Tricks for your treats

Thinking about throwing a party this Halloween, blazers? Here are some cool tips for some spooky Halloween fun!

Halloween Punch

What you'll need: Orange Hi-C
Ginger ale

Directions: Mix the Hi-C and ginger ale to taste; add ice cubes just before serving.

Vampire Punch

What you'll need: Apple juice
Cranberry juice
Ginger ale

Directions: Mix the apple juice, cranberry juice, and ginger ale to taste; add ice cubes just before serving.

Witch's Brew

What you'll need: 12 oz. can of frozen orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup of lemon juice
4 cups chilled apple juice

Directions: Make orange juice according to the directions on the can. Mix in the lemon and apple juice. Add ice just before serving.

Monster Slime Punch

What you'll need: 1/2 gallon green sherbet
2 quarts ginger ale

Directions: Scoop sherbet into punch bowl. Slowly pour ginger ale over the sherbet. Makes 16 cups of punch

Swamp Punch

What you'll need: 2 bottles (1.75 liters each) of white grape kiwi juice, chilled divided
4 drops green food coloring
2 very thin latex surgical gloves, rinsed
2 8"-long wooden chopsticks
1 bottle (1 liter) seltzer, chilled
Juice of 2 limes
Cantaloupe or grapefruit
1/2 qt. lime sherbet
1/2 qt. orange sherbet

Directions: Combine 5 cups juice with food coloring. Pour half into 1 glove. Insert 1 chopstick into middle of palm through base of glove; tie end with string. Place on baking sheet, fingers supported by inverted spoon, making sure fingers do not touch. Repeat with remaining juice mixture, glove and chopstick. Freeze until solid, 8 ours. Cut cantaloupe or grapefruit to fit punch bowl; set aside. In punch bowl combine seltzer and lime juice with remaining juice. Scoop sherbet into punch. Cut off tied portion of gloves
around chopstick. Snip glove between fingers; gently peel back from frozen juice. Insert chopsticks into cantaloupe or grapefruit; place in punch bowl. Makes 13 (1 cup) servings. Recipe from Woman's World.

Alien Goo Punch
"Creates a slime green colored drink that kids love"

What you'll need: 1 6oz. package of pre-sweetened Berry Blue
Kool-Aid
1 12oz. can of orange juice concentrate
water

Directions: Mix juice and Kool-Aid, add 1 gallon water, stir and watch it turn green!

Source: Newhouse News Service, Nancyann L. Mayer

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Spider Dip Bowl

What you'll need: 15 min, Cook: 25 min, plus rising time.
2 loaves frozen Sweet Dough, thawed
2 raisins
1 egg, beaten

Directions: Form one loaf into a round ball for body. Place on a large cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. With other loaf, cut off end and form a small round ball (about one eighth of loaf) and place above body. Horizontally, slice remaining dough into 8 strips and roll into ropes for legs. Place under head and upper body. Place raisins on head for eyes. Brush with beaten egg and cover with plastic wrap coated with nonstick spray. Let rise 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from spider and bake 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool on rack. Slice off top of body and hollow out. Line with lettuce and spoon in salsa or nacho dip. This recipe serves 10 people. Because this recipe is for a particular size pan, it adjusts the number of servings only in multiples of 10.

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Dead Fingers

What you'll need: 15 min, Cook: 15 min.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole blanched almonds, split in half

Directions: Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until dough becomes too stiff to beat. Knead by hand until all the flour is incorporated. Roll pieces of dough into shapes about the size of fingers and transfer to baking sheets that have been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Using a pin or sharp knife, carve knuckles into dough. Cut out a place for fingernails (almond half). Insert almond into each dough finger.Bake 15-17 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly before cutting. This recipe serves 8 people. Because this recipe is for a particular size pan, it adjusts the number of servings only in multiples of 8.

