Halloween Party Food and Decorations for Kids

Spooky Children's Halloween Party Crafts

The children's party table with ghostly juice boxes, bubbling witches' brew, favor bags, and costume contest prize and voting cards

It has been a while since I've been able to write a post- Having three children under 5 tends to take up a vast amount of my time. However, this past Halloween I was able to squeeze in a few moments to work on some crafts for a Halloween party I was throwing for some friends and their children. I worked on these crafts one at a time over the course of a week, so that when the big night arrived, I was not stressed at all. These crafts were all easy, cheap, and the kids and adults all loved them. 

Foyer Halloween Decorations:

Let's start with some decorations. For the entrance table, I was able to reuse some cheap decorations I purchased at the Dollar Store to create an eerie entrance table that wasn't too scary for the kids. The candles are LED so they don't pose a fire hazard and as a bonus they have a built in timer that turns them on and off at the same time every day.  

The second picture is my absolute favorite DIY decoration that reminds me of the floating candle hall in the Harry Potter movie. It took me less than an hour to complete and the total cost was under $20. The end result was incredible, and these pictures just don't do it justice. 

Floating Candle Decoration:

Materials:

• Sheer black curtain (Big Lots, $5)
• 24 flameless votive candles (2- 12 packs at Big Lots were $6 each)
• Fishing Wire
• 6 thumbtacks

Standing on a chair, I attached the curtain to the ceiling with the thumbtacks, placing one tack on each corner and the remaining two on either side of the long end.  I then cut a long piece of fishing wire and attached it from one end of the tack to another, creating the shape of a rectangle with an X- shape on the inside. Next, I looped a piece of fishing wire around the bottom of the votives, tyeing a knot at the top of the flame to secure it to the string. Using the two free ends of the fishing wire, I tied each votive to the fishing wire frame on the ceiling, making each one a different height for interest. That was it! When night came, I simply reached up and turned each one one and the effect was stunning. The light of the candles were enough to give the room a soft glow, and the black curtain on the ceiling made it appear as if the candles were floating in the sky. I am definitely doing this next year.

The kid's party food and decorations were a lot of fun, were cheap, and so so easy. 

Smoking Cauldron Punch:

Materials:

• Black punch bowl (Walmart, $1)
• Punch Recipe (I used a combination of fruit punch, orange, pineapple, and apple juice but you can use any red-colored punch)
• Ice cubes
• Dry ice (found in the front of most grocery stores. You will need at least a pound. Bring a thick cooler to store on the ride home)

The smoking cauldron was super easy and added a dramatic effect to the children's party table. After adding the punch and ice to the bowl, I then occasionally tossed in a few small chunks of dry ice. The dry ice was so neat because not only did it give the cauldron a smoking effect but it also created bubbles and large balls of ice as the dry ice froze its own bubbles. A word of advice on the dry ice, though: please use gloves or an oven mitt when handling and instruct kids not to pick it up as it is very cold and will burn. 

Ghostly Halloween Party Juice Boxes:

Materials:

• Barrel juice boxes ($4 for a box of 16)
• White duck tape (found in the paint section at Walmart, $4)
• Black sharpie ($2)
• Black pipe cleaners ($1)
• An assortment of googly eyes ($1, in most craft sections)
• Glue gun and glue sticks

 The kids loved these juice boxes. To make, simply wrap the white tape around the juice box, glue on eyes, draw an oval-shaped mouth, and wrap a pipe clear around the top, bending it on each side to form wavy arms. For added fun, I wrapped one end of the pipe cleaner around the straw that came with the juice boxes. They were almost too cute as some of the kids ended up taking their home instead of drinking them.

Graveyard Pudding Cups:
Materials:

• Instant chocolate pudding
• Milk
• Box of Oreo cookies
• Ghost Peeps and/or tombstone cupcake decorations (found seasonally at Walmart or craft stores in the halloween section)
• Tiny bone cupcake sprinkles (in seasonal halloween or baking section)
• Clear plastic drinking cups
• Tiny black spoons (also found in halloween section or at most party stores)

All you need to do is prepare the pudding and pour into cups. Crush the oreos by placing in a bag and whacking with a meat tenderizer or rolling over it with a rolling pink. Plop a ghost on top and you're done. The pudding can be prepared in advance and added to the cups before the event. 

Southwest Spider Cheese Ball: (recipe found here)

This is the second time that I have made this cheese ball because it is so easy, cheap, looks so spooky, and tastes great. It can be prepared in advanced, with only some last minute work. The time it took me to prepare the cheese ball and complete the look took me less than 15 minutes total. It was ridiculously easy and the guests loved how creepy it looked on the party table. Follow the link above for the recipe.


Monster Ham and Swiss Sandwiches:
Years ago, a friend gave me a recipe for these awesome party sandwiches that I have since seen almost everywhere online. And for good reason. They are really good and easy to prepare for a party. At this Halloween party they were gone within minutes.




Materials: (makes 12 mini sandwiches)

• 2 pounds of good quality ham, shaved or thin-sliced
• 2 packs of swiss cheese (about a pound)
• 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1 teaspoon onion powder (optional)
• Toothpicks
• Googly eyes
• Glue gun 

Prepare the toothpicks in advance by gluing the googly eyes onto the flat end of a toothpick. Store in a plastic baggie until ready to use. The day before the event, melt butter and mix in dijon, worchestershire sauce, and poppy seeds. Slice the bread rolls in half as if making a sandwich, trying to keep the rolls together as a single unit. Divide the ham amongst the bottom half, then layer the swiss cheese on top. Replace the top of the rolls, and drizzle the butter mixture over top. Refrigerate overnight. When ready, preheat oven to 350 and bake for 15 minutes. Separate the sandwiches and serve warm. Recipe can be doubled, tripled, or tailored to however you need. I doubled the recipe for my party and there were no leftovers. 

Vampire's Blood Drink: (alcoholic)

I had to include this party drink, as it was visually striking and was a huge hit for the adults at the party. I used the recipe as was written in the original post which included (a lot of) alcohol, but the author also mentioned that this could be made kid-friendly simply by omitting the alcohol. Here is the original recipe for Vampire Cocktail. Below are pictures of the end result. The drink came out pretty strong by itself, but when the raspberry "shots' were added it balanced it out well.  For added effect, I used some of the ice I bought for the smoking cauldron punch (above) to make the cups appear as if they were smoking. The syringes can either be bought at a party store or ordered online through medical sites for a more realistic effect. They can be rinsed and reused for another time. I bought a cheap silver platter at the Dollar store, laid a paper towel over top, and let some of the syrup drip onto the paper towel, making it look like a creepy medical tray. To save on time, I combined all of the ingredients into a large glass container and stored in the refrigerator. The syringes were also prepared ahead of time, capped, and place in the fridge. So all you have to do at the party is fill the cups with ice, pour in the drink, and let your guests select a syringe. This is a terrific Halloween party cocktail!

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