Meet us here each weekday for easy, fun and inexpensive Halloween projects. Our ideas come from staffers Mala Blomquist, Katie Charland and Mary L. Holden, with photography by Daniel Friedman and art direction by Michelle-Renee Adams.
Post Trick-or-Treat Safety
Gather a group of friends to go house-to-house for trick-or-treating. When the walk is done, regroup at one house so that all the kids can dump out their bags of candy and compare what they got. There is one rule: No eating any candy until all of it has been looked over by an adult (for open packaging or other signs of tampering) and compared. Then have the kids trade things they don't like for things that they do like. It's a geat way to make sure everyone is happy at the end of the evening.
Happy Halloween from the RAK Family to yours!
Pumpkin Dip
You will need:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 30-ounce can pumpkin pie filling mix
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon*
1 tsp. ground ginger
*can also use nutmeg if preferred
In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and pumpkin pie filling until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate and serve with fruit or cookies.
Pumpkin Bread
You will need:
3½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in pumpkin. Slowly blend the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture. While blending the mixture add water incrementally. Pour the batter into two prepared loaf pans. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 90 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans.
Electric Shock Costume
You will need:
A few pieces of charcoal or a charcoal stick (can be purchased from an art store)
1 can of strong hair spray
1 finger bandage
Roll the pieces of charcoal around in your hands until they are good and covered. Using your dirty hands, make black smudges around your hairline, on an ear lob, cheek, jaw line, neck and on your arm. Wash off the remaining black soot on your hands, leaving one finger dirty. Wrap the bandage around your finger.
To make your hair stand on end, begin by applying the hairspray at the hairline. Gradually work your way up until your hand is standing on end. For girls with longer hair, place hair in a ponytail and then rat up the pony tail so it looks as if it was shocked.
Pass the Pumpkins Game
This is Halloween twist on an old-time favorite "Musical Chairs." Have children sit in chairs, each holding a small pumpkin or gourd. Take away one pumpkin or gourd, then start the music. The children pass the pumpkins and gourds around until the music stops. The child not holding a pumpkin is out. Move the chairs closer together, take out another pumpkin and start again until only one child is left.
Pumpkin Seeds
After gutting the pumpkin, separate the seeds from the pulp. Rinse the seeds in a colander/strainer and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the seeds and sprinkle with sea salt or your favorite seasoning. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool and enjoy!
"You’ve been BOOed!"
For this neighborhood game you will need:
2 copies of a printed or hand-drawn ghost
Small, goodie bag-style gifts
Tape
On the ghost, write the following poem:
Since this is the time for goblins and bats,
For Halloween spirits, for ghosts and cats,
For weird happenings and witches' brew,
These are the things that I wish for you...
May the only spirit you chance to meet
Be the spirit of love and friends warm and sweet.
May the only goblin that comes your way
Be this Neighborhood Phantom you must give away.
"Tis much better to give than to receive" goes the old verse
And something this easy won't empty your purse.
It's your turn to pass along a treat and a BOO
Because now the Neighorhood Phantom is little old YOU!
So by this time tomorrow, pick two friends sweet,
And give to them each a Halloween treat.
You have only one day — so you'll need to hurry —
Leave a treat on the doorstep, ring the bell and then scurry!
Signed, The Phantom
Tape the ghost to a neighbor's door and put the goodie bag on the doorstep. Ring the doorbell and run away. See how many houses the ghost hits before Halloween.
Halloween Punch
You will need:
Surgical gloves
Food coloring
1 can limeade
Clear soda (7-Up, Sprite, Sierra Mist)
Fill two surgical gloves with water. Put in a few drops of red and yellow food coloring to make orange and then tie off the ends. Put in the freezer overnight. Pour the limeade and soda into a large bowl. Add in green food coloring. Remove the frozen "hands" from the plastic glove and place in the punch bowl. Optional: Add dry ice for effect.
Halloween Scavenger Hunt
What you’ll need:
Paper bags
Marker
A defined area with adult supervision
Items to pre-hide in the supervised area: feathers, erasers, plastic spiders, pennies, pencils, short lengths of white string and one small bag of treats with enough pieces to share
Write an interactive story tailored to the kids so you can use their names. Insert the items they will be looking for into the story. Write the items to search for under the child’s name on each bag. The child who finds the bag of treats has to share them with each child to conclude the game.
Here’s a sample story designed for four children:
While walking home from school one day, Adam, Beth, Caroline and Daniel were talking about making Halloween costumes.
Adam said, “I’m going to be an eagle and I’m looking for lots of feathers to glue on my shirt.”
“I’m going to be the inside of a piggy bank,” said Beth, “and I’m going to glue pennies all over my pink dress.”
Caroline loved insects. “I’m going to turn myself into a spider’s web,” she said, “and put white string all over my clothes.”
The kids knew that Daniel loved to draw with pencils. He asked his friends, “How can I make myself a pencil costume?”