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Mummy's Eyes

What you'll need: 5 min, Cook: 5 min.
6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. mayonnaise
3/4 tsp. paprika
6 pimento-stuffed green olives

Directions: Cut through hard cooked egg about 1/3 of the way from the tip, just enough to scoop out yolk. Place cooked yolk in a bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in mayonnaise, paprika and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly and fill egg white eye socket with mixture. Smooth yolk mixture. Press olive into yolk mixture so pimento is facing out. Cut just enough of the other end of egg to create a flat surface to stand egg on. Serve upright.

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Halloween Olive Fingers

What you'll need: bowl
two cans jumbo black olives
latex gloves

Directions: Fill the latex gloves with water and tie a knot into the end of each. Freeze until solid. Remove the gloves from the freezer and add an olive to the tip of each finger. Place the gloves in the bowl, fingers up. Pour the remaining olives in the bowl to keep the gloves in place.

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Eyeball Tacos

What you'll need: 1 pound ground beef
1 package (10 3/4 ounces) TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS
Taco Dinner Kit
shredded lettuce
chopped tomatoes
sour cream

Directions: Mix meat and seasoning mix. Shape into 36 (1-inch) balls; place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through. Fill each of 12 taco shells with 1 meatball, taco sauce, lettuce and tomato. Top with 2 additional meatballs dipped in sour cream. Garnish with sliced pitted ripe olives to create "eyes."

Make-ahead tip: The meatballs can be made ahead and frozen in zipper-style plastic freezer bag. To reheat, open bag slightly; microwave on HIGH 2 minutes.
Makes 12 servings. Recipe from Kraft

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Pumpkin Bars

What you'll need: 3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin or make your own
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup nuts

Directions: In a bowl beat eggs and sugar. Add oil and mix until combined. Then add the dry sifted ingredients together with the pumpkin and nuts. Pour in 1/4 sheet (13" x 9") greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan and frost, if desired. Cut into 2" x 4" squares. Enjoy...

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Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake

What you'll need: 1 1/2 cups gingersnap crumbs
1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup margarine, melted
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions: Combine crumbs, pecans and margarine, press onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a 9-inch cheesecake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F° for 10 minutes. Combine cream cheese, 1/2 c sugar, vanilla and mix at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended and smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reserve 1 cup batter and refrigerate. Add remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices to remaining batter; mix well. Alternately layer pumpkin and cream cheese batters over crust. Cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 minutes or until done. Cool before removing from pan. Decorate Halloween style using Halloween Picks and keep refrigerated until serving.

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1. Make a guest book out of brown paper bag pages. Your Halloween guests can sign their names in vampire's blood-red ink as they arrive.

2. Cover your Halloween table with burlap fabric. Cut corrugated cardboard into scary jagged shapes to use as place mats.

3. Glue felt pieces onto your pumpkins to make eyes, noses, and mouths instead of carving.

4. Decorate your carved pumpkins with mini marshmallows or gumdrops secured with toothpicks for teeth. Add glasses, wigs, hats, or bandanas. Bananas and radishes make funny noses. Raisins or cranberries are freaky freckles. Carrot and celery tops make silly
hair. And gummy worms or plastic insects hanging out of the pumpkin's nose or mouth is sure to gross everyone out! (Important tip: Don't light votive candles in these pumpkins. It's a fire hazard.)

5. Light outdoor walkways and windowsills with luminaries. Take orange or black paper bags and cut out Halloween designs with a hole puncher or stencil. Line the bottoms with two inches of sand, push votive candles into the sand, and light.

6. For an eerie effect, hang glow-in-the-dark bats from the ceiling and turn out the lights.

7. Write scary warning messages on your front walk using colored chalk.

8. Create creepy centerpieces by filling vases with dead flowers, brown leaves, and empty branches. Tie a black ribbon bow around each centerpiece.

9. Hollow out small pumpkins and carve designs into them like flowers, leaves, spirals, or geometric patterns. Illuminate with votive candles for a more sophisticated look.

10. Make apple candleholders. Choose well proportioned, round apples that will sit stable on a flat surface and remove the stems. Cut a small section out of the top of each apple - deep and wide enough to securely hold a taper candle. Place the apple candleholders down the center of your Halloween table.

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The information in this article was gathered by Emma Norvell, Caitlin Garlow, and Shannon Egan.