A Tale of Halloweens Past

Several moons ago...three roommates decided to host a murder mystery Halloween soiree. It was such a success word spread far & wide. With requests coming in droves from a few friends to make this an annual event...so began the Halloween party tradition @ the 364 (this is what we named the house we rented...and "we" being myself & my two roommates).

This story does not have a happy ending because the tradition has been stalled this year. :-( I got married, moved out & now have a husband to answer to. (that sounded harsher than I meant) After our wedding reception, my studly husband said we needed to hold off on parties for a little bit. AHHH...Withdrawal! :p

pss...I have a fun party in the works that you guys will actually be invited to...so stay tuned. :-) 

I decided to show you a few pics from last years Halloween party...in case it'll help you plan a Halloween party this year (so jealous). ;p 

DISCLAIMER: This blog was not even a thought when we planned this party...so I apologize for the pics & failure to capture specific details. 

Halloween Party 2010 

Food Budget: $50 

Decor Budget: $50 

People Count: 50-60

Outside Decor: Lots of spider webs! They're super cheap & really make a difference aesthetically. The fact that it was an older house helped too. :-) 

Inside Decor: We used A LOT of candles, more spider webs, borrowed a fog machine, hung an old sheet in the bathroom that had blood on it (fake, obviously...I'll tell you how to do that...in just a bit) & hung pictures of eery things. If you find pictures on the web, print them off on your computer then put them in frames you already have. A great resource for this is iStockPhoto. You could also probably find a lot of free pictures too. Some key words to search: Crows, Full moon, Old black & white pictures

What's in the caldron, you ask?? Glad you asked...

Since we were working with a VERY small food budget, I came up with a snack that is budget friendly & eaaassy to make. Popcorn is a great base b/c it's so cheap. Is it me or has candy corn gotten more expensive over the years??? Maybe it's because I used to always wait until the week after Halloween to get it. ;p Still, it's not too bad. The yogurt pretzels I got from Fresh Market & the cool thing about that is they sold them by the pound, so I could get as much/as little as I needed. You could also make your own with white/milk chocolate. 

This is part of the spread...I didn't even get the rest of it photographed. :-( I'll tell you about what you can see in the pic, though.

1. In the white pedestal - Breadstick fingers. I used canned breadstick dough & formed the fingers, then topped them with almond slivers. I had marinara sauce (blood) to dip them in.
2. The cheese tray is pretty explanatory. Since our budget was so small...I cut out the labels from the cheeses & taped them to tooth picks in order to label them. I just love that plastic rat. ;p 
3. The thing in the top right corner is a fast, easy Halloween party food! It's just a block of cream cheese with strawberry jam on top! Cheap + Easy = Love (hmmm...that's what my husband says about me too. ;p) 

* Those candle sticks used to be gold & $1 each from Goodwill. I spray painted them black & sprinkled them with black glitter. 

Isn't dry ice so fun?? ;p Actually...they wouldn't let me touch it. I'm a little accident prone. We basically sat the dry ice in the caldron & set a glass bowl inside with the "witches brew." I wish I could remember what exactly was in the witches brew...but I can't think of it. My sister & I usually try and think of a mixed concoction that is the cheapest to throw together. 

I know this is a crazy picture...but I wanted you to see this adorable costume idea. Jim & Kristy are friends of ours & she came as a kitty & he dressed up as "cat litter." Easy & funny couple costume. They even won a prize. Here are some of the costume prize categories:

Best LOL Costume

Best Celebrity

Most Creative

*There were others...I'm just forgetting them. Which is why I started this blog...just so I can remember everything. ;p 

For prizes, we wanted something good but within a budget. We ended up buying Groupons & giving those certificates. One was an art class (for the most creative), another was for a comedy/improve show (Best LOL) & there were others just for nice restaurants. I also had some Groupon bucks in my account so it really didn't affect the budget too much. 

I wanted to include the picture above b/c the cute blond is my sister. We didn't get any of just us. :-( But she's been my partner in crime planning the Halloween parties & I couldn't have done it without her (or the rest of my family who usually shows up to help!)

