My plans for #NextHalloween

We are excellent zombies

Halloween is coming! I get mardy every year because we never really do anything, so last year I decided to make a change. I started to build up a Halloween box in the sales after Halloween, and now it lives in the attic next to the Christmas decorations. I nearly have enough for a party, and so a party I will have! I’m still toying with ideas about exactly what will happen, and I am about to start sewing my costume – but I can’t write about that now because I know people who will come to the party will read this and I don’t want to spoil the surprise! However, I don’t have everything I need, so I’ve been trawling the web looking for fresh ideas and great decorations to make my party everything I hope it can be!

The Party Stash

At the moment, the stash has some decorations; balloons, window stickers, table centre and the link. I also have all my tableware, including my giant black cauldron which will make an excellent punchbowl. The basis for our punch will be the fruit wine we made using this year’s collection of homegrown blackcurrants and redcurrants from the garden. You cannot go wrong with a bit of homegrown punch.

The Pumpkin Harvest

I also have the plans in place for a pumpkin carving competition. The Extreme Housewifery has really come to the fore this year when it comes to pumpkin growing. I certainly have enough for teams to carve their own, which is great, as last year we only grew one! We have also grown The Behomoth, which is seasoning nicely on the side in the kitchen, just waiting for me to do something epic with it.

I have never carved a pumpkin before, and I’ve seen some great things on the internet. One friend who came round suggested that it would make an excellent Cinderella carriage. I wholeheartedly agreed, which led me on to thoughts of how I could make an RSPCA friendly cat harness, and hook it up to actual wheels so the kitties could work as a team to pull it. When I mentioned this to The Boy, he pointed out that there is actually no RSPCA friendly way to do this and if I went any further with this idea I would be a terrible person, so I have had to explore new avenues.

Picture from Morguefile

I love that people are so creative with pumpkin carving. I’ll admit that I have never done it before, so I think I should not be too ambitious, but I would love to make a tableaux, rather than a face. We’ll see how I feel on the day. What I do know is that I will be making some most excellent pumpkin treats with the flesh. And there will be a lot of flesh.

I would like sweet treats as well as savoury party foods. So here is my top 5 pumpkin party recipes from around the net:

1. Pumpkin Nook’s Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
2. Taste of Home’s Black Cat Dippers with Pumpkin Pie Dip (the prepared pumpkin can easily be substituted for fresh puree)
3. BBC Good Food’s Sausage and Pumpkin Roast (I actually took inspiration from this using last year’s pumpkin, took me ages to blog it though)
4. Better Homes and Gardens Melt-in-your-mouth Pumpkin Cookies
5. Kidspot’s Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Rolls

I have been looking at some great fun ideas for other treats. I have a tonne of marshmallows in already so I have been looking at all the funky ways people decorate marshmallows, including the cutest Oreo bats (check out I wash, you dry for more great ideas). 

However, my marshamallows are small and thin, so I think I’m just going to make the traditional marshmallow voodoo dolls with a bit of decorative icing and a does of good humour. I will also make some dipped marshmallows using for handing out to neighbours kids when they come a-knocking!

I have also put in a request with The Boy that I receive a pair of these skeleton feet slippers from Next ready for when I am doing my Halloween preparations. They will get me in the mood and keep my feet toasty when I am in the kitchen! They say they are for older boys, but happily they come in my size and will get me right in the spirit of things.

FInally, this party has to have a suitable playlist, and as we will be kid-free, we can make it super hardcore. If you’ve watched any horror movies you will know that plenty of metal is the way forward – White Zombie is a must. However, I’ll also be mixing it up with Ghost Town by the Specials, Come to the Sabbat by Black Widow (an excellent tune and no mistake) and of course This s Halloween from the Nightmare before Christmas.

I have to end this post on an appropriate note and for me the father of the zombie flick and the unsurpassed master is George Romero. So here is my favourite tune, from admittedly my second favourite Romero film. Click play and feel the fear… Mwah ha ha ha haaaa….