Halloween Party Palooza! [VIDEO\PICS]

Two first grade classes and one 4th grade class. All Halloween. All insane. The kids had a great time - and I think even the grown ups did too! It's the annual Halloween bash we throw for the kids!

I would like to take credit for it all, but alas - I cannot. It's all Jen and Pinterest. I provide the manual labor to help her pull it all together.

There were three categories: FOOD, GAMES AND DECORATIONS.

Let's start with decorations - all made by Jen.

• The Pumpkin Grab: All the kids got to poke their hand into the pumpkin and grab a little prize!

• Ghost: had a couple of these hanging around the house.

• Bats. Your basic bat. Although Jen cut these out of some sort of soft foamy material that was slightly bendable.

• Bat Mobile: At first Jeff was very excited when he heard Jen made a Bat Mobile. Nope.These are bats on fishing line hooked to a branch hanging from the ceiling.

• Cabinet goodies: candles wrapped like mummies, and just some spooky stuff that looks kinda cool.

• Spooky spider orb: This was Jen's spider cookies (the worst food to make). The first step in the instructions in making one of these neat orbs was - DON'T MAKE THEM!

Then the games...all organized by Jen. There was a lot to do, here are a few highlights:

• Can Stacking - try to stack as many empty cans on a plate floating in a bowl of water!

• The Marshmellow Move: with plastic fangs, move a giant marshmellow from one plate to the next!

• Bowling! Grab litter bottles and fill them with water and bowl them down with a basketball!

• Parachute fun: Grab a giant parachute, plastic balls and go to town!

Then there was the food. Oh, the food. Everything themed, everything handmade. I was in charge of most of the food. Jen though is the master of the snack-o-lantern!

• Pumpkin Cups. Pretty simple, yet festive. Take a fruit cup and draw a jack-o-lantern on it!

• Finger Food: it's just hummus and veggies, but those carrots DO look like fingers!

• Halloweenies: your basic mini hotdog with pastry wrapped around it. Adorable AND yummy!

• Pizza Mummies: half an English muffin, pizza sauce, string cheese pulled apart, black olive eyes and green pepper pupils!

• Graveyard Pudding: super easy! Snack Pack, ghost Peep, pumpkin candy and little candy bones. Oh, the 'dirt' is ground up Oreos!

• Eyeballs: donut holes dipped in melted white chocolate, the pupil is a chocolate chip and then icing for the veins! Cool!

• Skull Cupcakes (thank you Love Kupcakes!): take half a marshmellow and place in the wrapper. Use frosting to cover it all. Eyes are Junior Mints and the teeth are slivered almonds.

• Spider Cookies: the WORST thing to make. An oreo cookie, then separate peel and eat Twizzlers. Cut and stick in the middle for legs. Why can't spiders only have 4 legs? Dab some frosting and stick red M&M's on for eyes!

• And last but not least, my favorite - Scary Cats: bake a batch of brownies and while it's warm (not hot) put a York's Peppermint Patty on, chocolate chips for ears and candy eyes. When it's completely cool, then add the smile and fangs. Don't they look cute?

So...it was a huge success. It was a crazy busy weekend...so busy I'm just getting the energy to write about it! So guess what I'm looking forward to? Some good ol' fashioned adult Halloween fun! See you at the Spirit of Portland Halloween Party!