My sister (Satan -- read some of the older blogs and you'll understand why we call her that) and I decided to combine our son's parties to save some money. It was good in theory except both kids invited a lot of people and it wound up being a little overcrowded. So money saving tip #1 is WATCH THE GUEST LIST. Sure the kids liked that they got extra presents but we also ran out of food. Not good. I would say 1 person per how many years old the child will be. If the party is for 2 kids, divide the oldest kids age in half and that's how many people each kid gets to invite (in our case since Evel was turning 11, each kid should've invited 5 1/2 kids. Ouch. Since that isn't really feasible, let the older kid invite one extra. He's done his time by putting up with the little one, he deserves it).
We also wanted the focus to be on the food. I spent days scouring the net for any and all gross recipe ideas. We figured if we could make the food look gross enough that everyone paid the most attention to that, it would save us on decorations (we also thought we would have leftovers but that didn't happen). We made things like "Kitty Litter Cake," "Bloody Worms," and "Booger Dip." It was all super easy and extremely cost effective (two good things because I'm lazy and my sister's broke). My nephew practically made the entire Kitty Litter cake himself and he was turning 8. Most of the ingredients were already in my kitchen so it saved on cost there. Also, we just bought plain white paper plates, napkins and silverware but you could also look for brown or pea green for added grossness.
Finally, we needed games that would work for kids as young as 2 and as old as 13. We decided to do an egg toss (since getting egg all over you is pretty gross), a Body Part Dig (gummy body parts in cooked spaghetti that was mixed with pudding to make it slimy) and the Poopy Diaper Game where guests try to guess what baby food "poop" is in each diaper. Some of the kids wouldn't even come near this game because it looked so disturbing and we told them that Evel's little brother "donated" the dirty diapers.
Even though we ran out of food and it was crowded, the boys said that this was the best birthday that they ever had. Evel (even though he's 11 now) wants to have another party like this next year. Oh yeah, and Satan and I are now the awesome moms. I hope that this little guide will help your kids have as much fun as ours did!
Below I've included some pictures of our food with recipes on how we made it and instructions for the games that we played. I've also included links to some of the websites that were our original inspiration. Please message me if you have any questions on anything. Enjoy!
Food table (complete with Natty Light)
THE FOOD:
Make sure you have some "ungross" choices for people, like veggies and dip and some regular hot dogs that haven't been cut into worms. Also, don't forget the bottled water. I debated getting it or not and I'm glad I did. A lot of adults skipped the punch in favor of the water.
THE MAIN ATTRACTION: THE KITTY LITTER CAKE
I made the cakes and pudding, crumbled the cakes and smashed the cookies the day before the party and held them in the fridge overnight. I assembled the cake itself about an hour before the party. The original link can be found here: http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/halloween-party-food.html#kitty-litter-cake
Ingredients:
1 pkg (18 oz) German Chocolate or Plain Chocolate cake mix
1 pkg (18 oz) Yellow or White cake mix
1 pkg (6 oz) instant vanilla pudding (the bigger box or 2 small ones)
1 pkg (16 oz) vanilla Oreo cookies
1 pkg Tootsie Rolls
Green food coloring
1 NEW medium sized litter box
1 NEW kitty litter scooper
Instructions:
1. Wash litter box and scooper, set aside to dry
2. Bake both cakes according to package directions. Let cool to room temperature.
3. While cakes are baking, prepare pudding according to package directions. Refrigerate until needed.
4. In a food processor, crumble vanilla Oreos. You'll need to scrape the sides to keep them from sticking. (I put mine in a gallon resealable bag and used a rolling pin to crush them. It was less messy. Some bigger chunks are okay).
5. Remove 1/4 c of cookie crumbles and place in a small bowl. Add a few drops of green food coloring and mix with a fork until all crumbs have a green tint to them. Set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl, crumble both of the prepared cakes together. Add about HALF of the UNCOLORED cookie crumbs. Stir to mix.
7. Gently add pudding and mix until a moist mixture results. You probably won't use all of the pudding. You just need the crumbs moist, not soggy.
8. Scoop mixture into litter box.
9. Create 7-8 tootsie roll "turds" and place them (burying some slightly) on the cake/pudding mixture. (To make the "turds," cook 7-8 tootsie rolls in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Shape into turds, curving slightly and pulling out the blunt edges). Make sure one of the "turds" is hung over the side of the litter box like a poorly aimed poop.