We organized a Haunted Basement that took a lot of work but was well worth it. Even though I love Halloween because you get to dress up & eat candy. ;-) I don't like to scare people...so we made sure there was a good ending to our haunted basement. I wanted to share the script with you but for some reason I can't open it. I'll try again later on. 

One thing we needed for the Haunted Basement was fake blood...so I made my own. Here's the recipe -

One More Cheap Idea - I wrote on the toilet seat (only on the bottom of the seat) "Watch Your Back" in red marker in our bathrooms. There were a lot of laughs from that one. And...a lot of guys watching their backs. ;p Only problem...apparently red magic marker doesn't come off of toilet seats very well. Yikes...maybe try a dry erase marker. 

So...are you planning a Halloween party? Can I come? ;p jk Any great ideas that you're planning on doing? Is it weird that I made fake blood? My sister & I definitely felt weird as we were making it. 

If you want ideas for a theme for a party, birthday party ideas, baby shower ideas...feel free to email me or comment here. Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate you!

Slimey Halloween Favor

I have a weird love of Halloween. I think it's because growing up, my parents didn't celebrate it. We would have family night, watch a movie, order pizza & hand out candy to trick or treaters. Honestly, as a kid, I don't remember minding as much...except when kids would come to school the following day with BAGS of candy. For a sweet-tooth girl like me...THAT was torture. But my dentist was thankful. :-)

Maybe that's why, as an adult, I love when Halloween comes around. I think it's the creative costumes, the breadsticks that become bloody fingers, the cheesecloth spider webs and ofcourse more candy than Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. :-) 

If you're having a Halloween party, especially for kids, this is a great penny-penching party favor that's fun to make! 

Here's what you need - 

Black Spray Paint: already owned

Old Cream Cheese container/

Yogurt container (minus the yogurt & cream cheese): already owned

Any type of decoration you'd like - I picked glow in the dark (I don't care how old I am, I'm a sucker for Glow stuff) stickers: $1.99 

Total:  $1.99

This is what you'll need to make the slime - 

Borax - I picked up at my local Publix for a few bucks

Food Coloring - already had

Glue - Already had 

Total: $3.00

 ( I honestly can't remember how much the Borax was but I only used a tiny bit & you can put it in your laundry too) 

Step 1: Spray paint the container. It only took a couple of coats but I'd advise to do a very light coat first. You can see on the top that it started to puddle a little. 

Step 2: Decorate the container

Pretty easy, huh? The slime making process is pretty easy too. I'm very sorry b/c I didn't take any pictures of that process. Boo on me. 

HOW TO MAKE SLIME 

(I got these instructions from Science Bob) 

In addition to the Borax, glue & food coloring, you'll also need - 2 disposable cups, a spoon to stir, a tablespoon & water. 

1) Fill one cup with water

2) Add a spoonfull of Borax

3) Fill the other cup with an inch of glue 

4) Add 3 tablespoons of water to the glue & stir.

5) Add whatever color food coloring you desire into the glue mixture & stir

6) Add 1 tablespoon of the Borax/water mixture from the other cup to the glue mixture & stir

The slime will start to form. Wait for about 30 seconds. You're slime will be ready to play with. 

This is not only a great party favor, but your kids can help you make it & it becomes a great science lesson. 

I tried to teach Guinness (my stepdog) about polymers...

I can't fault him too much. Science class did this to me too. 

Until...he thought it may make a nice late night snack...

Please don't call Animal Services or my husband...I didn't let him eat this. 

Here's the final favor wrapped in a bow, with a skeleton peeking out from that pretty bow. ;p 

Not bad...a party favor that only cost $5...so depending on how many party attendees you have...it could end up to be between $0.50 - $0.25/favor. Start stockpiling yogurt/cream cheese containers now. This favor is dentist approved, too! :-) 

Did I mention that the skeleton glows in the dark?? Did I mention that I just can't say no to glow in the dark things? Did I mention I may have some left over glow sticks in my house? Just cus you never know when you'll need a glow stick. 

Thank you for reading my blog, even though I can be a little strange. :p 

More Halloween ideas to come over the next few weeks! Stay tuned.