Halloween Parties

Halloween is the time of year when horror movies come out in droves like the zombies of B-films. It is the time of the year that costume stores and candy manufacturers expect their largest sales. It is the time of year when adults remember how trick-or-treat was thrillingly spooky, fun and tiring at the same time.

Remember trick-or-treating, running around at night with a sack, wearing the spookiest or fanciest costume your parents could make or afford? Halloween allows an adult to walk around dressed as a lobster without inhibition. A person can act the role of a musketeer, a movie star, a monster, a mad scientist, or almost anything within the limits of one's creativity. But at some point in one's life, going door to door begging for treats gets old. Though candy might have lost its appeal to most adults, the fun in make believe does not have to. Parties are the adult version of trick-or-treat.

Throwing a Halloween party is not much different than throwing any other kind of party except for the effects. Food, beverages, rooms and the people invited can all be the same, but costumed in either name or appearance. For example, red wine can be served as ancient blood; food coloring makes a vegetable dip into a witch's concoction; spaghetti can be served in a molded shape and called brains in the right light.

Black lights, black yarn for webs, and painted cardboard tombstones add the touch of horror. The same cotton fluff you use for snow as a Christmas decoration can be pulled apart to create cobwebs and place in doorways or on windowsills. Dry ice in an inch of water creates a fog that can be fanned to cover the floor.

Costumes

Costume rental stores live for this time of the year and have a great variety of outfits and accessories. But if you do not want to spend much on a costume, you probably have the makings of one right in your house.

A cork from a wine bottle, burnt on one end, is a great make-up stick to draw beards, moustaches, black eyes and other dark designs on your face.

A hairspray or gel works well in shaping hair into animal ears or spikes.

Use a small amount of school glue or paste to attach cereal pieces to your face and then with make-up, paint it to look like scars or warts.

Yarn, mop heads, strips of cloth and even hay or grass can be used for hair.

Black pantyhose stuffed with newspaper makes animal tails or insect arms.

A real pumpkin cut as a jack-o-lantern and with an extra hole at the bottom is great for a mask!

For one Halloween, I sowed a black beak and eyes on a white knee sock to make the neck of a goose and then dressed as an old woman. With the sock on my arm as a sock puppet and my arm through a stuffed white pillowcase with wings drawn on it, I went to a party as Mother Goose. My date painted a body sized cardboard box like a brick wall. Then with paper mache, made an egg-shaped mask that would fit over his whole head. He attached two paper legs to the bottom of that mask and hung them over the top of the box. He was Humpty Dumpty.

This reminds me, paper mache makes a wonderful lightweight mask. It is simple to make but it may take two or three days to finish a mask. Blow up a head-sized balloon and tie it tightly so no air can escape. Then you shred newspaper or plain paper that has the character of newspaper and soak it in a mixture of water, flour and salt (shredding is best as opposed to cutting). You may use strips of the paper or chop and blend it to make a pulp. Layer or mold it over the balloon to the shape of your mask. Let it dry for a day or two in the same room and keep the room temperature steady. When it is dry, use an emery board or fine sand paper to smooth it.

Other Costume Parties

Fascination with make believe does not have to be relegated to only one time of the year. Costumes are fun most any time of the year.

Have a Mothers' Day party where your guest must come as their mothers. This can be humorous and insightful.

You could have a Fourth of July gathering where they come as their favorite presidents. Allow your guests to stand on the soapbox and give their own state of the union address.

Movie premieres are not just for Hollywood. Have one of those space films or swashbucklers be your theme and invite the guests to dress in the actors' roles.

Games

Best costume -everyone votes on costumes other than his or her own

Guess who is who works best with elaborate costumes that hide the full face, the stature and gait of each guest. Imagine Humpty Dumpty; there was no tell tale sign of the size of the man in the box.

A scavenger hunt is the perfect game if you need time to prepare a meal. They take a bit of work on your part. You need to know where and if the objects could be found before you make the list for your guests. I made this list of items to find for one of my parties.

1. The number of steps to the front door of a local high school

2. A paper clip

3. A receipt for less than a dollar

4. The names of the seven dwarves (which by the way gave us all a good laugh later in the party)

5. A sock

6. Something you hate

7. A recipe for meatloaf

8. A natural object or piece of food that looks like something else - for example; a twig that looks like a man (and which by the way was another belly laugh, if you only knew)

9. A bag of any kind

10. The speed limit on so and so street

11. The distance in miles between here and so and so street

12. A bottled or canned food product with anchovies in the ingredients - just the name will do

13. A good joke

Aside from the hunt, the fun was in the reactions of people in town who saw my costumed guests climbing the high school steps and perusing bottled sauces in the grocery store.

As with any party or anything, always be respectable to others and their properties and act responsibly. Sometimes costumes hinder sight, so always take care. But most of all, have fun!