10. Sprinkle the remaining uncolored Oreo crumbs lightly over the top (enough to cover the poops but still have them visible). Sprinkle the green Oreo crumbs over top of all.
11. Serve with the pooper scooper.
THE MAIN COURSE: BLOODY WORMS
I sliced up the hot dogs the day before the party. I put them in the crock pot with the ketchup about a 2 hours before the party started to give them a chance to warm up.
Ingredients:
6 packs of hot dogs (use your eye depending on how many people you are feeding. 6 packs did this much in my large oval crock pot.)
Ketchup
Instructions:
1. Slice hot dogs lengthwise so they resemble worms
2. Mix in crock pot with ketchup (for the blood). Don't hold back, use a good bit of "blood." Keep the crock on warm so the "blood" stays runny. Add more "blood" if it looks like it's starting to dry out.
3. Serve plain or offer rolls to make sandwiches
4. You can also use BBQ sauce for the blood
PUKE DIP
I mixed and heated this the day before and just kept the entire crock pot in the fridge overnight. I plugged it in on LOW about an hour before the party started, stirring frequently then turned it down to WARM when it was heated through.
Ingredients:
1 brick Velveeta cheese spread
1 small jar Salsa
1 lb cooked hamburger
Guacamole flavored chips (for serving)
Instructions:
1. Cook the burger and drain the fat
2. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot on high. Stir occasionally until the cheese is melted. Keep crock on WARM and stir frequently throughout party.
3. We used the Guacamole chips because they were green and looked moldy...use any chip you so desire.
EYEBALL EGGS
I boiled the eggs and cut and prepared the filling the night before the party. I held the egg whites in large Ziploc bags. I filled them about a half hour before the party started and suckered, I mean RECRUITED, my boyfriend to get the irises and veins done.
Ingredients:
2 dozen eggs
Mayo
Mustard
Black Olives
Red food coloring
Instructions:
1. Hard boil eggs. (put eggs into pot containing cold water. heat water to boiling. let boil 1 minute. remove pot from heat and let eggs sit in hot water for 12 minutes).
2. Shell eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out yolk and keep in separate bowl. Save remaining boiled egg whites.
3. Smash up yolk with a fork. Add mayo and mustard to taste.
4. Lay out egg whites and scoop smashed yolks evenly into the holes in the whites.
5. Add a black olive as the "iris" of the eyeball to the middle of the yellow yolk.
6. Make veins in the yellow yolk by dipping a toothpick in the red food coloring and dragging it through the yolk.
GOBLIN TOES
I cut the "toenail" area off of the lil' smokies the night before. I assembled them about a half hour before the party started and was still assembling them when guests started arriving. Give yourself at least 45 minutes to finish them.
Ingredients:
1 pkg Hillshire Farms Lil' Smokies
Cream Cheese
Pimentos
Toothpicks (to spear them and keep them from rolling all over the place)
Instructions:
1. Heat the Lil' Smokies according to package instructions to ensure that the bacteria is cooked out. Let cool. They will be served cold at the party.
2. After they're cool enough to touch, cut a 1/4"x1/4" area at the end of one of the smokies out. This will be the toenail bed area.
3. Spread a little bit of cream cheese on the "toenail bed" area
4. Stick a pimento on the cream cheese to make the "toenail"
5. Spear it with a toothpick to keep it from rolling around.
OWL BARF BALLS
Tinkerbell and I made these the night before and stored them in an air tight container in the fridge overnight. They will hold in the fridge for up to one week. They're basically No Bake cookies with pretzel sticks and coconut flakes added. The original recipe can be found at: http://www.author-illustr-source.com/GinjerClarke.htm
Ingredients:
1/4 c butter (half a stick)
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c milk
1 tsp cocoa
1/4 c chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 c oats (not instant oatmeal)(note: i did use quick oats and they turned out fine)
1/2 c pretzel sticks (broken into small pieces to look like bones)
1/4 c coconut flakes (to look like fur)(optional and i opted out)
Instructions:
1. Mix the butter, sugar, milk and cocoa in a saucepan with a large spoon. Heat on M/H and stir until mixture is smooth.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil for 1 minute. After 1 minute, remove from heat.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. All the mixture to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan (until it is cool enough to touch)
4. Scoop out the mixture by Teaspoonful (I made them a little bigger) onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet
5. Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 10 minutes
6. Remove the blobs from the wax paper and form into long balls
7. Store in the refrigerator
BOOGER DIP
(I made this the day before and stored it in the original container. The day of the party, I removed the label and wrote "Booger Dip" on a piece of construction paper that I taped to the jar.)
