The days are getting shorter and the nights longer…and colder. But that doesn’t keep us from getting nice and toasty at a bon fire! Bring out the blankets, pillows, hot cocoa and S’mores! We are ready for some outdoor fun! October is here and soon Halloween will be too. Because of the pandemic we didn’t go Trick-or-Treating last year, so we organized an outdoor, family friendly Halloween Party! This year we’ll do the same, because it was just too much fun!

Find ideas for decorations, snacks and drinks below. If you have any other creative ideas for me, please let me know!

Spooky or not so spooky? What are great Halloween decorations?

When I grew up in the Netherlands we never celebrated Halloween. I think by now they figured out how to organize a creepy party at the end of October and call it a Halloween party after watching a ton of American movies. It is getting more and more popular. That doesn’t mean, we don’t know how to dress up, but just not the creepy part of it. During Carnaval we dress up and have colorful parades and party at least 3 days. It is more happy and fun, not so much scary, spooky and fun!

Because we wanted to invite families, we thought of a little bit of spooky, but still appropriate for kids!

Enough Creepy, Spooky lights

The party was going to be in the evening, so lighting is a very important thing to keep in mind while organizing the Halloween Party.

• Bonfire: A crackling fire is so much fun and cozy! Keep an eye on the kids! I found these beautiful and great smelling fire starters. I love these and what a great gift these are as well! After grilling sausages and s’mores, you can throw a bag of “Magical Flames” in the fire for extra ambiance. The kids will love it!
• String Lights: Above the picnic tables and on the deck or wherever you think it is needed, hang some string lights. I just found lights with different colors in a box today and I’m going to use those for this years Halloween Party!
• Candles in Lanterns: In different areas in the garden I lit candles (mostly with batteries, because of the kids).

• Spooky eyes in the trees or bushes: I love this idea! The kids had a blast finding all the colorful eyes peeking through the leaves. Save up some toilet paper rolls and cut eye shapes into the rolls with an X-acto knife. Tape one end of the roll shut with tape and make strings on the rolls to hang them up. At the end right before the party, just break glow sticks and put them in each roll. Then tape the roll shut.

• Milk jar ghosts: Luckily our family drinks and uses a lot of milk, so it was easy to collect enough milk jugs to light up our drive way. We cut a hole in the back with an X-acto knife and drew creepy (but fun) faces on the front of the milk jugs. Add a few rocks or pebbles to put inside the jar (it was a windy Halloween evening) and a tea light with a battery)

Other Decorations

• Pumpkins: Of course! You need pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Decorate them anyway you want. Here are some suggestions.

• Pumpkin bags: I’d rather by the paper ones (and paint them if needed), but someone gave these to us and we used them last year.
• Gravestones: If you have cardboard boxes, cut some gravestones out of them. Paint them and write funny names on them, some skulls, crosses and done!

• Spiderwebs: A few years ago my mom asked me for the spider webs they have here in the USA, so she could use them for Halloween decorations at her house in the Netherlands. I was not aware that they didn’t have them. Some of them come with spiders or you can make them yourself out of pipe cleaners or cardboard.

• Window decorations: Shine a light from the inside of the house and use silhouette decorations on the windows. If you want to make it more creepy, you can place a dressed up doll/person inside and shine a light on it.

Don’t forget food! Halloween Snack ideas

If you use a fire pit, you can think of food, like sausages to grill and s’mores. Some of the simple, normal things like (caramel) popcorn, chips, crackers with cheeses and drinks. Cooled in a cooler or warm tea, chai, cocoa or hot apple cider on a burner outside where people can get their drinks.

But here are some special treats:

• Sausage mummies
• Halloween Snack Board in the shape of a Jack-o-Lantern. Use all kinds of crackers, like Goldfish, Cheese crackers and chips to make this platter. Use blueberries for the mouth, eyes and nose.
• Mandarin/Tangerine “Pumpkin Treats. Peel the tangerines and stick a little celery stick on top of the mandarins to look like tiny pumpkins.
• Jack-o-Lantern Hand Pies with any kind of filling, from savory (spinach, ricotta) to sweet (pumpkin or apple). For puff pastry recipe go here!
• Meringue Ghosts
• Spiders: Use 2 round crackers with hummus in the middle. Use pretzel sticks for the legs and raisins for 2 eyes.
• Charcuterie board. See what a beautiful wooden board with decorative mini pumpkins can make this totally “Halloweenish”.
• Flatbread mummy pizza’s: cut a flatbread (I buy ours at Aldi) into 6 pieces. Top with spaghetti or tomato sauce and strips of cheese for the mummy look. Cut small rings from olives for the eyes.

Happy HALLOWEEEEN!!!!

Danielle

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.