How to host the best Halloween party!

When you think of Halloween you think trick or treating, Halloween parties, pumpkins and pumpkin carving, apple bobbing and sweets, lots and lots of sweets! 

Here at Barracudas we love an excuse for a party, especially a fancy dress party.
We have clubbed together and noted down a few of our ideas to help you throw the perfect Halloween party.
Food
Why not get the kids to help make the food? Here are a few simple but effective food ideas.
*Banana Ghosts – Simply cut a banana in half and stick 2 front facing chocolate chips on for the eyes and 1 backwards facing chocolate chip for the mouth.                                 *Satsuma Pumpkins – fully peel a satsuma keeping it whole, cut a tiny piece of celery and stick it in the top of the satsuma.
*Pretzel Spider Webs – Using 4 long pretzels break them in half and lay them out in a circle so the end of each pretzel meets in the middle. Using melted white chocolate, stick the ends together. You can use the chocolate to create your spider and its web. Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag and starting in the centre of the pretzels, spiral out towards the edges to create a web effect.                                                     

*Watermelon Brain – Using a vegetable peeler, remove all the green skin from the whole melon. Now you just need to carve out the lines. The best way to do this is with a sharp knife (adults only). Carve a line straight down the centre until the red appears. Once you have the line you can carve whatever shapes you wish to create your brain!
Fancy Dress
If you don’t have a lot of time to be making outfits, why not try one of these easy to make options.
*A simple white sheet with 2 holes cut in to it for the eyes and you have yourself a ghost.
*Wear all black – trousers/ leggings and jumper. 4 pairs of old black tights stuffed with old newspaper and sewn together and onto your back – you have a spider.
*If you don’t have 4 spare pairs of tights then 1 pair will do, you can use one leg to make a tail. Next, grab a black headband and using the other leg, make 2 small ears by stuffing 2 triangles inside and sewing them onto the headband. Then using face paint, give yourself a little black nose and some whiskers and you’re a cat!

Decorations
You will need:

Black card/paper, jam jar (or similar), white bandage, pumpkins, tea lights, googly eyes, toilet paper rolls, black marker pen,  string, scissors, glue, sharp knife…

*Bat silhouettes – cut bat shapes out of black paper or card and stick them to your lamp shades. When the lights are switched on it makes a great effect. If you make extras or have any left, you can hang them upside down from the trees outside the house.                                               *Mummy Jars - Wrap some white bandage or toilet roll around an old jar creating the mummy look and add some googly eyes! For a better effect, you could put a tea light inside the jar (if safe to do so) and light up the mummy.
*Pumpkins – Calve out 3 or 4 pumpkins and put tea lights inside. Place them on your door step and create a Halloween pumpkin patch. Simple but they look great!                               

*Toilet Roll Bats – create your bat by colouring a toilet paper roll black and attach a face made with the card and googly eyes. Using another piece of card, cut out a wing shape and attach it to your bat’s body. You can also attach some string and hang it by the door. 

To top off your party here are our top 10 Halloween party tunes

1.       Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers

2.       Thriller - Michael Jackson

3.       Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr.

4.       Dem bones – skeleton song

5.       I want candy – Aaron Carter featuring Hillary Duff

6.       Addams Family Theme

7.       Bat of Hell – Meat loaf

8.       Backstreet Boys – Everybody

9.       The Automatic – Monster

10.   Superstition - Stevie Wonder

Have a great party!!