Ingredients:
1 jar Cheese dip (any yellow dip will work)
Green food coloring
Instructions:
1. Empty cheese dip into a bowl. Save jar that it came in.
2. Mix green food coloring into the dip.
3. Return to jar and label it as Booger Dip.
4. Add some relish for the actual boogers if you want.
BLOOD PUNCH
I thought buying enough to make one huge bowl of this would be enough and I was wrong. Double this recipe if you're going to have a lot of people over. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/dragons-blood-punch-and-hand-ice-mold-186676
Ingredients:
1 (64 oz) bottle Apple Juice, chilled
1 (64 oz) bottle Cranberry Juice, chilled
1 (2 ltr) bottle Ginger Ale, chilled
1 packet Cherry Kool-Aid powder
Instructions:
1. Mix all liquids in a large punch bowl. Stir.
2. Add Kool-Aid (to make it look more bloody) and mix.
3. Add ice or add the ice hand that is mentioned in the original recipe
THE FUN:
If your going to play these games, you may want to tell guests in advanced to bring a change of clothes or to wear something that they don't mind getting messy.
EGG TOSS:
It's a classic that all kids can play. Offer prizes to kids in different age groups if they vary. A two year old can't throw an egg as far as a 10 year old.
What You'll Need:
Raw Eggs
Somewhere to Throw the Raw Eggs
Instructions:
1. Split the kids into teams of 2 and give each team an egg
2. Start out 1 step apart. Have one kid toss the egg to the other kid.
3. If the kid catching the egg catches it successfully, the team advances.
4. Have each kid take a step back.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 until only one team remains. This team is the winner.
BODY PART DIG:
This felt pretty gross when you stuck your hand in there and started digging around. I had a difficult time finding gummy body parts in stores and I would recommend googling and ordering them online unless it's around Halloween. In that case, Target has them.
What You'll Need:
2 lb spaghetti, cooked
Pudding or Some other Slimy Substance (we used the remainder of the kitty litter cake pudding)
Body Parts to find (we used mini Twix bars for fingers, Chicklets for teeth, gummy eyeballs and gummy worms)
Blindfold
Timer
Bucket (for "found" body parts)
Instructions:
1. Mix spaghetti and pudding the night before the party and store in the fridge. We also got creative with decorating a construction paper sign to put on the body part container. It looked great in the fridge. :P
2. Add the body parts right before the game starts and mix them up
3. Blindfold the kid and set the timer for 30 seconds
4. The kid with the most body parts IN THE BUCKET after 30 seconds is the winner.
5. You can only do this one kid at a time but the other kids didn't mind watching their friends get messy!
POOPY DIAPER GAME:
This was the one that a lot of really young kids didn't want to come near, but the adults enjoyed thoroughly. You'll be surprised at some of the guesses that you get.
The diapers
Below: Evel after we told him the last one was really poop.
Below: Aunt Stephie taking a big whiff
What You'll Need:
5 kinds of baby food
5 diapers
Paper
Pens
Crackers (for tasting)
Instructions:
1. Smear baby food into the "butt" area of diapers. Make sure you write down which is which and number the diapers.
2. Have guests guess what kind of baby food is in each diaper and write down their guesses. They can smell and taste them. Make sure they use a cracker or chip so it's not a community germ pool.
3. The one with the most correct guesses wins.
4. We had it set up so if there was a tie, we brought an extra diaper and a miniature Reese's Fast Break that we planned on microwaving until it melted in the diaper for the tie breaker. Each person that won could taste and smell the candy bar and the first one to guess what it was, was the winner!
HELPFUL LINKS:
Scott's Blog: Zachary's Totally Gross Birthday Party
Halloween Party Recipes: 65 Fun and Creepy Halloween Recipes
Disney Family Fun Halloween Recipes
Our Best Bites: Easy Halloween Party Food
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