Halloween Party (2-4yr) Mummy hotdogs

This year for my sons Halloween Party my husband and I started several months ahead of time so we could have everything done in time.  I started with the invitations.  I took a heavy piece of orange paper and folded it in half.  Then I cut it out into the shape of a pumpkin.  I cut out a face and then glued yellow paper to the back of the face and I put a green piece of paper and some raffia on top for the stem.  On the inside I wrote all the info and at the bottom I wrote Don't forget your Costume. 

For the decorations I started with the outside.  I made grave stones, spiders, cats, pumpkins, bats, ghosts, and skeletons out of cardboard and put them in my front yard and on the porch.  I made them by cutting the shape I wanted from a piece of cardboard and then painting on the details. I didn't make them to scary because the age of the kids were 1-14.  I then hot glued a empty veggie can onto the back and filled it with rocks so the wind wouldn't blow them over.  Finally I wrapped the whole thing in cellophane making sure no cardboard was showing.  The cellophane protects the cardboard from the weather.  I also had ghosts hanging from the trees.  My kids made them by stuffing a white bag with newspaper and then tying a string around it for the head and then they drew on a face.  I drew foot prints with glow in the dark paint on my steps and I lined my walk way with ghost gourds.  I dryed the gourds out and then painted them white and I cut out two holes for the eyes and one for the mouth.  On the back of the gourd I cut a hole just big enough for a battery operated candle to fit inside. 

For my porch I made gourd lights and hung them around the top of my porch. I made the lights by drying out several gourds and then cut the bottom off and making a hole at the top just big enough for a small Christmas light bulb to fit in.  I then painted the gourds to look like pumpkins and ghosts.  Finally I inserted a light into the top of each gourd making sure it wasn't touching the gourd and then I hung them.  I also had a scarecrow sitting on a chair on my porch.  On my front door I hung a wreath that I made from pinecones and it had a stuffed witch and bats on it. 

For the inside decorations I printed pumpkins, ghosts, cats, etc off my computer and then my kids and I colored them and then cut them out and hung them on the walls.  I also had orange a black streamers hanging from the door ways and I had bats and ghosts hanging from ceiling. 

For the kids table I had a green table cloth, pumpkin plates, pumpkin napkins, green silver ware, orange plastic cups with bats on them, pumpkin and skeleton straws, a Halloween balloon tied to each chair and a bat jar filled with candy.  (I made the bat jars by painting a clean baby food jar black.  I then cut out wings, ears, and fangs from heavy paper.  I then hot glued the wings, ears, fangs and googly eyes onto the jars and then filled them with candy.)  For the center piece I made a black cat basket and filled it with candy.  (For the basket I took a brown cardboard flower pot and I cut around the top leaving two two inch squares and two points.  I then painted the whole pot orange.  Then I painted a cats face onto the front using the two points for ears.  I then punched a hole into each of the squares and then attached a black pipe cleaner for the handle.  I filled the whole thing with different types of candies and then set it in the middle of the table.)  

After we were done decorating my husband, kids, and I got dressed and went outside to greet our guests.   As they arrived I directed them to the Fun Maze (little kids) or Haunted Maze. (big kids) I took a bunch of tall cardboard boxes and made a maze from them in my yard.  For the Fun Maze I painted pumpkins, cute ghosts, bats, etc onto the sides of the boxes.  At the entrance I had a scarecrow sitting on a bail of hay and pumpkins and gourds sitting beside the hay bail.  As the kids went through the maze there was four stations for them to stop at before they reached the end.  Each station had an adult waiting to help the kids and everything they needed for the activity.  The first staion was a bag making table.  I had a table set up with brown paper bags, stickers, crayons, glue, paper, etc and the kids could decorate their bag however they wanted. 

The next station was make a ghost.  The kids glued googly eyes onto a paper plate and then drew a nose and mouth on the plate.  Next they colored a witches hat and glued it to the top of the plate.  Then they took four pieces of white streamers and glued it to the bottom of the plate and then a adult punced a hole at the top and tied a piece of yarn so the kids could hang their ghosts when they got home.  The third station was Halloween picture frames.  I bought the kits from Oriental Trading.  They came with everything we needed to make them.  The final station was bat or ghost stick puppet.  The kids got to pick if they wanted a ghost or a bat that I had precut from paper. Then they made a face and glued it onto a craft stick.  Some of the older kids also went through the fun maze.  I also had Halloween music playing so the kids could hear it as they went through the maze and I had pumpkins and not to scary ghosts throughout the maze. 

