Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

It doesn't matter if you have a big family or if you're on your own... Halloween is one of the most fun holidays ever invented. But if you are a busy mom (and your house is the one house on the block where everyone goes for Halloween parties) you may be seeing for some quick and easy Halloween party snacks to have ready for kids, visitors, guests, and freeloading adult friends while the Halloween season.

Looking for some new ideas for festive snacks that don't take a hundred years (or work your fingers to the bone) to put together? The ten Halloween party snack ideas below are lots of fun, simple to make... And some of them are even healthy!

Knife Block Set

1. Rotting Eyes and Severed Fingers

Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

This is a very wholesome but rather creepy Halloween party snack that makes good use of black olives and baby carrots. Dispose the black olives and baby carrots on a party tray with a bowl of your favorite dip (I like a cream cheese veggie dip). Inform your party guests that the tray is filled with rotting black eyes and severed fingers. And then watch this snack disappear. A good way to get your kids excited about veggies!

2. Jack o' lantern Oranges

This wholesome treat is so easy to make, and looks so pretty! Carve jack-o'-lantern faces into oranges and place on a platter. The kids will love it. And they can help, too, without ever having to pick up a knife. Have them simply draw the faces on with a black marker, and carve them yourself. Or don't worry about carving them-- they look just as good with faces drawn on.

As a divergence of this fun Halloween party snack, I like to hollow out an orange with a Jack o' lantern face and fill it with fruit salad. Healthy, easy and quick!

3. Easy Bugs in the Bone Yard

This is such a fun Halloween snack for the kiddos. All you have to do? Sprinkle raisins into a bowl full of white-chocolate covered pretzels. (You could also use chocolate covered raisins.) Kids will eat them up once they learn the name of this snack. Or they'd eat it up anyway, since this mix tastes divine.

4. Slimy Halloween Jigglers

You know those Jello jiggler molds? They work great for Halloween! either use anyone you have lying around the house, or go out and pick up a brain or a heart-shaped Jello mold. Make up a batch of orange, black, purple, or flesh-colored Jello and pour into your mold(s). Or make a flat pan of Jello and cut out shapes with Halloween cookie cutters instead.

5. Ghost Cereal Bars

Prepare a batch of the Rice Krispies marshmallow treats recipe on the back of the cereal box. When the combination has set up, cut out shapes with ghost shaped cookie cutter. Pour warm white frosting or melted white chocolate over the shapes to cover. Add M&M eyes and mouth. A delicious and easy Halloween party snack.

6. Green Gelatin Intestines

This is one of the grosser seeing Halloween party snacks. Make lime gelatin and add pineapple bits, chopped marshmallows, sliced bananas and mandarin oranges. Pour gelatin combination into an angel food cake pan and let set up. Invert pan to take off gelatin mold. Slice the mold horizontally into about 5 layers. Slice the layers in half and Dispose on a platter in semi-circles to look like intestines. Gross!

7. Spooky wholesome Eyeballs

This Halloween party snack is both easy and healthy. Wash a bunch of green grapes. Insert a raisin into the stem end of the grapes and freeze them all until ready to serve.

8. Monster Crackers

Color some white vegetable spread or cream cheese with green food coloring and spread on your favorite crackers. Dispose small bits of green and red bell peppers to make a green-eyed, red-mouthed cracker monster. Use small amounts of broccoli sprouts to make the monster hair. A sneaky way to get kids eating their veggies.

9. Wormy Halloween Punch Recipe

No respectable Halloween party snack list would do with out having this squeamish punch. Just make green Kool-Aid and put in a clear glass punch bowl. Set the punch bowl on top of a glow necklace so the light shines through the punch bowl. Add some gummy worms and watch the kids squirm when they see it.

10. Vampire Blood

You use V8 juice for this one so it is healthier than the wormy punch above. Pour the V8 juice in a clear photo that you have labeled as "Vampire Blood." For an adult party, add the ingredients for a bloody Mary, if you like. For a kids' party, well... Good luck getting them to try it. It is V8, after all!

Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

Grow Tomatoes From Seed Using Fluorescent Lights!

It's easy to grow tomatoes from seed indoors under fluorescent lights. Not only is it easy and inexpensive, but it produces vigorous healthy plants. I have successfully grown a dozen dissimilar tomato varieties under commonplace cool-white fluorescent shop lights in an otherwise dark basement room.

Before we discuss more about the fluorescent lights, let's cover the basics of starting tomato seeds.

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Sterile Soil

Grow Tomatoes From Seed Using Fluorescent Lights!

Don't take a opening of introducing soil-borne diseases by starting seeds in regular organery soil. Instead, buy or make a soil-less mix like Jiffy-Mix, which is made from ingredients like peat moss and perlite. If you want to make your own mix just add equal parts vermiculite or perlite with fine peat moss.

