Halloween Fun

I have been blogging about Christmas, however, Halloween is first and now very near.   In the U.K. we have never made as much of Halloween as our American friends indeed when I have visited America in the month of September they already have their homes and stores fully decorated with Halloween images on the inside and the outside and very festive they look.   Whilst in Rapid City I remarked to a lady that in the UK we would not be decorating as early or as much as they did and she informed me it was not just for Halloween but for welcoming in "the fall" (Autumn to us).  By the way did you know that we used to call Autumn "the fall" we changed it to Autumn but the Americans kept it as it was brought to them by our Pilgrim Fathers.
We have not really embraced this and the most we seem to do in the UK is to dress up our children to visit our neighbours to collect treats.   We do not have Halloween parties or welcome in "the fall" - why not?  Wouldn't it make a nice lead up to Christmas to decorate our homes with Autumn images of pumpkins, witches and such?
So if you worry about your children touring the neighbourhood on a dark, wet and windy night why not tempt them home by having a Halloween party?
Invitations can be found on my website getwellversed/halloween-poems
but here is an example:-
Halloween is party time a chance to have some spooky fun
So dress up in your costumes at the setting of the sun
Join me in a night of trick or treat
Ending with some weird but good things to eat

by Margmax 2011
 
A party does not have to be elaborate -  prize for the best fancy dress, dish of water with apples for dunking apple game and the food could be inexpensive and simple here are some great ideas from Sainsburys:-

Carrot batons 

Witches' fingers: Wash and peel four long carrots for the fingers and one baby carrot for the thumb. Use a drop of honey to attach a flaked almond fingernail to the top of each carrot. Place carrots in a tub of houmous and serve. Hungry little monsters will love them!

Frankfurters 

Mummies: Cut a sheet of ready-made puff pastry into thin strips, about 1 cm wide. Wrap a strip around a frankfurter sausage, leaving a little of the sausage showing. Brush with milk and bake for 20 mins at 200ºC, 180ºC fan, gas 6, until golden brown and cooked like a crispy mummy sausage.

Digestive biscuits 

Trick-or-treat surprise: Spread Marmite over one side of a plain digestive biscuit and sandwich it together with another digestive. With your next digestive biscuit, spread chocolate spread over it instead of Marmite. Your guests can take their pick for a real trick or treat!

Did you know...

• 1
  Boiled beetroot is a classic spooky ingredient. It turns lighter coloured food pink, so mix it with potatoes, pasta or rice for a colourful treat!
• 2
  You can offer trick or treaters fruity treats including raisin 'ants', 'squashed bug' dried apricots, or 'cockroach' Brazil nuts and almonds.
• 3
  Natural food colouring is a great way to add a spooky touch. Add a little green food colouring to mashed potatoes, a dab of red to spaghetti or pink colouring to lemonade for a fun feast.

Potatoes

Monster mash: Use Purple Majesty potatoes to create a spooky-looking mash or cut the potatoes into wedges and roast them to make delicious purple chips. Or why not try making our recipe for creepy eyeball potatoes by cooking up a bag of baby new potatoes?

> Creepy eyeball potatoes

So .... Who's having a Halloween Party this year?