Halloween Parties and Treats

This post is coming late because I spent my day at my children's elementary school doing their classroom parties. These are the crafts and snacks we had...

Ghost Prints

Ghosts and bats magically materialize upon paper with this simple paint craft.

Materials
Black construction paper
Orange construction paper
White tempera paint
Black tempera paint

Total Time Needed: 1 Hour

Instructions
1. Fold a piece of black construction paper in half.
2. Dribble the white paint into the crease and briefly press the paper back together.
3. Open the paper up -- a ghost will appear!
4. Try the same technique with black paint on orange paper to make creepy bats and bugs.

String of Jack-O'-Lanterns or Ghosts

Make a string of jack-o'-lanterns or ghosts to hang around a room. These simple-to-make strings make a great Halloween decoration. You can drape the strings across rooms, over windows and from the chandeliers.

Supplies needed:
Construction paper (orange and black for pumpkins, white and black for ghosts)
Crayons or markers
Scissors
Glue, tape, or staples
A long piece of green or black yarn or string

Draw a jack-o'-lantern's face on a piece of orange paper, or a ghost on white paper. Make sure to draw a long stem on the top (your pumpkin or ghost will hang from this stem, which will be folded over).

Cut out the pumpkin or ghost. Make eyes, a nose, and a mouth from black paper (or use a black crayon or marker).
Fold the pumpkin's stem in half. Fold the ghost's "stem" completely behind the ghost.

Attach the pumpkin or ghost to a long string. Use green yarn for the pumpkins, black string for the ghosts. Attach them using tape, glue, or staples.

Hang your string of jack-o'-lanterns or ghosts across the room for a wonderful Halloween decoration.

Haunted Forest Centerpiece

Black licorice, threaded with wire and shaped to make a forest of spindly trees, makes this creative Halloween table topper. Snip off the ends of six pieces of black licorice and push heavy-gauge wire through the holes of each piece. Holding the pieces together in the middle, bend the ends to form a tree trunk. Bend the opposite ends to form gnarled tree branches and wrap black wire around the center of the pieces to hold it all together. Repeat for each tree. Place each tree atop a chocolate-frosted graham cracker, add a candy-corn fence, and arrange mini artificial pumpkins under the trees to complete the landscape.

We used Chocolate Licorice and the pumkin candies. The kids had to take them home to show their families. We reminded them to take the wire out, before eating!