Halloween!

We simply love Halloween and the decorations that go with it. We had a Halloween party for the kids one year. Adults were there too, but it was mostly to invite the kids over and let them use their costumes for more than one night. Below are many of the items that we made for the party.

These are meringue bones. Easy to make, just like the cookies. In this case, I whipped them up and put them in a pastry bag. I piped them directly onto the cookie sheet in the bone shape and baked until firm. I love these, but don't make them very often.

We had this skull planter and figured it would make a good serving dish for dip. We mixed up some spinach dip that we use for many of our parties and added a drop or two of red food coloring. It looked sufficiently gross for my liking.

No Harry Potter fan should be without chocolate frogs. I found a great mold and made these out of a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate. I made some plain, and some crunchy. I couldn't help but make some crunchy ones. I used rice crispies for the crunch factor. Another idea I had was to use pretzels broken into pieces and lay them out like the frog's bones. That would have added to the ick factor, but taken a little longer.

Bread stick fingers. I will probably try to make them a little thinner next time, but they looked OK. The nails are simply almonds that you press into the end of the breadstick before baking. You can also used blanched or sliced almonds, but I wanted this look.

Jack-o-lantern cupcakes. Each one is different. I think they were chocolate and I wanted to make each one unique. The kids liked them.

I carved this pumpkin and we mixed up some guacamole dips for it to spew forth. I was quite pleased with the effect.

Gummy worms. I simply love these. They are made from Jello with a little bit of cream or milk mixed in. You make the Jello and then pour in the cream. If you place the mix in a tall container, you can then put in bendy straws and then put in the fridge to set. The reason you use the bendy straws is that the bendy part will give the worms their signature ridge segment. You can use pretty much any red Jello. I think I used black cherry and added a couple of drops of green food coloring to give them more of a brown hue. Once they're set, you simply squeeze one end of the straw and slide your fingers down the length of the straw. Easy and fun.