Family-Friendly Halloween Party

Craft several of these party invitations to hang on your friends' doors as a reminder of your spooky soiree. Decorate your front door with one, too.

Party guests tend to linger around the food table, so make yours as engaging as possible. A simple runner made from orange-and-white striped fabric trimmed with rickrack grounds the goodies displayed on black, white, green, and orange dishes and serving pieces.

Amuse your guests by clearly marking party food with these labels that look like they were pulled from the fire.

Give your guests something to crow about by perching a few crows (available at crafts stores) in strategic locations. Don't forget to add them in unexpected nooks and to the buffet table.

Fill hungry tummies with Mummy Dogs, a smile-inducing finger food. Refrigerated breadstick dough makes this crowd-pleaser a cinch to make. For eyes, press capers into the dough before baking.

Give boring tomato soup a ghoulish makeover in a snap-- and you don't even have to be a gourmet chef! This tangled web is a bit of sour cream woven with a toothpick. See the next two slides for more information.

For the spiderweb design, mix together 3 tablespoons of sour cream and 1 tablespoon of milk. Pour the mixture into a plastic condiment bottle. Carefully squeeze several circles on the surface of warm soup, making a targetlike design.

Use a toothpick to drag lines from the center out toward the edges to create a web design. Voila! Create the webs just as you serve your guests so they get the full effect (and before the sour cream dissolves into the soup).

Serve a Halloween dessert that pleases both kids and adults -- ooey, gooey delicious s'mores. With this speedy version, you can have "some more" in no time flat.

No matter how sweet the treat, adding fake spiders to the food display makes everything look a little creepier.

Ghosts and goblins will love digging into this crunchy concoction. This make-ahead mixture includes seeds, nuts, oats, and a healthy dose of sweet ingredients.

Cute little treat bags will help keep young guests from getting spooked by the sight of bats and ghosts hanging from tree branches.

Bags of sweets and snacks are always a hit. For a change of pace, include some nonedible loot, such as small toys or Halloween-themed flashlights (available at party stores) to use on trick-or-treating adventures.

Share the Halloween recipes that were served at the party. Print the recipes on white paper, roll up, and tie with a black ribbon. Display the favors in a container on the food table for guests to grab on their way home.