Decorating Your Home for Halloween

So this is the year you've finally decided to host the big neighborhood Halloween party. You want everything to be perfect for your guests, both young and old. Then my advice is to put your greatest time and effort into your Halloween decorations and create the mood for a really scary party. This is the one night each year when we look forward to creepy things. And with all the candy that will be eaten that night, gourmet food will not be everyone's highest priority, especially for the trick-or-treaters! Instead, think of your menu as part of the Halloween decorations.

Things You Can Do

Pay a lot of attention to your lighting. Turn your lights very low, or even turn them off, using only candles to create a spooky Halloween glow. Of course, be careful where you place the candles for the sake of safety. And if you have a lot of young children at the party, skip the candles except in out of reach places, and replace your regular light bulbs with dark colored bulbs.

Fill your home with spooky wisps of smoke and fog made from dry ice.

Make a few ghastly head centerpieces for your buffet. Beware! With these ghouls looking over your food, there may be lots of leftovers!

Place shrunken apple heads in the least expected places such as on dining room or kitchen chairs, in your guests' coat pockets, or at the bottom of a snack bowl. Get busy now - these little babies take a couple of weeks to reach perfection.

Play spooky Halloween music inside and outside your house. We've had speakers outside our home for years, and the trick-or-treaters always love the scary sounds as they come up our driveway.

Welcome your guests with spooky jack-o-lanterns lining your walkway.

Create creepy spiders to scatter everywhere including your buffet table, chairs, ceilings and anyplace else your guests might be surprised.

Spread cobwebs in choice corners of your home (available at most party stores) and selectively place miniature spiders in each web.

Cover your furniture with white sheets to simulate a deserted haunted house. Scatter talcum powder over the sheets to create a dust cloud when your guests sit.

Make bat, witch or black cat silhouettes to hide in corners or on your windows.

Things You Can Serve

• Bake a Goofy Spooks Cake with this easy recipe and decorations that involve turning marshmallows into spooky eyes.
• Make some disgusting Halloween food such as a kitty litter cake and boogers on a stick.
• What would a Halloween buffet be without a few edible eyeballs staring at your guests, waiting to be devoured?
• For the heartier appetites you might want to dish up a few Brains on the Half Skull.
• Stir up a batch of Swamp Slime Surprise and encourage the adults to drink it - if they dare!

Things You Can Buy

Martha by Mail is simply packed with great things for Halloween decorating. Whether you're looking for a vulture to hang around your dining room, or a kit to create a gingerbread haunted house (it's fabulous!), you have to look at all the options. Many are more reasonably priced than you'd expect.

Buy your own Fog Machine.

Shop at Pumpkin Masters for a wonderful selection of pumpkin carving tools and instructions.

Plum Party.com, one of the hippest party supply sites online, has a fun selection of decorations ranging from votive bags to inedible floating eyeballs.