Halloween is my favorite holiday.  It’s not that I don’t love Christmas—in fact, I love Christmas just as much as anyone else—I just happen to love Halloween more (heh heh heh).  Halloween is such a wonderful excuse to have FUN.  Painted faces, silly costumes, scary movies, grinning pumpkins, childish games and creepy food…you might say it’s the most wonderful time of the year, really.

Last year was my first Halloween out on my own, away from home and out of college, and I just couldn’t wait to host my first “grown-up” Halloween party.  I spent the whole month of October planning it (and it took all of my will power not to start in September).  The problem with hosting your first grown-up Halloween party, however, is you’re busy and you’re broke.  Throughout the month, I was able to tuck-away a whopping $250 to spend on the whole ordeal: food, drinks, décor and– oh yeah –my costume.  It was a shoestring budget and I had to make all the food the morning of, but I managed to pull it off.

How did I do it?

Well, dozens of tiny tea-light candles, a little free printing at work and throwing together a costume with clothes and make-up I already owned certainly helped—but some quick, creative recipes were what really made the party a hit.  So if you love Halloween as much as I do (or even if you don’t), this month I’ll be sharing ALL of the secrets behind my little Halloween tricks, snacks and treats.  Try them if you dare…

This month’s tips for an easy and affordable Halloween bash:

• Excellent advice on homemade costumes can be found here.
• For a truly superb list of Halloween-themed cocktails (including how to make them glow) check out this blog: Drink of the Week

• Tea-light candles are the key to creating a great, spooky ambience. Plus, they’re abundant and cheap in any country. Buy a pack and place them on tea/coffe cup saucers.  You can also cut an egg carton (plastic or cardboard) in half and place the tea-lights in them for a surprisingly stunning candelabra.
• Spiderwebs are also a cheap and fantastic must-have.

• A&E’s list of the 50 Scariest Movies of All Time
• Silly games that are quite a hoot:
  • Vampires (Mafia w/ the names changed)
  • Pin the Wart on the Witch
  • Halloween Taboo
  • Hallowopoly
  • Scary Movie Trivia
  • “The Withered Corpse” (body part guessing game)
• Email me if you want instructions or templates for any of these games

~Happy Halloween!~

^0,0^

 photo: neepster