CLASSIC HALLOWEEN PARTY

Everyone loves a good old-fashioned Halloween party. Myjellybean.com presents ideas for creating a rocking Halloween bash!

INVITATIONS

You'll Need:
-Black envelopes (one for each guest you'll be inviting)
-Black construction paper
-Silver metallic pen

Fold paper in half and cut to fit the size of the envelopes. Use your white chalk to draw a creepy looking house on the front of each invitation. (Or print haunted house pictures from the Internet and glue on). At the top, write "Halloween Party". On the inside, write the party invitation details. You'll want to include:

TO: (the guest's name)
FROM: (your name)
DATE: (the date of the party)
TIME: (the time your party will start)
COSTUMES: (ask guests to wear their Halloween costumes)

DECORATIONS

The right decorations are essential for creating a spooky Halloween atmosphere at your party. Here are some ideas to get your guests into the right mood.

Pay a lot of attention to your lighting. Turn your lights down very low, or even turn them off, using only small lamps to create a spooky Halloween glow. To make the lamp lighting especially effective, remove the regular light bulbs from them and replace with dark colored (red, green or black) bulbs, available at hardware and Halloween specialty stores.

Play spooky Halloween music inside and outside your house. You can find CDs of spooky sounds and music at your local record store, and there's tons of free and paid Haloween theme music/sounds online that you can download to your iPod.

Welcome your guest with a Jack O' Lantern in your window or at your front door.

Spread fake cobwebs in choice corners of your home (available at most party stores) and randomly place miniature plastic spiders in each web.

Cover your furniture with white sheets to simulate a deserted haunted house. Scatter talcum powder over the sheets to create a dust cloud when your guests sit down!

Hang plastic bats in dark corners of the rooms for guests to bump into.

Funeral flowers will set a great, creepy tone in your living room. Buy some cheap plastic flowers from any discount store. Spray paint the flowers black with cheap black spray paint (do this outside so you don't get paint on rugs or furniture). Set the flowers in an old can that you have also spray painted black. Or use a dirty old vase. Place on coffee tables and food tables.

Place plastic spiders, rats and bugs, on your floor in corners or areas that won't be walked on. They look totally sick in low lighting! Toss a bunch on the food table too, for good measure.

Make an operating table. All you need is two plastic tablecloths, a plastic skelelton, some ketchup and a pot of boiled spaghetti mixed with a few splashes of vegetable oil. Place one tablecloth on a table, lay the skeleton down on it, and cover it up to the waist with the second tablecloth. Stick the spaghetti under the skeleton's ribs for its guts - make sure it oozes out convincingly! Pour some ketchup on top for blood.

FOOD

Use a black tablecloth for your food table.

Make signs to put beside each plate of food, so guests know what it is. (The names are half the fun!)

Try these recipes for dishes that taste good, but look disgusting!

Kitty Litter Pie

-1 brand-new (never used!) cat litter pan
-1 plastic scoop
-1 large box of Grape Nuts cereal
-1 large sack of mini Tootsie Rolls
-1 box of powdered sugar
In a bowl, mix the Grape Nuts cereal with the powdered sugar. Pour into the litter box. Unwrap all the Tootsie Rolls and throw those into the pan. Set the scoop in the box so guests can help themselves.

Witches Fingers with Snot

Simply cook up some long, breaded chicken strips and put out a bowl of salad dressing beside them for dipping.

Worm Casserole

-6 ounces of egg noodles
-8 ounces of spaghetti
-1 Tablesopon of butter
-1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
-Packaged bread crumbs
Cook the egg noodles and spaghetti as the packages direct. Mix in the butter and cheese. Bake at 300 degrees until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle bedcrumbs on top (for dirt). Bake again until the bread crumbs looks toasted. Serve.

Also check out the recipes on our Disgusting Dinner Party page, and our More Halloween Recipes page.

ACTIVITIES

Dance Party

Just put on some rockin' tunes and dance. With the lights low and everyone in costume, you've got the stage set for an awesome classic Halloween dance party!

Costume Contest

Get everyone to vote on paper for whose costume is the best. Nobody is allowed to vote for themselves!

Mystery Boxes

Get your hands on a bunch of boxes with lids, such as shoeboxes. Put different "spooky" stuff in each one and make people put their hand inside to feel the "specimens" that you have collected. Things you can put inside:

Brains (soft tofu - round off the edges)

Eyeballs (peeled grapes or oiled olives)

Fingers (mini hot dogs or Vienna sausages)

Hair (cut from an old doll, or use the silk from corn on the cob)

Intestines (wet cold spaghetti)

A liver (half a canned peach)

Bones (well-cleaned chicken bones)