Halloween is celebrated in the West with great fervour. Every year millions are spent on decor, costumes and candy for a calendar date that is now starting to become popular here in India too.

Keeping the scary and slightly morbid aspect aside, it’s a great night to enjoy some copious amounts of candy, dress the kids up in fun costumes and have a spookily spectacular shindig at home. M&B shows you how...

THE LOOK
Getting the house to look great for a Halloween party is very simple. With a few creative ideas and a little time, one can transform any living space into a haunted house or for a quick makeover, add a smatter of ghastliness here and there.

Pumpkins
No Halloween party is complete without a Jack-O-Lantern. If you can’t be bothered, like most busy mums, to carve out the perfect cheeky-grinned face onto your pumpkin, you could always cheat. A bit of black electrical tape comes to the rescue as you can cut out triangles for the eyes and a nice crooked smile and stick them on to the pumpkin.

Make smaller pumpkins into candle holders, using different sized pumpkins and candles in clusters. Place these at the entrance of the house and at places where kids won’t be able to touch the candles.

Spider webs
Shops like Hobby Ideas have different kinds of tube gel paints that are used to paint on any surface and can be peeled off when dry. Pick black or white, whichever you prefer, and start with a large sheet of wax paper or plastic. Draw out your spider web and let it dry. Once dry, you can tape these realistic looking webs on the corners of your hall and windows. If you’re not sure of how a spider web should look, the internet has many references to help you get started.


Witches hats and bats
If you want to make the house really stand out, buy a lot of black chart paper and a good pair of paper scissors! Witches hats are very easy to make. You need to cut out two circles of about nine inches each. Make a small cut on the first circle and form it into a conical shape and staple this onto the other circle, keeping the second circle as the flat base. Similarly, cut out bats and tape them on the walls or have them dangling from the ceiling attached with clear string.

Ghosts
Add an eerie touch to your party and the kids will love you for it! You will need either a tall floor lamp or some kind of tall piece of furniture that you can drape with a white sheet. Paint black eyes and a screaming mouth on the front and your ghost is ready. A lamp is a better option as the light will have a nice shadowy effect with the white sheet flowing over it.

You can also cover glasses with smaller pieces of white fabric and paint eyes onto them. These mini ghosts can make for an interesting centerpiece for the dinner table.