A Frightfully Easy Halloween Party

Quick and Easy Halloween Dinner

From her book, Great Kids are Homemade, author Shelley Wille shares some easy ideas for a memorable dinner.

Dinner in a pumpkin: Begin preparations for your special family Halloween dinner by cleaning out the inside of a fairly large-sized pumpkin and then use a black magic marker to draw a silly, smiling face on it.

Use this as a “serving dish,” placing the previously prepared main course of your Halloween dinner inside.

Note: Do not cook your dinner inside the pumpkin because it will take on the pumpkin’s taste.

Pumpkin pizza: A quick and easy to make “pumpkin dinner” can be had by simply purchasing a round cheese pizza at your local grocery store. Make a face on the pizza using black olives which have been cut in half. Make the stem at the top using a green pepper.

Goblin salad: Use cookie cutters shaped like pumpkins, witches, and ghosts to cut slices of cheese into Halloween figures. Place these figures on top of individual serving plates of green salad … or on top of a bowl of chili.

Tombstone ice cream: Purchase a half-gallon of your family’s favorite flavored ice cream. Completely un-wrap the ice cream from its carton. Slice the ice cream into rectangular blocks, each block large enough to serve one person. Place the blocks of ice cream on a serving tray, one block for each member of the family. Crush a bag of Oreo cookies using a rolling pin. This will become your “dirt.” Place this “dirt” over each block of ice cream, pressing gently into the ice cream by using your hands. Now you have made a “grave” for each family member. Using white poster board, cut out a small tombstone. On the tombstone, use black magic marker to write “R.I.P.” and under this write one of your family member’s names. Cut out and mark a tombstone for each family member. By gently pressing, attach one of these tombstones onto the end of each of the graves. Place the serving tray in the freezer until it’s time for dessert, and then present each family member with his or her own personalized “grave”.

Halloween Stories

Halloween story-telling is a great activity for younger children. Anne Holman, General Manager of The King’s English Bookshop shares a few of her favorite Halloween reads.

Vunce Upon a Time, J. Otto Siebold

From the author that brought us Olive, the Other Reindeer comes Dagmar, a little vegetarian vampire who loves candy. Imagine how happy he is when someone tells him about Halloween.

The Little Bit Scary People, Emily Jenkins

A young girl imagines what people who might be a little bit scary are really like when no one is watching. Cute read-aloud book.

Bear Feels Scared, Karma Wilson

Bear is back and walking through the woods at night. There are lots of spooky sights and sounds and a happy surprise at the end.

City Witch, Country Switch, Wendy Wax

Two witch cousins find that they don’t like each others’ environment, so they come up with a magic solution! A fun retelling of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.