Mummified Pretzel Rods
You will need:
Pretzel rods
White chocolate chips
Mummy pretzel mold (found at craft stores)
Melt the chips according to the directions on the bag. Color a portion of the chocolate green and a portion orange. Fill the mold halfway and place the pretzel rod about three-quarters of the way into the length of the mold. Pour some melted chocolate over the pretzel and fill the mold almost to the top. Refrigerate until set.
YouTube Costume
You will need:
A big cardboard box
Red and white paint
A small portable stereo or iPod with speakers
Cut out a large square from the box. Measuring a four-inch border, cut out the middle of the box to look like a TV. Paint the edges of the border in white, then paint in the red YouTube logo, along with the buttons at the bottom. Download or record your favorite song onto the stereo or iPod. Attach the box to your clothing. Dance inside the box to the music and pretend you are a YouTube video.
Pumpkin Soup
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 clove garlic, put through a press
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 ribs celery, with leaves, chopped
2 slices bacon
½ cup fat-free half and half or whole milk
Pepitas (dried pumpkin seed kernels) for garnish
Saute the bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until crisp. Remove from pan and drain. When cool, crumble. Saute the diced onion, celery and garlic in the same pan as the bacon until soft. Place pumpkin puree, stock, milk and all remaining ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Pour into stockpot and place over medium heat, stirring often for about 20 minutes. Garnish with pepitas. Makes four small servings.
Creepy Body Boxes
You will need:
Peeled grapes (eyes)
Cold, cooked spaghetti noodles (brains, veins)
Soft flour tortillas with a little vegetable oil rubbed on them (skin)
Baby carrots (fingers)
Dried apricots (tongues)
Jello (guts, insides)
Put each of these items in a bowl covered with aluminum foil. Have children pass the items around and touch the items inside without looking. As the children pass around the bowls, make up stories about the pieces of the body each represents.
Mummy Cookies
You will need:
Nutter Butter cookies
White chocolate chips
Black frosting in a tube
Melt the white chocolate chips according to the directions on the bag. Dip the cookies in the white chocolate and make "mummy marks" in them with a toothpick. When the chocolate hardens, add frosting dots for eyes.
Bob for Doughnuts
You will need:
A roll of string/thin rope
A dozen doughnuts (cake-type work best but icing-type is more fun & messy)
Tie a doughnut to the end of a long piece of string. Hang the string with doughnut attached from the ceiling or a tree. Tie up several doughnuts. Then have children try to eat the doughnut off the string without the use of their hands. First child to eat the whole doughnut wins.
Healthy Halloween Appetizer
Buy a bag of baby carrots and a can of jumbo pitted black olives. Stick the olives on the ends of the carrots. This snack is both a colorful decoration and a delicious, healthy snack.
Spiderweb Cupcakes
Make your favorite cake and frost lightly with Fluffy Frosting (recipe below). Take decorating gel icing (available in the baking aisle at at grocery stores) and draw three to four concentric circles on top of the cupcake. Take a toothpick and draw lines outward from the middle to form the "web."
Fluffy Frosting
1/3 cup soft butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
¼ cup milk
1½ teaspoon vanilla
Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy. May have to add a little more sugar if needed to get it to the right consistency.
Candy Corn Candle
You will need:
A small glass flower pot
A small candle in a glass candle holder
Bag of candy corn
Start by filling up the small glass flower pot about 1/3 of the way full with the candy corn. Place the small candle on top of the candy corn, then spread candy corn around the candle. Light the candle.
Get illuminated!
Glow sticks and glow jewelry are great accessories for nearly every costume, but the added light can also help keep children safe while trick-or-treating. Add a glow stick or bracelet to keep your child visible to traffic. Glow items are available at grocery, craft and dollar stores.
Pumpkin Cookies with
Cream Cheese Frosting
You will need:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup softened butter
½ cup cinnamon applesauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
Frosting:
8 ounces of softened cream cheese
¼ cup softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a separate bowl beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture until well combined. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto greased baking sheet. Bake for 11-14 minutes. Cool completely. To make frosting, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar until smooth. Frost cookies. Store in the refrigerator.
Witch Fingers
You will need:
1 tube of refrigerated breadsticks
1 egg
Green food coloring
Almonds
Separate the breadsticks, making three knife marks in the middle (for knuckles). Prior to baking, add a whole almond to tip of each "finger" and press it into the dough. Mix the egg with a few drops of food coloring and brush the egg mixture over the breadsticks. Bake as directed.
Eerie Jack o' Lantern
Punch up the typical pumpkin carving with a bit of spookiness. In addition to using a candle inside your jack o' lantern, place a small jar of water into which you'll add small chunks of dry ice periodically. The flame will highlight the mist that arises from the pumpkin as the dry ice evaporates. (Dry ice is available at most grocery stores.)
