Halloween Boo Bash

I'm having a halloween party for my kids...ages 4 and 23 months. It's basically going to be a glorified playdate w/ halloween snacks, decorations & costumes. I did buy a relatively inexpensive craft for the older kids to do (something to do with a pumpkin). I think 16mo. is a little young to do elaborate games...though if there are older kids they'd enjoy it. I picked up a halloween mag. for snack idea...I think I'll do this one...take an orange & carve a jack-o-lantern out of it. Cut off the top, and fill w/ fruit...grapes, etc. This is a good decoration & snack, even for little ones (if the fruit is cut up small, of course). I'm going to make mini halloween cupcakes decorated w/ orange and black sprinkles. I think I'll have goldfish & cheese cubes (they are orange) and spiced apple cider for moms. Maybe orange jello? Keep it simple...everyone will have a good time just being at a halloween party!

Oh, I would stay away from anything scary. The rubber glove in a bowl of water is good for older kids, but it may give a 16 mo. old a nightmare!

Fill a powder and latex free rubber glove with water, leave room for expansion and tie, then freeze. Take off the rubber glove and float the frozen hands in a punch bowl. We did that and it is so fun.

Also, get some pumpkins and carve them (or not). then make fruit and cheese kabobs and stab them in the top of the pumpkins for crazy hair and a fun centerpiece and snacks.

There was similar question a few days ago on here, and lots of cute answers:
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/11604596211327303681

Vampire cupcakes... here's a list of Halloween ideas on my blog including the cupcake tutorial, and some fun and easy treats:

http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2009/10/sweet-treats-f...

decorating ideas:
http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2009/10/treasures-in-f...

http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/2008/10/halloween-and-...

We made a stick the nose on the pumpkin, hangman with skeleton parts, etc...I bet you could find lots of ideas at family fun online or at Disney online.

When I did this a few years ago, I looked up finger play songs with the words changed to spooky lyrics.
Five Little Pumpkins Nursery Rhyme

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "oh my it's getting late."
The second one said, "there are witches in the air."
The third one said, "but we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
OOOhh OOOhh went the wind
and out went the lights
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Pumpkin song for the very young
(Just sing this to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground
How'd you get so big and round
Planted as a seed so small
Now you are a great big ball
Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground
How'd you get so big and round

I also got a spooky cd with fun songs, like The Witch Doctor by Alvin and the Chipmunks. All the kids dressed up of course. Have fun.

For a child this age, I would keep it simple. The two games you have already planned sound fine and will probably be adequate. At that age, my boys had a fairly short attention span so trying to coordinate several games might be too much for the kiddos and will only stress you out. For a snack, I was thinking about little peanut butter sandwiches or rice crispy treats in festive shapes. You can pick up some Halloween cookie cutters at most grocery stores. You could also decorate the crispy treats something like this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/green-halloween-monste... . These are also cute: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/pizza-mummies-688188/

Hello,

I just want to tell you that you are very brave... :)

If the party is on Halloween, you can all trick or treat together. You could make those witches hands...a clear plastic glove filled with popcorn, and candy corns put in each finger for the finger nails. The kids will probably be crazy hyper, so things like musical chairs, etc might work - keep them moving!!

Good luck and Happy Halloween,
L.