🕯️ Halloween at Home

Have some fiendish family fun for October 31st

It’s that time of year again… the spooookiest night of the year! And this year it’s set to be even more spooktacular as it falls on a full moon Saturday. We’ve got some ghoulish ideas for celebrating Halloween at home this 31st of October for a fiendish night of family fun that doesn’t require leaving the house.

🕯️ Dress up!

Dust off the costume basket, it’s time to frock up. Get the entire family involved (yep, even dad!). You could set a theme, such as superheroes or Harry Potter, or get ghoulish with ghosts and gremlins. Let the kids give you a ‘Day of the Dead’ makeover — if you dare! Here’s some of the top 2020 Halloween costumes predictions according to Good Housekeeping:

• Dr. Who in his TARDIS
• ‘Baby Shark’
• Harley Quinn
• Frida Kahlo
• Dragon Queen from Game of Thrones

🕯️ Bake a batch of monster cookies

Now that you’re all dressed up, it’s time to get your hands dirty baking some monster cookies! They’re a cinch to make and you probably already have all the ingredients at home — although you may need to make a quick trip to the local supermarket for the candy eyeballs!

Ingredients

• 1 box vanilla cake mix
• 6 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓-cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• Food dye in your choice of colours
• ½-cup granulated sugar
• Packet of candy eyeballs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and line 2 trays with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
3. Separate the cookie dough into 3 bowls and add your choice of dye to each one. Then roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and roll them in the granulated sugar.
4. Place your dough balls on the baking sheets about 5cm apart and bake for approximately 8 minutes, or until the tops start to crack.
5. Straight away, while the cookies are still warm, press candy eyeballs into them.
6. Allow them to cool and then gobble them up!

🕯️ Watch scary movies in your moonlight cinema

With the full moon on the 31st of October, it’s the perfect night to set up an outdoor cinema in the backyard to watch some scary moonlight movies. Find out how to make your own moonlight cinema with our easy step-by-step instructions. And here’s a spooky selection of kid-friendly Halloween movies on Netflix to choose from:

• Corpse Bride
• Hotel Transylvania
• Monster Family
• DreamWorks Spooky Stories
• A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting

🕯️ Tell ghost stories around the fire pit

From spooky to silly, fireside stories are a wonderful way to connect with the family, have a good laugh (roast some marshmallows!) and let the kids show off their storytelling skills. Here’s a few you might remember from your childhood:

• ‘Dem Bones’
• ‘The Big Toe’
• ‘Yellow Ribbon’
• ‘The Hook’
• ‘The Thing at the Good of the Bed’

(You can check out the full stories and few more here)

🕯️ Make blood orange cocktails

Later, after the little ghouls are tucked away in bed, mum and dad can enjoy a romantic glass of wine beneath the full moon or a Halloween blood orange cocktail — boo!

Ingredients (2 cocktails)

• 4 blood oranges
• 1 lemon
• 2 shot gin
• 1 shot orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
• 4 drops grapefruit bitters
• Lychee & blueberry ‘eyeballs’ to garnish (or a lemon twist if you prefer)
• Ice

Directions

1. Juice the blood oranges and lemon.
2. Pour juice into a shaker and add the gin, orange liqueur, bitters and ice.
3. Give it a shake.
4. Strain into martini glasses and garnish with your lychee ‘eyeballs’ or lemon twist.

MORE IN-STORE

Visit us in-store and online to get your home and outdoor area party-ready for Halloween night. For more ideas, check out Family-Friendly Halloween Ideas for everything from jack-o-lantern carving to a creepy shortbread ‘witch finger’ biscuit recipe.

(Hero photo by Daisy Anderson from Pexels)