Peat pellets and soil blocks

An alternative to a soil-less mix is to start your seeds in pre-formed peat pellets. These are slightly more precious but honestly convenient. Soak them in water and the peat pellets progress into small soil containers that can later be planted directly into a pot or garden.

Seed Trays/Flats

Any package can be used as long as it has drain holes. I buy the 72-cell lightweight seed-starting flats but they aren't required. You can also use the bottoms of waxed milk cartons, paper cups, open seed trays or individual containers. Any package should be about two to three inches deep. Seed trays usually consist of a clear plastic cover for the purpose of holding the soil from drying out; this might be a concern if your indoor air is very dry.

Labels

Be particular when handling the small tomato seeds not to mix up the varieties because part of the fun is seeing out which tomatoes grow the best. Then don't forget to label your containers. Write the variety and the planting date on the label. Plastic food containers like milk jugs make nice durable three-inch labels when cut up with scissors. Using an industrial Sharpie pen will ensure the writing doesn't fade in the sun.

10 Steps to Planting Tomato Seeds

1. Fill the package with soil-less mix to within one-half inch of the top.
2. Water the soil-less mix in the package and allow to drain.
3. Tamp down the soil lightly with your hand.
4. Place two or three seeds in each package (we'll thin later to one plant).
5. Carefully sprinkle one-quarter inch of soil-less mix evenly on the surface.
6. Tamp down the soil thought about to ensure good contact in the middle of seed and soil.
7. Using lukewarm water, spray or gently water the soil outside until fully wetted.
8. Cover the containers with the plastic lid or plastic wrap to retain moisture.
9. Place the seed package in a location where the climatic characteristic is 75 to 85 degrees F (24 to 29 C) for fastest germination.
10. After one-fourth of the seeds germinate, take off from heat source (if used) and move under fluorescent lights.

Fluorescent Lights

As soon as the tomato seeds have germinated, enough light becomes essential. Ideally you'll contribute 12 hours of sunlight per day to keep your seedlings from getting leggy and stretching for more light. If you have a sunny window or greenhouse with natural light, great! If not, you can spend a slight or a lot on grow lights. I've found that simple 48-inch shop lights fitted with proper cool white bulbs work very well. You should dangle the lights two or three inches above the tops of the plants; hang the lights by a chain on a hook so that the height can be adjusted easily. You can build a cheap grow light stand (I have plans on my website) or you can use an old bookshelf with open sides. The thing is, you don't have to spend a lot of money. Don't worry if the leaves occasionally touch the bulbs because the lights don't get hot.

Sixteen to eighteen hours of fluorescent lighting per day works well. If you put the lights on a timer you won't even have to worry about turning them on and off each day.

Thinning the Seedlings

After two weeks or so the first true tomato leaves will have formed. At this point, the seedlings should be thinned to one plant per cell. I find it easiest to pull out the weakling with my fingers; someone else formula is to snip off the extra plants with scissors at soil level. The goal is to not crowd the plants and end up with the strongest, sturdiest specimens. If you want to save some of the extras, then go ahead and transplant to their own containers.

Hardening the Seedlings

Brush the tops of the seedlings lightly with your hand each day or set a polite fan to move the seedlings around. This hardens the stems and causes your tomato plants to grow stockier. This step reduces leggy seedlings and results in more contract plants.

Fertilizing

If you've used a pre-fertilized seed starting mix, you won't need need to fertilize. However, if some of the leaves are yellowing or no fertilizer was present, you can apply a liquid tomato fertilizer at half strength. Miracle Grow makes a tomato fertilizer low in nitrogen but high in potash and phosphorous that gives good results.

Transplanting Seedlings to Four-inch Pots

After the young tomato plants are four inches tall, they're ready to be transplanted to small pots. Fill the pots with seed starting mix or good capability potting soil and push aside a space in the pot to accept the root ball and stem up to the first leaves. thought about take off the seedlings from the starting package with a spoon or dull knife being particular not to damage the stem. Plant the tomato seedling in its new pot, holding by its leaves or root ball, then add a slight more soil and firm gently. Water well. Then, after allowing the plant a consolidate of hours to adjust, set the pot back under the lights. For the next several weeks, fertilize (following manufacturer's directions), and water until the plants are eight to twelve inches high and seven to eight weeks old.

Moving outdoors

You'll find that fluorescent lights work great for starting tomato plants. Now it's time to move outside and get some sun! Wait until the median frost free date has passed, and the soil climatic characteristic has reached at least 50 degrees F (10 C). Then "harden off" or condition the young tomato plants by placing them outside in a protected spot like a cold frame or a sheltered spot for a few hours each day for a week. This process will reduce the transition shock and firm up the plant for surviving all weather conditions. Then look forward to those luscious tomatoes!

Grow Tomatoes From Seed Using Fluorescent Lights!