Halloween may be a time to dress up in frightening costumes and go door-to-door looking for treats, but planning a party for the occassion doesn't have to be so tricky.
And one mom from Colorado knows this all too well.
In an article for the Boston Globe, Rebecca Swanson discusses her not-so-good experience taking her son to one of the biggest Halloween festivals in town, an experience she argues would have been just as good as hosting a quiet party at home.
"We drove 30 minutes to get there, then painfully shoved my stroller-bound toddler across the rutted dirt parking lot for another 10 minutes," she wrote. "We stood in line to get in. Add 20 minutes. We paid admission fees, and I tried not to calculate how many future college courses we had just sacrificed for a day of 'chunkin punkins' and 'amazing-mazes.'"
The next year, however, she and her son celebrated the holiday at her sister's home. Instead of paying high admission fees to a popular holiday festival, she only paid $6 for a pumpkin and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the holiday peacefully with family.
But not all Halloween stories end up so happy. Sometimes it rains on Halloween, your pumpkin decorations get smashed, or one of your kids feels left out of the celebrations, according to NY Metro Parents.
As a result, we've compiled a few Halloween party hacks from Pinterest that can turn any party into quite the treat, despite dealing with a few setbacks.
Frankenstein bowling
Forget going to the bowling alley, with this easy craft all you need are a few cans and a tennis ball. According to Party Delights, re-create this experience by painting faces on cans you find around the house, stacking them on top of each other, and knocking them down with a ball.
Halloween bingo
Bingo doesn't have to be boring. According to the Crazy Little Projects blog, use candy corn, or any treat you can find, to play the popular game with a spooky twist. All you need to do is print out the free game cards from the blog and see who can get five candies in a row the fastest. Just make sure to steer clear of any allergies your players may have beforehand.
Rice Krispie Treat monsters
Thanks to the One Little Project blog, making Rice Krispie Treats has never been easier. In this three-ingredient recipe, heat Rice Krispie Treats and cooking oil in a pan. Then cut the treats into rectangles, warm colorful candy melts and pour them over the top, and place the candy eyes.
Witch brooms
From ihorror.com, these witch broom chocolate treats will have your guests soaring towards a full moon (or at least a full belly). All you need to do is press some pretzel sticks into the bottom side of peanut butter cups.
Additional hack If one of your guests is allergic to peanuts, take some of the big pretzel sticks, dip them in chocolate and sprinkles, and make them into magical wands, AllRecipes.com suggests.
Pumpkin patch dirt cups
For those kids who don't just want to play in the dirt, here's a treat they can actually eat. To make these pumpkin patch dirt cups, smash Oreo cookies, without the icing, until they resemble dirt. Then, add candy pumpkins on top, according to icanteachmychild.com.
Hack: Replace the pumpkins with gummy worms to take the treats to the next level.
Bonus hack: Add chocolate pudding in the bottom to make "mud."
Banana ghosts and clementine pumpkins
Don't go bananas this Halloween season. Eat them instead. Make the fruit into ghosts by cutting them in half and using chocolate chips for the mouth and eyes, according to One Little Project. You can also add celery to the tops of clementines to make them into pumpkins.
Apple mummies
These apple mummies are nothing to be scared of, according to Two Healthy Kitchens, a blog featuring tasty, easy-to-make recipes. In order to re-create the healthy treat, run a vegetable peeler over apple halves a few times, add some mini chocolate chips for the eyes, and enjoy.
And one mom from Colorado knows this all too well.
In an article for the Boston Globe, Rebecca Swanson discusses her not-so-good experience taking her son to one of the biggest Halloween festivals in town, an experience she argues would have been just as good as hosting a quiet party at home.
"We drove 30 minutes to get there, then painfully shoved my stroller-bound toddler across the rutted dirt parking lot for another 10 minutes," she wrote. "We stood in line to get in. Add 20 minutes. We paid admission fees, and I tried not to calculate how many future college courses we had just sacrificed for a day of 'chunkin punkins' and 'amazing-mazes.'"
The next year, however, she and her son celebrated the holiday at her sister's home. Instead of paying high admission fees to a popular holiday festival, she only paid $6 for a pumpkin and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the holiday peacefully with family.
But not all Halloween stories end up so happy. Sometimes it rains on Halloween, your pumpkin decorations get smashed, or one of your kids feels left out of the celebrations, according to NY Metro Parents.
As a result, we've compiled a few Halloween party hacks from Pinterest that can turn any party into quite the treat, despite dealing with a few setbacks.
Frankenstein bowling
Forget going to the bowling alley, with this easy craft all you need are a few cans and a tennis ball. According to Party Delights, re-create this experience by painting faces on cans you find around the house, stacking them on top of each other, and knocking them down with a ball.
Halloween bingo
Bingo doesn't have to be boring. According to the Crazy Little Projects blog, use candy corn, or any treat you can find, to play the popular game with a spooky twist. All you need to do is print out the free game cards from the blog and see who can get five candies in a row the fastest. Just make sure to steer clear of any allergies your players may have beforehand.
Rice Krispie Treat monsters
Thanks to the One Little Project blog, making Rice Krispie Treats has never been easier. In this three-ingredient recipe, heat Rice Krispie Treats and cooking oil in a pan. Then cut the treats into rectangles, warm colorful candy melts and pour them over the top, and place the candy eyes.
Witch brooms
From ihorror.com, these witch broom chocolate treats will have your guests soaring towards a full moon (or at least a full belly). All you need to do is press some pretzel sticks into the bottom side of peanut butter cups.
Additional hack If one of your guests is allergic to peanuts, take some of the big pretzel sticks, dip them in chocolate and sprinkles, and make them into magical wands, AllRecipes.com suggests.
Pumpkin patch dirt cups
For those kids who don't just want to play in the dirt, here's a treat they can actually eat. To make these pumpkin patch dirt cups, smash Oreo cookies, without the icing, until they resemble dirt. Then, add candy pumpkins on top, according to icanteachmychild.com.
Hack: Replace the pumpkins with gummy worms to take the treats to the next level.
Bonus hack: Add chocolate pudding in the bottom to make "mud."
Banana ghosts and clementine pumpkins
Don't go bananas this Halloween season. Eat them instead. Make the fruit into ghosts by cutting them in half and using chocolate chips for the mouth and eyes, according to One Little Project. You can also add celery to the tops of clementines to make them into pumpkins.
Apple mummies
These apple mummies are nothing to be scared of, according to Two Healthy Kitchens, a blog featuring tasty, easy-to-make recipes. In order to re-create the healthy treat, run a vegetable peeler over apple halves a few times, add some mini chocolate chips for the eyes, and enjoy.