our yard. Also after reading the instructions I thought it would be an easy activity for her.

You can really make any design with chocolate discs and some wax paper. Simply make the design on paper and cover with the wax paper, and trace with chocolate.

I added the second color and did the swirling. These came out pretty fragile and did not look like this picture when we got to her class the next day!!

A few years ago I decorated brownies with chocolate spiderwebs and bats using the same technique, but just all chocolate.

My final cupcake was the simplest but still very cute in my opinion. My daughter was having a horse birthday at her cousins house during our recent trip. Because we live a way from family this was a one time event to have a cousins party. Although the horses in Hello, Cupcake are adorable I did not want to ask my sister to do it and knew I did not want to spend my one day with them working on these cupcakes. Instead I found Jelly Horse suckers on orientaltrading.com . I simply had my daughter frost the cupcakes when we arrived and added the suckers. The suckers also serve as part of the goody bag.

We used a cupcake tree and filled the empty holders with cupcake liners and M& M's. Will not take credit for this idea, thanks sis. But will definitely do it in the future.

Our cupcakes were in the holder too long and the weight of the suckers started to cause the cupcakes to tip over.

All in all here are three different ways to decorate homemade cups cakes, either from a box or from scratch no matter what your skill level.