Low Cost Halloween Party, Menu and Recipes

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I pretty much go crazy with decorations and the Halloween party. We have a bonfire, karoke, music, food a witch hunt, and we have had hay rides. And of course, its always a costume party. Everyone must come dressed in costume. Those that dont are boooed but still allowed to stay though. My 2007 party was almost canceled due to an unfortunate back injury that did not allow me to work for quite some time. I could not be on my feet for long periods of time nor do any heavy lifting. So I sat and thought and thought and thought of how I could give a very simple but still great halloween party. Being a little strapped financially didnt help matters either, but I was victorious!!! I gave what I thought to be a very simple, low maintenance, low cost Halloween party and it was one of my best ones ever. Everyone had fun, ate until thier bellies were full and promised to be back next year. I had very little to do after the initial preperation, which was actually quite easy, and I myself got to enjoy the party as well.

Our menu was inexpensive and very simple to prepare and was a huge hit, once everyone got past the names. We gave everything a gross name just for kicks. This is completely optional, some people can stomach it better than others. For example we called the chili "vampire vomit" the meatballs were "zombie Eyeballs", and the cocktail wieners were "pinky toes". I know, its a little sick, but its all in good fun on Halloween.

The Main Table
Chili
Cheese fingers
finger bread sticks
nachos and cheese
toppings tray
bat and pumpkin shaped sandwiches
Brain Cheeseball
meatballs
cocktail wieners
pigs in a blanket

Desert Table
mini halloween shaped cookies
almond finger cookies
kitty litter cake
bat cupcakes
brain mold jello
Dirt cake with worms
pumpkin roll

The Drink Table
Hot apple cider
witches punch
Soda
coffee
Hot Cocoa

Lets start by setting the table. I wish I had taken pictures of the party, I will do my best to create the picture through words. The table is a long rectangle table covered with a black tablecloth, spiderwebs, skeleton lanterns, bugs and spiders. Hanging over the table is a pirate skeleton that talks whenever someone walks in front of him. In the center back of the table I placed a large 5 gallon halloween tub, black with orange witches bought at walmart for $5.00. This is what the chili was served in. Yep that was a lot of chili, but believe it or not, I had only a few leftovers. Chili is something very easy to make on a small budget. To the left was a large crock pot of warmed american cheese sauce. To the left of that was a witches cauldrin filled with tortilla chips, I found dark colored chips at the supermarket that added a nice touch. In front of the cheese sauce I had a large round sectioned platter with diced tomatoes, grated american cheese, diced onions, and sour cream. I think that was everything, anyway it was everything I could think of that someone would want to add to chili or nachos and cheese. And thank goodness I had extra diced and stored in the refigerator, because I needed it. Next to that I had the string cheese fingers, the recipe is listed below. On the right side of the chili I placed another cauldrin with finger shaped breadsticks, this recipe is also listed below. In front of the breadsticks I had a very large platter of pumpkin and bat shaped sandwiches. I used tuna salad, chicken salad, and egg salad. I simply cut the bread into shapes with cookie cutters, spread the salad on them and placed them on the platter. These were a huge hit. Next to that was a huge platter of pigs in a blanket and Next to them I placed the brain shaped cheese ball and crackers, recipe below. Behind the brain mold was another crockpot with sweet and sour meatballs and next to that was the ever popular cocktail wierners. The desert table was also covered with a black table cloth, spider webs, bugs and spiders. You will find the recipes for the following items below. In the center of the table I placed the kitty litter cake, caution, this looks so real that most people will not touch it. Next to that was the brain shaped jello mold. In a cauldrin I put mini halloween shaped cookies, and in another cauldrin I put almond finger cookies. At each end was a pumpkin roll. I added a platter of bat cupcakes and several of my guests brought deserts of thier own to add to the table. I did not have to do place settings because our party is an outside party around the bonfire.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Mozzarella string cheese
Green bell pepper
Cream cheese

1. Wearing plastic gloves or sandwich bags over your hands to keep the cheese as smudge-free as possible, use a paring knife (parents only) to cut each string in half and then carve a shallow area for a fingernail just below the rounded end of each half.

2. Mark the joint right below the nail as well as the knuckle joint by carving out tiny horizontal wedges of cheese, as pictured.

3. For the fingernails, slice a green bell pepper into 3/8-inch-wide strips. Set the strips skin side down on your work surface and trim the pulp so that it's about half as thick. Then cut the strips into ragged-topped nail shapes and stick them in place at the ends of the fingers with dabs of cream cheese.

I also purchased cheddar and monterey jack cheese sticks and did the same thing with them.

These are the perfect thing to make a few days ahead of the party. This really saves time and work when preparing for the party. I always make an extra bag of these to keep in the freezer.

INGREDIENTS
4 pounds lean ground beef
4 eggs
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add the next five ingredients. Add beef; mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls, about 12 dozen. Place in single layers in ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until no longer pink, turning often; drain. Cool. Place about 30 meatballs each into freezer containers. May be frozen for up to 3 months. Yield: 5 batches (about 30 meatballs per batch).

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/2 C Brown sugar
1/2 C Vinegar
1 Ts Salt
4 Tbs ketchup
3/4 cup pinapple juice
2 ts cornstarch
Warm everything in a saucepan EXCEPT CORNSTARCH to just below a simmer.
Don't let it boil. Then stir in the cornstarch to thicken. Keep stirring.
I like to add chunked pineapple, onions and green peppers (cut in large hunks)
to the sauce before I serve it.

