Trick or Treat

*sigh* Halloween. The only day of the year where you can forget about who you are, and become someone else for the night. The one time where it is acceptable to show up at people's houses and ask for food. The single time in a year where people look like psychopaths, and no one cares. Halloween is like everyone's cheat day, and the treats and sweets you intake become limitless, but everyone knows Halloween comes with a price. The tricks. Here's my attempt at some awesome Halloween DIYS. 5 Tricks... And 5 Treats. Enjoy!

Tricks and Treats

1. Cauldron of Terror

I did this at a party a few years ago, and it was actually really easy. I bought a plastic cauldron from the local dollar store and filled the bottom up with some dry ice. Then, I filled the rest with a green apple punch (one of my favourites) and out came the smoke. To finish it off, I added a large wooden spoon I found in the pantry and kept adding punch when the steam ran low. Not only was this great for then, but we use the cauldron for trick or treaters every year now.

Pumpkin of Autumn

October is the month of pumpkins, spice and everything nice. Do you know what else is nice? Pumpkin spice lattes... chilled! For this, all you need is a hollowed out pumpkin, a big batch of the latte, and dry ice (optional). You could just use the pumpkin shell as a punch bowl, or go with the top on and stick a removable drink dispenser into the midline of the pumpkin. Your choice!

I haven't tried this one yet, but I'm am certainly looking forward to doing so. I found this recipe online at the kitchen. (Visit the link to see full instructions on the recipe)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

• 2 cups milk

• 4 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

• 1-2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee if you don’t have an espresso machine.)

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of coffee so I am not going to use it when I make this, but of course it's totally optional so go with what you feel.

And of course, no pumpkin spice latte is complete without whipped cream and cinnamon!

2. Bloody Apples

For this, I pretty much replaced the caramel with white or dark chocolate. You could dye the chocolate a

darker black if you are looking for a more gothic style.

To do this one, all you need is chocolate, apples, strawberry sauce (optional), and lollipop sticks. After the chocolate covered apples dried completely, cover them with your strawberry sauce, and let it drip down the sides of the apple. There you have it, a delicious, and fruity snack.

Caramel Apples

So maybe apples oozing blood just isn't you. No problem! Caramel apples may look different, but they have the same effect as the trick version of the DIY! All you need for this is melted caramel, apples, and lollipop sticks, AND if you want, you can cover your apples in your favourite candies, to stay 'Halloweeny". When the caramel is about halfway to dry, roll it in a bowl of your favourite candy, then let it dry some more. This is just me personally, but I would recommend using chocolates instead of sweeter, candy-like treats. (aka M&M's, Mini Reese's Pieces, chocolate shards, crushed Kit Kat Bars, peanuts!)

3. Gingerbread Monsters

Everyone knows that October 31 is Halloween season and November first is the first day of Christmas, so why not just clash the two together. To make these gingerbread monsters, you need gingerbread cookies, icing, and your choice of candy for decorations.

Really, just choose a monster and ice it on! I would suggest making little skeletons or vampires, but it's totally up to you. This party snack is more for the cookie artists but no one ever finds a hobbie without a first try!

Sugar Skull Cookies.

For those of us who aren't the biggest fans of gingerbread, sugar cookies are the next best. Sugar + Skulls + Cookies = Sugar Skull Cookies! Día de Muertos has given us yet another awesome thing to enjoy. If you can't find skull cookie cutters, using a putting together a big and small circle is a great improvisation.

As for the colours, the sky the limit! Black and white, rainbows, warms, colds, neutrals. Sugar Skulls are bright and colourful, and bright and colourful your cookies will be too!

4. Eye Popping Cake Pops

(I got this tricky treat idea from an episode of Worst Bakers in America)

To do this, you're going to need a batch of cake pops. The recipe doesn't matter, but you want the end

result to be red. When your pops are out of the oven and cooled, stick a plastic/metal fork halfway through the circle and dip it into a bowl of white icing or melted white chocolate. After the pops are halfway dried, stick a chocolate melt the colour of your eye front and center on you pop. Then, with a tube of black icing, put a dot in the middle of your coloured chocolate melt and let your cake pop dry completely!

Pumpkin Pops

If eating eyeballs aren't exactly your thing, how about some cute little pumpkin pops?

After your pops are baked, cooled, and skewered (halfway), dip your pop into a bowl of orange icing or orange chocolate melts. When the first coat is halfway done cooling, stick a small m&m (or another green candy) on the top of your pop. If using m&m's, ensure the candy is sitting on the cake vertically, so that it is not flat and facing downward. And just to make your pops the cutest they can get, pipe on a small grinning face with thin, black icing.

Tip: Make a pumpkin batter to add to your pops flavour.

5. Strawberry Ghosts

The final trick snack is certainly the easiest and the healthiest...ish. Take some strawberries and dip them into white a bowl of melted white chocolate and let it dry fully on a sheet of parchment paper. When the chocolate has tried over completely, pipe on two eyes and a small open mouth with dark chocolate. Easy, right?

Candy Corn Berries

Melt 3 different bowls of chocolate melts. One orange, one yellow, and one white. First, dip your strawberry into the yellow bowl and let it fully dry. Next, dip the strawberry into the orange bowl, but only about 2/3 of the way up the strawberry to leave room for the yellow. After the second layer has dried, dip the tip of the strawberry into the white bowl and there you have it!

Keep in mind you will need more yellow and orange melts than you will whites.

I hope you enjoyed this little Halloween DIY blog. It is something new that I haven't tried doing before, and I am proud of how it turned out.

May this everyday blog written by an everyday teenager make your day 1 in a million.

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