Our neighborhood had our first Halloween party which was a great event that I hope we do again each year. On an open day sometime before Halloween, we held an informal "parade" up and down the block with all the children dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Neighbors participated by passing out candy from their driveways (but this is optional if you thinking about staging a Halloween parade), and then we all gathered in our backyards for a bunch of great fall food and games in the beautiful Michigan fall weather. Honestly, any reason to get into Halloween costumes again is a great idea!
I made a delicious mulled cider in the crockpot usinga gallon or two of fresh Michigan apple cider and cinnamon sticks, star anise, and whole cloves, and a sliced orange. This was great for kids but adults as well, as we had awesome choices to spike the mulled cider - you can use anything you have on hand, cinnamon vodka, bourbon, cointreau, spiced rum, ginger liqueur, delicious! Needless to say there wasn't any cider left over. Costco sells the heat-proof paper cups which are very handy for serving hot drinks to a crowd.
I wanted to make a dessert that would be fun for the kids but easy to make, even though I know there's no shortage of sugar during the Halloween season. I just couldn't help myself after looking at all the cute ideas online. We covered peanut butter "Nutter Butter" cookies with white chocolate and put ghostly eyes and "boo" mouths on them. We also made simple chocolate chip cookies with a prominent chocolate chip placed right on top before baking. When you take them out of the oven and the chips are still melty, use a toothpick to draw spider legs coming from the one chocolate chip on top. Simple and cute!
Our party consisted of a potluck and other fun treats I remember having were apple slice dipping station with various dips (caramel, peanut butter, etc) and toppings (sprinkles, nuts, chocolate chips), popcorn, cupcakes, doughnuts, chips, veggies/dip, cheese/crackers, and all your typical yummy snack food. We had several fun games for the kids - bobbing for doughnuts (doughnuts hanging from strings and the kids need to eat them with their hands behind their backs), pinata, yard games like giant jenga, bean bag/corn hole game, hot potato (using a pumpkin), arts and crafts, etc. Your local grocery store has tons of tiny pumpkins that are great for table decorations (and helps keep table cloths down). What a fun party theme, hope you all have a happy halloween in your neighborhood!
Thankfully we had beautiful weather for our event because the last 5 years straight have been cold/rainy on Halloween night! Hope you have a sunny Halloween celebration at your house!
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