This is a page of fun things to do to make your

This is a page of fun things to do to make your

Halloween extra special!

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Crafts:

Crafts don't have to be hard to do and I'm certainly not an expert! But there fun things you can make that are simple like:

Make some ghosts out of old newspapers and white garbage bags!

Crumple up some old newspapers into the shape of a ball.
Open up a clean white garbage bag and stuff the ball of newspaper into the bottom of the bag.
Gather the bag together so that the bag surrounds the ball and looks like, well, a head!
Fasten the bag with a rubber band at the "neck" and fan out the bottom.
Take a black marker and make a face on it---that's it! (It's not a great likeness, but you'll get the idea from the graphic.)

Make a wizard's hat:

This is real easy! Get a piece of construction paper and roll it into a cone shape.

Fasten it together with a glue stick, tape or staples.

Then, decorate! Use glitter, markers, crayons, stickers---use your imagination!!!

Make a magic wand:
1. Take a pencil (preferably unsharpened), pen, plain chopstick or even a piece of construction paper rolled up real tight in the shape of a stick.
2. Cut out two star shapes out of construction paper or cardboard and fasten them to the tip of the 'stick' with some scotch tape. (Make sure they are also stuck together so that the star does not droop.)
3. Decorate your 'wand' with glitter or paint and start casting your spells!!!

Party Tips:

Some folks like to have a party with their friends instead of going out 'Trick or Treating'. This way, everyone is inside and safe and having fun. If you decide to have a party, here are some things to do to have a really good time!

Fill a glass jar with candy corn, (or another small Halloween candy), that you've counted, and have everyone write down on slip of paper their guess as to how many are in the jar. The person who wins gets to keep the jar with all of the candy in it!
Make cupcakes, but don't frost them! Instead, set up an area where your guests can decorate their own. Have icing, licorice laces, (for spider webs), sprinkles in Halloween shapes, candy corn, etc. Let them get creative. Oh yeah, be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand too!!! :)
Make rice crispy treats and make them in fun Halloween shapes! They make molds now in the shapes of ghosts, pumpkins and more just for Halloween. Or, make them in a regular pan and decorate them with Halloween candy.
Make bobbing for apples even more fun by sticking a coin into each apple before you place them in the water! Try using different coins to make it more of a challenge. All you have to do it push them into the apple until you cannot see them anymore---this way, noone knows what they are going to get! (Just make sure not to eat that part of the apple. Have someone cut the apple around the coin for you.)

You told me:

A visitor to the site was nice enough to write in and tell me that one of his favorite things to do with apples is to hang them from a doorway. Each person gets blindfolded and has to try and get the apples with their mouths--kind of like bobbing for apples standing up! (Thanks for the suggestion!!!) :)

Another visitor told me about placing those "tap-lights" into a pumpkin instead of using a candle. What a great idea!! Now you can cut off the top of the pumpkin and drape a spider web over it and not have to worry about it catching fire! (This would also be great for your outdoor Jack-O-Lanterns also. Long costumes won't be exposed to the flames of a candle.)

Another suggestion (and twist) on the cupcake idea from the Party Tips above. Instead of cupcakes, use cookies! They are just as fun to decorate!!!

I recently had a visitor write to me with these great suggestions that have been passed down from her grandmother. Here is a copy of her email: "My grandmother, on the other side low these many years, used to run about 3 or 4 feet of dental floss thru a toasted coconut covered marshmallow (usually readily available) with the marshmallow in the center, guests pair up and see who can chew the dental floss to the marshmallow first (try thinking lady and the Tramp's spaghetti dinner) you can either have one couple at a time and time them or have lots of strings going at once. Of course this game became much more interesting as I entered my teen years. Grandmother also used to bake graveyard cake. A basic applesauce spice cake but frosted with dark chocolate icing covered with ground chocolate snaps and oval chocolate sugar cookies iced as gravestones. Gravestone spacing gave one 'grave' per serving. Last year I improved on the cake by pouring in half the batter then spacing sweet-tart skeletons (from a candy making store) into the grave pattern. Carefully pour the rest of the batter over the 'bones' and bake. Of course you need to warn your guests that there are surprises in the cake so there aren't any broken teeth. Everyone loved them... Of course this was back in the day when it was safe to hand out and accept home-made treats but grandmother also used to make popcorn balls covered in orange colored white chocolate with licorice and rolled out tootsie rolls cut into triangles. while the white chocolate is still warm you press the face pieces into it. They make great jack-o-lanterns. Also a bit more acceptable these days would be the tootsie-pop ghosts: cover the pop part with squares of white cloth or a kleenex. Tie a piece of yarn or ribbon around the 'neck' and paint the face with a 'sharpie'. They'll stand up in a big bowl of candy corn."

A young visitor asked me for pictures to print out from her computer to color. What a great idea!!! I hope to have some that you can download directly from this site. But in the meantime, here are two links where you can find some great pics to have fun with:

E-Cards Halloween

Family Corner Halloween Coloring Pages

Email Eggboy with your ideas, just click on the

computer and put "treats" in the subject line.

Maybe you'll see your ideas on this page!!!

Thanks to Bravenet.com for the guestbook.