Reheat the meatballs and place into the sweet and sour sauce. These are best served in a crockpot.

CHEESE BALL

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS
In a medium size bowl, mash cream cheese. Mix dressing mix and Cheddar cheese into the cream cheese. Shape the mixture into a ball. Roll the ball in the chopped nuts. Refrigerate covered until ready to serve.
This is the basic recipe for this outstanding cheese ball, after refigerating I then sprayed the brain mold with nonstick spray and pressed the cheeseball into the mold. Remove the cheeseball from the mold and add additional nuts to cover up the bare areas.

BEST COCKTAIL SMOKIES

1 lb cocktail wieners (lil smokies)
1 cup bbq sauce
1 cup grape jelly

Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hrs or place all ingredients in large pot and cook on low for 1 hour.

WITCHES FINGERS

Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 Egg
1 tsp Almond extract
1 tsp Vanilla
2 2/3 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Almonds, whole blanched
1 Tube red decorator gel
(optional, not pictured)

Gross everyone out with these creepy cookies.
In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in flour and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Squeeze in centre to create knuckle shape. (Accompanying picture showed long rolled shape with bulge at centre for knuckle; you puff it out rather than squeeze it in.) Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.

Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond, squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood."
Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

If they knew how good this was for them, they probably wouldnt touch it, so we will keep that a secret. I serve this is in a coffee vat with a basket of cinnamon sticks on the side. I always make an extra gallon for quick refilling of the vat. This is the perfect drink for sitting around the bon fire on a cool Halloween Night.

HOT MULLED APPLE CIDER

1 qt. apple cider
8 whole cloves
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. each nutmeg and ginger

Combine all ingredients in 1 1/2 quart sauce pan. Cook until brown sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes; strain. Serve hot in cups. Garnish with lemon slices and cinnamon sticks for stirring. May keep warm in Crock pot on low. Yields 1 quart.

As I stated before, this cake looks so realistic that it is very hard to coax people into actually eating it. But the responses that I get year after year about this cake makes it worth my while to make it.

KITTY LITTER CAKE

1 spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 white cake mix
2 large packages vanilla instant pudding mix, prepared
1 large package vanilla sandwich cookies
green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Roll candies

1 new kitty litter pan
1 new kitty litter pan liner
1 new pooper scooper
Instructions: Prepare cake mixes and bake according to directions (any size pans).

Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble.

Crumble white sandwich cookies in small batches in food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but about 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops green food coloring and mix until completely colored.

When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl. Toss with half the remaining white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding. Important: mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don't want it too soggy. Combine gently.

Line a new, clean kitty litter box. Put the cake/pudding/cookie mixture into the litter box.

Put 3 unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Repeat with 3 more Tootsie rolls bury them in the mixture. Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top. Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top of everything -- this is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter.

Heat 3 Tootsie Rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake; sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Spread remaining Tootsie Rolls over the top. For the coup de gras take one Tootsie Roll and heat until pliable, hang it over the side of the kitty litter box, sprinkling it lightly with cookie crumbs. Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around for a truly disgusting effect!

Jello Brain

6 small or 3 large boxes of watermelon (works best) or peach Jell-o
1 can light or non-fat evaporated milk
2-1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup cold water
Green food color
Spray inside of the mold with a non-flavored cooking spray (like Pam). Dissolve Jell-o in 2-1/2 cups of boiling water. Add 1 cup cold water and evaporated milk. Add food color to desired color (about 5 drops). Pour in mold and chill until set. To remove the brain, shake the mold gently until the gelatin loosens. Place a flat plate upside down over the open side of the mold, then flip the mold and the plate together. Lift the mold off, leaving the brain on the plate.

Everyone has thier own recipe for chili so I did not add mine. Making chili is a great opportunity to add lots of fresh herbs into your families diet.

The pigs in a blanket are very simple to make and the kids really enjoy helping. Simply unpack a roll of canned biscuits. Roll each biscuit to an oblong shape. Wrap a slice of cheese around one hot dog, place it on the biscuit and roll it up jelly roll style. Place them in the oven according to the cooking directions on the biscuit can.

There are several ways to serve this cake. The most popular is in a flower pot. You can add worms, bugs or flowers to your pot. For halloween you can serve it in a long cake pan with mini tombstones.

WORM DIRT CAKE

1 to 1 1/4 lb. pkg. Oreo cookies
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3 cups milk
1 (12 oz.) tub Cool Whip (can use chocolate)
2 (3 1/2 oz.) pkg. instant vanilla or chocolate pudding
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 gummy worms and/or other critters

Crush Oreos. Put 1/3 of the crushed Oreos into a new, clean flower pot. Set aside.

Mix butter, cream cheese and sugar and vanilla together. Set aside.

Combine milk and pudding mix. Fold Cool Whip into the pudding.

Fold together pudding mixture and butter-cream cheese mixture.

Layer this mixture (about 1/3 of it) onto the crumbled cookies in the pot. Next, add another layer of the pudding mixture, then another layer of cookie crumbs, continuing until all ingredients are used.

As you're layering the ingredients, decoratively place several gummy worms and critters in the "soil" so they will be seen emerging. If you have a toy (clean) garden trowel, a plastic daisy, or some edible flowers, these can also be used creatively to embellish the presentation.

Chill in refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours before serving.