Halloween Family Dinner

Costumes are a big part of Halloween, and it's so much fun to dress your kids (or yourself) up and have a good time. Since Halloween is only a couple weeks away you will want to get those adorable infant/toddler costumes - or adult costumes and accessories - before the selection is slim pickings.
It’s the food, however, that really sets the mood. It's a time to create a tradition with your kids, and have fun with some spooky dinners, desserts and treats that are a change of pace from the normal. If you are having a neighborhood party you can also pass them along. 
Here are a couple suggestions for something different to add to your Halloween table. These great recipes can be found at Family Fun Magazine .

Halloween Bug Juice

• 2 10-oz. packages frozen strawberries, defrosted
• 1 6-oz. can lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1 qt. ginger ale
• 2 cups raisins
• 6 gummy worms

1.      Mix the strawberries and lemonade concentrate in a blender until smooth and thick.
2.      Gradually add ginger ale.
3.      Transfer the beverage to a punch bowl. Stir in any remaining ginger ale and the raisins. Place the gummy worms on the rim of the bowl for a swampy effect. Makes 10 servings.

Swamp Creatures

• Macaroni and cheese
• Sautéed spinach
• Olive slices

1.      Mix up a batch of macaroni and cheese, then spoon it into greased muffin cups and bake until firm, about 25 minutes.
2.      Let the creatures rest for about 10 minutes, then gently remove them from the tins. Place them upside down on a swamp of sautéed spinach and add olive slice eyes.



Mummy Fingers
• Snack Size Sausages or Hot Dogs cut in ½
• Crescent Rolls
• CatsupCut crescent rolls into strips and wrap them around the sausages (or hot dogs). Bake them in the oven as per the instructions on the crescent roll package. Take out of oven to cool and add catsup as fingernails.


Monster Tongues
• 1 pea pod
• 1 red bell pepper
• Few slivered almonds (for those allergic to peanuts you can substitute string cheese)

1.      For each one, use the tip of a paring knife to cut a slit centered in one side of an edible pea pod (a parent's job).
2.      Cut out a tongue shape from red bell pepper and insert the top of it through the opening in the pea pod (it looks best if the inside of the pepper faces up).
3.      For the finishing touch, insert a few slivered almonds for teeth, or pull some string from the cheese to make the teeth.


For other great Halloween ideas, including the Melon Brain, check out the Family Fun website and click here to watch the video on how to cut the melon to look like an exposed brain).

Have a great Halloween!

Halloween Re-Vamped

Bring your social life back from the dead with a Halloween Re-Vamped Party!

Vampires are the rage this year for the paranormal aficionados.  Deckyour self up as your favorite Twilight star, or a sexy vampire orvampiress . Put some white make up on to show you aredrained of blood, and add vampire teeth and accessories to complete theoutfit.

Hold it in a pumpkin patch, or your basement, but make it dark and scary. Hang black curtains (sheets) on the windows, place black roses or dead flowers all around the room.

Fog machines are not too expensive anymore, so fog up the area for a more dramatic aura. Set ghouls and ghosts all around, along with fake tombstones - and voila! you have your own haunted yard. A few skulls, skeletons and ghosts flying in the wind will make this the greatest haunted yard in the neighborhood.

Video tape your friends and their “vampire” antics

A Gothic Halloween

Many people think those who dress Gothic are in costume all year long. Halloween allos those who wonder what it’s like to get their “Goth” on, and let their freak fly! Dig into your dark side and explore your imagination with abandon.

 
Send out dark colored invitations, add a splash of red with a few drops of red ink that looks like blood drops. Purchase some cobwebs at your local store and wrap the invitation with a thin layer before inserting in an envelope.

Gothic costumes – Vampires, Vamps, Countess of Darkness, Adams Family, Munsters, etc. are usually easy to find, and if not you can find something at your local Goodwill or Salvation Army store that can be converted for a low price and some imagination. The Gothic touch is all about sex appeal – and don’t be afraid to add a boots, wig, makeup and accessories to complete the look.
Decoration would include candelabras , skulls , cobwebs, dried roses and lots of black, white and red votive candles. Goblets as place card holders make a nice touch for seating arrangements.

Serve red wine, or witch’s brew, out of pewter goblets . Take a plastic glove and fill it with water, tie it closed and freeze it to float in the punch (color it for a special effect). Red gelatin, with floating spiders or skeletons, also produce a special effect, and black pasta with red sauce could be the entrée.

For entertainment – the Monster Mash, or music from Gothic entertainers should fill the air with eerie sounds, and the rest is up to your imagination.

Baby's First Halloween

  Halloween at our house takes more preparation than Christmas. There is months of planning for costumes, and how to decorate the yard to stand out. Of course you have to choose treats the kids will like, and you can afford. Everyone has their own idea of what to do, so we make this a family time of compromise and fun.

Most of us realize that your baby is not going to remember his/her first Halloween. They don’t even care what costume you put on them. This day is really for YOU, and your family to take pictures and show off your adorable bundle of joy! There are a number of adorable infant/toddler costumes that are sure to make great pictures.

For baby’s first Halloween, and especially if it’s your first Halloween as a parent, the showing off is the best part (although now you get to have treats all to yourself, while in the next few years you will have to share). A fun way to show off is to dress up in a family theme – like Popeye, Olive Oyle and Sweet Pea celebrate-milestones.com/inposwpeaco.html. You can choose a theme and let your whole family dress to match. So many costumes have adult and child versions, and the selection is amazing.

No matter whether you are going to a party, or simply trick-or-treating door-to-door, Halloween isn’t the same without dressing up and eating goodies. Enjoy your day!

A Fall Festival Showcases Your Community

The greatest thing about Fall is the changing of the colors – bright oranges, gold, red, burgundy and brown, that mark the end of summer and the beginning of the entrance to winter. It is without a doubt the most magnificent display of nature’s attraction and beauty.

Fall opens up the door, for only a few weeks, to weather that is cool enough without being freezing. It invites the search for hay rides, fall festivals, walking trails, apple pies and pumpkins. What’s more, you generally don’t have to be uncomfortable about the heat of summer.

Many communities have a Fall Festival with crazy contests like the best beard, best apple pie, longest apple peel or biggest pumpkin. There are pumpkin carvings, lots of food with fall fruit, and the opportunity for charitable organizations to raise some money and put out information about their organization. It also is a great opportunity for local vendors to market their products in time for the upcoming holidays.
Fall Festivals are a coming together of communities to showcase their community, hold charitable fundraisers in a fun way, and including the entire family in activities.

Search for a local festival in your area – it could become an annual family event.