For the Haunted Maze I had it in another part of the yard so the younger kids could not see or hear it.  I  covered all the the boxes with black sheets to try and make it more scary as they went through.  At the entrance I had spider webs all over the boxes and a big black spider hanging from one of the boxes.  I also had a witch that had a cauldron beside her by the entrance.  I made the witch by taking a old pillow case and dying it green.  I then added eyes, nose, mouth, and black yarn hair.  I stuffed the pillow case and then tied it to a piece of wood that was pointed at one end.  I then tied a shorter piece of wood to the first one for the arms.  I then drapped it in old black sheets.  I put a witches hat on the head, a broom stick in her hand, and then stuck it in the ground.  For the cauldron I put a fog machine inside of it so it would look more spooky.  Once the kids entered the maze they had to try to make their way through a lot of twists and turns and make it to end.  If they went the wrong way they were greeted by an adult dressed in costume jumping out, sprayed with silly string, a body dropping in front of them, (The body was a dummy that had a rope tied around it and wrapped around a tree and then a adult would drop it down) or a motion sensored mirror that a face would appear and scream when someone went passed it.  I also had scary noises, plastic rats, spiders, spider webs, snakes, etc through out the maze. 

After everyone was done with the mazes it was time to go inside and eat.  I had the food table set up with a Halloween table cloth, plastic pumpkins, skeletons, bugs, and a plastic rat for decoration.  (I made the bugs by taking a egg shaped styrofoam ball and cutting them in half and cut out a small triangle shape on either side of the pointed end for the head.  I then painted the whole thing blank.  Once the paint dried I took brown paint and made a line for the wings and the head.  Then I took black pipe cleaners and put three on either side for the legs.) 

For the food we had mummy hotdogs,(Hotdogs wrapped with breadstick dough and then baked in the oven and ketchup eyes), Halloween shaped Rice Crispy treats, pop corn balls, pumpkin shaped pretzels, punch with a floating ice hand, pumpkin shaped jello, spider cupcakes,(I baked the cupcakes and then put chocolate icing on top and then sprinkled them with chocolate jimmies.  For the legs I took eight pieces of black shoe lace candy and put four on each side.  Then I cut a marshmallow in half and attached a M&M to the center of each on with icing for the eyes), and spider web cookies.  (I made my favorite sugar cookie recipe and used a spider web cookie cutter for the shape.  After I baked them and they cooled I put white icing on top and then I melted chocolate and piped it on top to look like a web.  I set the cookies on top of a spider plate that I made by taking a heavy purple plastic plate and painting green and orange spots on them.  I then punched four holes on either side of the plate and then attached black pipecleaners for the spiders legs.  I then turned the bowl upside down and hot glued the plate on top of it. I then cut styrofoam balls in half and painted them black.  I also painted a big styrofoam ball for the head.  I took the ball halfs and attached them to the pipe cleaners for the legs.  Then I cut a slit from the big stryofoam ball and slid it onto the front of the plate for the head.  Finaly I glued on three googly eyes to the head.)  After we were done eating it was time to play games. 

The games we played were Halloween Bowling, Decorate the Pumpkin, Catch The Bats, and Pumpkin Golf.  Halloween Bowling-The kids took turns rolling a ball at the pins and tried to knock as many as they could down.  (The pins were empty soda cans with a picture of a ghost, witch, pumpkin, cat, etc taped on the front of each pin.) Whoever got the most pins down won a prize. (The prizes were ghost stuffed animals, Halloween Pez Dispensers, Pumpkin safety necklaces, and Glow stick necklaces.)  Decorate the Pumpkin-The kids each got a turn picking from the bag and then placing what they pulled out on the pumpkin. Each kid got to pick a prize just for playing the game.(I made a pumpkin from paper and then hung it on the wall.  I then made different ears, eyes, noses, mouths, and hats from paper and then placed them in a bag.) The kids liked this game because the pumpkins looked funny because some had three ears, two mouths, etc.  Catch The Bats-Which ever kid catches the most bats wins. (I cut a hole at one end of four empty boxes and then painted them black to make a cave.   I then cut a bunch of bats from black paper and put them in the boxes. Finally I put a small fan into each box and when I turned them on the bats would blow out of the boxes into the air and the kids would try and catch as many as they could.  I used four boxes because there was a lot of kids at the party.)  Pumpkin Golf-The kids took turns to try and hit a ball with my sons golf clubs into a plastic pumpkin that I laid on its side.  Whoever got it in got a prize.  

After games I gave each child a Halloween party popper (For the Poppers I took a empty toliet paper roll and filled it with candy, plastic spiders, stickers, and Halloween pencils.  Then I wrapped the rolls with orange tissue paper and then tied the ends with black yarn.  Then I wrote Happy Halloween on each one and placed a few Halloween sticks on them.) and then I made sure each child had their cup, straw, bat jar, Halloween Popper, balloon, crafts, and prizes and then the party was over.  This party was a lot of work but well worth it.  Everyone had so much fun and I don't know how I am going to top it next year.