A time for fun, as well as scares! (Halloween 2008)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Halloween 2008
Date:	28/10/08 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A chance to indulge in some childlike fun

Disadvantages: Knowing when to stop!

Today myself and my nine year old granddaughter have been planning our Halloween party. I wasn't planning on doing anything for Halloween as the event doesn't particuarly interest me, but the girls' are going to be staying with me Halloween night as their mum and dad are going away so I thought we might as well have a good one.

Me and my granddaughter have sat and meticulously planned how the evening is going to go, so I thought I'd share our plans with you to perhaps convince you to throw a small bash yourself.

Tomorrow I have been charged with going out and buying as many scary Halloween decorations as I can, my granddaughter very sweetly said we could use the leftover birthday party plates and cups to save money so for her thoughtfulness I intend to buy some special Halloween tableware. My daughter is off on a her own shopping trip to find my baby granddaughter a cute Halloween dress-up suit, and also something with a Halloween theme for the older girls'. I have no doubt that the nine year old will turn up in a pink and black frilly Witches costume as that is her standard Halloween dress, although the twelve year old thinks herself above fancy dress now so I suspect she'll arrive in a black outfit and try to pass it off!

The girls' are allowed to invite two friends each as I want this to be a nice cheerful party, and the last thing I need is for a house full of children tearing around. I'm not a killjoy, but this is a gathering and certainly not the party of the century! I am going to invite my sister and a couple of friends, all of whom will probably bring one grandchild so that's 10 children which is quite enough!

I nearly forgot, I need to buy Halloween invitations tomorrow!

I am going to let the older children go trick or treating in the early evening, just up and down my Lane and I will speak to my neighbours beforehand to let them know they are welcome to ignore the door when my lot arrive! While they're out me and my sister will be preparing the buffet. We're having a purely cold buffet, but I'm going to make a huge pot of soup for those who want it as it's supposed to be very cold on Friday.

My granddaughter has made a list of food she wants on the buffet and there would be enough to feed the 5000 if she got her way. I'll make it special as I enjoy preparing buffets; I have been thinking pizza, a selection of filled rolls, pork pie and all the usual party foods but with the addition of some of the more specialised Halloween treats I've seen available in the shops.

I am also going to make lots of different flavoured biscuits and cookies and decorate them with a spooky theme, nothing terribly difficult just a few icing sugar spiders and blood red butter cream. I have a set of Halloween cookie cutters which are shaped like ghosts, witches and pumpkins so I'll make use of those. I might even make a pot of tomato soup, ensuring it is as red and bloodlike as possible.

After we've eaten I have some good old fashioned party games planned. I'm going to make a pass the parcel, play musical statues and possibly pin the tail on the donkey. There will be small prizes, I remember seeing a bag of little Halloween novelty toys in one of the shops by me last week so I'll have to find that shop again and nip in to buy some treats as prizes.

At about 8 o'clock I'll put the baby to bed and then the scary movies can commence! I have several Halloween themed Scooby Doo DVDs which I'll play on a loop throughout the party, or if one of my granddaughters' can come up with some Halloween music then I'll play that instead. I'm tempted to put Halloween on as despite being young my granddaughters' love a good horror film, but the nine year old has some quite delicate friends so I shall have to see who turns up!

I absolutely love pumpkin soup and it freezes well, so I shall buy some pumpkins on Thursday and carve them into scary faces. I have some candles I can use to illuminate them and I think they'll look great in my porch.

If you'd like to carve a pumpkin but are put off by wasting the pumpkin flesh try this very simple pumpkin soup recipe that I found on BBC Food. This recipe is for one pumpkin, but it would be easy enough to double or even quadruple the recipe for the amount of pumpkins you wish to carve - just remember you need a freezer big enough for it all!

You need:

The flesh of one pumpkin, diced
2 gloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium red chilli, chopped finely
1 tin of coconut milk
Fresh coriander leaves

What you need to do:

Cook the small chunks of pumpkin in boiling water until tender.

Add the chilli, garlic and half the coriander to a blender and season well. Whizz this in the blender until it forms a paste.

When the pumpkin is soft drain the cooking water into jug and reserve. Add the pumpkin flesh to the chilli mix in the blender and blend all this together, take care not to over blend or you will end up with mushy pumpkin rather than the smooth vegetable paste you need for this soup.

Pour it all back into the saucepan, add the coconut milk and simmer adding a splash of the pumpkin cooking water if it becomes too thick, which it probably will.

To freeze simply pour portions of the soup into thick freezer bags and bung in the freezer once cold. You will need to unthaw the soup before reheating and I suggest doing this slowly in the fridge to retain the flavour of the soup.

Well, that is Halloween 2008 sorted out. I hope I have inspired some of you to take the plunge and hold a gathering, if not a party, and have fun! Now all I need to do is find a shop that sells Nanny style costumes and not sexy witches get-up!

Summary: Happy Halloween!