Stepping Out

Entertaining Halloween-style

Tricks and tasty treats add up to monstrously memorable merrymaking

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The countdown is on to the spooking and assorted revelry that goes along with the lead-up to Halloween. The festivities are well under way throughout the area, as all those ghouls, witches and wizards get ready for Oct. 31.
Get your ghoul on and enjoy a spooky soirée with family and friends — sure to be a thrill for both kids and adults.
Halloween is the perfect time to throw on a costume and act like a kid. Of course, you want everyone there to partake in the spooky fun, too, so here are some tips to make sure your party is remembered long after the witches put away their cauldrons.
Set a festive but safe mood: Creepy Halloween decor, such as spider webs and Jack-O-Lanterns, can be placed around the house and yard to help get guests into the spirit. Halloween-themed music, such as “Monster Mash” and movies, such as “Dracula” and “Frankenstein,” can help offset any down time, as can sharing scary stories.
Balance the macabre with some friendly ghoulish décor. Halloween parties do not necessarily need to be ghoulish to be fun. Try a glittery gala masquerade party or decorate exclusively in orange and black. Classically eerie parties may feature ravens and crows, or they can be subtlely spooky.

Skip the candles for safety: Battery-operated tealights and other Hallowen themed “candle” decor create the effect of real candles without the danger. Illuminate jack-o’-lanterns and other Halloween items with flickering LEDs, which won’t start a fire if they’re knocked over.
Dressed up décor: Many people can’t wait to dress up for a Halloween party, even deciding on their costumes months in advance. Still, not everyone feels comfortable donning a costume.
To welcome all guests, don’t make costumes mandatory. One way around this is to set up a Halloween Disguise Table full of accessories that anyone can borrow and use to alter their appearance. Goofy glasses, strange hats, adhesive mustaches, or masks can be fun. If someone doesn’t feel comfortable dressing in full costume, he or she may be more apt to pop in a set of plastic fangs or put on a spinning bow tie.
Get creative with Halloween cuisine: Cookie cutters can turn sandwiches, desserts, biscuits, and many other foods into different shapes. Foods also can be made a tad more spooky simply by renaming them or presenting them in interesting containers. Why not serve punch out of a fish aquarium? Other beverages can be housed in jugs or old bottles and labeled “potions.” Use laboratory instruments, such as petri dishes, vials and beakers, to serve snacks.
Try these tricked-out treats for same tasty Halloween spooking.

Vampire Bat Wings
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
(cayenne)
6 tablespoons lime juice, divided
6 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, divided
12 whole chicken wings (3 lbs.)
2/3 cup barbecue sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 green onion, sliced
2 tsp. lime zest

Mix chili powder, garlic, ground red pepper, and 5 tablespoons each lime juice and chipotle peppers until blended; pour over chicken in large shallow dish. Turn to evenly coat both sides of wings. Refrigerate 30 minutes to marinate, turning wings a!er 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix remaining chipotle peppers and barbecue sauce until blended.
Heat oven to 400°F. Remove wings from marinade; place in single layer on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Discard marinade.
Bake wings 35 to 40 minutes or until wings are done, turning a!er 20 minutes. Brush with half the barbecue sauce mixture; bake 5 minutes, turning and brushing with remaining barbecue sauce mixture a!er 3 minutes.
Combine sour cream, onions, zest and remaining lime juice. Serve with the wings.

Ghosts in the Graveyard
2 packages (3.9 oz. each) chocolate
flavor instant pudding
3 cups cold milk
1 tub (12 ounces) whipped topping, thawed, divided
15 Oreo cookies, crushed
(about 1-1/2 cups)
Assorted decorations: 3 oblong vanilla creme-filled sandwich cookies, decorating gel, 5 candy pumpkins, 10 candy corn pieces

Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in 3 cups of whipped topping and half the cookie crumbs. Spread into 13x9-inch dish; sprinkle with remaining crumbs.
Refrigerate 1 hour. Meanwhile, decorate sandwich cookies with decorating gel to resemble tombstones.
Insert decorated cookies into top of dessert just before serving. Add candies. Drop large spoonfuls of remaining whipped topping onto dessert to resemble ghosts.

Melted Witch Punch
6 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1 (6 ounce) package lime-flavored
gelatin mix
1 (46 fluid ounces) can pineapple juice
2 quarts orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 (2 liter) bottles chilled lemon-lime soda

Mix water, sugar, and gelatin mix in a large saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook at a boil, whisking frequently, until gelatin and sugar have dissolved, about 3 minutes. Stir pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice into gelatin mixture and transfer into resealable plastic bags. Place in freezer until slushy, about 4 hours.
Pour mixture into a large punch bowl and stir in lemon-lime soda; float a black plastic witch hat atop the punch.