A Halloween Party Collaboration!

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Halloween marks the beginning of a season full of parties, festive decorations, and holiday-themed everything! I recently collaborated with my good friend and beloved QVC host, David Venable from In The Kitchen with David, to throw a spectacular Halloween party. We had so much fun together, and this was a great opportunity for each of us to do what we do best. He whipped up a few of his incredibly delicious recipes, and I created the ghostly atmosphere that any Halloween party should have with a few of my DIY projects. David is always so much fun to be with and he not only gave me some great party recipe tips, but also kept me laughing.

Kids love Halloween- the candy, the costumes, and the spooky decorations make it a magical night for little ones. I love to come up with holiday projects that will appeal to kids, and that are easy enough that they can help. These Wrapped Mummy Candy Bars and Milk Jug Ghosts are so fun and easy, and have the added benefit of using some recycled goods! The ideas for these projects came from my favorite source of creative inspiration—Pinterest! I hope you will make these for your trick-or-treat night!

Wrapped Mummy Candy Bars

Here’s what you’ll need:
•    Hershey bars
•    White streamer paper
•    Googly eyes
•    Scissors
•    Glue
•    Black construction paper

Here’s how you make these:
1.    Cut your construction paper in half, width-wise. These will be wrapped around the candy bars, so measure to fit if necessary.
2.    Wrap the paper around the candy bars and blue together at the ends. Let dry.
3.    Glue the googly eyes to each of the candy bars. Let dry.
4.    Wrap the streamer paper around each of the candy bars a few times, letting the eyes peak through. Place a small dab of glue to hold the paper in place, and you’ve got mummified candy bars!

Milk Jug Ghosts

Here’s what you’ll need:
•    Clean plastic gallon milk jugs
•    Black permanent marker
•    Craft knife
•    String of 50 clear low-wattage holiday lights

Here’s how you make these:
1.    Using the black marker, draw your ghost’s eyes and mouths on each of the jugs. You can make them happy ghosts, sad ghosts, surprised ghosts—get creative!
2.    Carefully cut a fist-size hole in the back of each jug (this is where the lights will go).
3.    Arrange your ghosts close together and stuff a portion of the light string into each. Place these outside leading to your doorway, on your porch, or even in your windows to surprise all the trick-or-treaters!

At a party, much of the focus is on the table where food is being served. I always think it's important to have a striking centerpiece. Do you remember my DIY Centerpiece with Harvest Trail Mix? It would be perfect for your Halloween party because you can throw in some of the extra candy you have around! Here is a refresher on how to make it!

Make this even more festive by using only the orange and brown M&Ms!

Use any black and orange ribbon you like!

While I was busy crafting, David was cooking up a Halloween storm! His Ham & Apple Monte Cristo Sandwiches were perfectly seasonal and tasted even better when washed down with his Homemade Apple Cider.

But his Ghost Shortbread Cookies were so yummy and adorable that I had to share the recipe here with you. You can find the other two on David’s Blog, and he even has a step-by-step video for how to prepare his Homemade Apple Cider!

Ghost Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:
•    3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
•    1 cup sugar
•    Zest of 1 lemon
•    1/4 tsp salt
•    1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•    3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Icing:
• 12 oz white chocolate, chopped
• Store-bought black icing, black licorice, or black jelly beans (for decoration)

Preparation:
1.    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line one (or more) baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.    In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla on medium speed. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour, and mix on low speed until a dough forms.
3.    Place the dough on a surface dusted with flour and form it into a flat disk. Wrap it in plastic and chill for 25 minutes.
4.    Return the dough to the lightly floured surface and roll it to a 1/3'' thickness. Cut with a ghost-shaped cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the baking sheet(s) and bake 18-23 minutes, until the edges are light brown. Set the cookies aside to cool completely.
5.    While the cookies are cooling, make the icing. Melt 10 oz of the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over warm water. Stir constantly until completely melted. Add the other 2 oz of white chocolate and stir until melted.
6.    Use a spatula to spread the chocolate on top of each cookie and place the cookies on a parchment paper-lined surface (even a cookie sheet). While the chocolate is still warm, decorate the cookies, as desired, with the black candy.

Don’t those sound delicious? Trust me—they were! I hope our collaboration will get you thinking about how to tap into each of your friends’ and family member’s strengths to create a memorable party. Does your best friend turn pumpkin carving into an art form? Are your children cookie decorating masters? Give everyone a job they can enjoy and you will have a Halloween party to out-spook all others!