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Home › Articles › Holiday: Halloween › Eeek! It's a Haunted Open House

Eeek! It's a Haunted Open House

Throw a Halloween Open House

By Kendeyl Johansen

Pages:  1  2  

or Scary Music for Halloween. Place a portable boom box outside if the weather permits to set an ominous mood.

  • Order dry ice. Call your local store ahead of time to make they stock it. Place the dry ice in a black pot and set it next to your front door.
  • Enlist a willing husband or preteenager to don a sheet and jump out at guests as they round corners.
  • Fill a rubber surgical glove with water and add blue food coloring. Shake. Tie the end of the glove and freeze for 24 hours. Remove the glove. Surprise partygoers by adding this monstrous "ice sculpture" to the punch.
  • Scout your local discount store for inexpensive Halloween motion detectors. You may find a skeleton head that shouts "Hey! Who goes there?" as guests walk by, or spiders that creep towards partygoers.

    • Tricks and Treats
    It's easy to make our Monster Museum full of ghoulish remains. See if your guests can brave slimy witch intestines, monster eyeballs, werewolf fingernails and foaming acid. After visiting the museum, partygoers will make our Ghostie-Pops, a creative treat they can take home to eat later. Finally, they'll decorate Halloween cupcakes.

    Of course, partygoers can't exist on cupcakes alone, but there's no need to serve an entire meal at an open house. Since your family will be busy decorating for the party and setting up activities, keep things simple by making our easy Jack-O-Lantern Pizza Appetizer. For a quick snack, toss popcorn with parmesan cheese and place bowls of this around the haunted house. Finally whip-up our fizzy Strange Brew and don't forget to add the "handy" ice-sculpture.

    To make our Spooky Secret Invitations you'll need:
    Sheets of white paper
    Safety scissors
    A black marker
    Lemon juice
    Toothpicks

    Fold a piece of white paper in half horizontally. (One sheet of paper will make two invitations.) Open the paper. Cut along the fold line to make two half sheets of paper.

    Using the black marker, draw a large ghost shape onto a half-sheet of paper, making sure that the ghost fills most of the paper. Cut out the ghost.

    Using the lemon juice and a toothpick, print the party information onto the ghost. Don't forget to list the party's time, location and RSVP information.

    Repeat this process for each invitation. Let the ghosts dry completely. When delivering the invitations, tell guests to heat the paper using an iron (adult supervision required) to reveal the party information.

    To decorate cupcakes you'll need:
    Cupcakes
    Orange, white and purple frosting
    Licorice, candy corn, candy-coated chocolates
    Colored sugar crystals and/or sprinkles

    Your guests can decorate pumpkins (orange frosting), ghosts (white frosting) or monsters (purple frosting). Use candies and sugar sprinkles for features and details.

    Pages:  1  2  

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