It's a Halloween Party!

It's October 7th today.  That means Halloween is only 24 days away.  That's three and a half weeks.  There's no time to lose, Halloween Party planing needs to start NOW…or soonish I guess.  There's really no reason to put it off because #1, Halloween is quickly approaching, and #2…these Halloween treats are too cute to put off any longer.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I couldn't put this post off any longer.

When I went home last weekend, I had it set in my mind that I would make a batch of really great Halloween-inspired spiderweb cupcakes.  Something cute and simple that anyone could make.  I honestly hadn't really thought of making too many other Halloween things, but I knew that my spiderweb cupcakes would be great.  I enlisted the help of my mother, who is fantastic when it comes to all these sort of decorative/ seasonal type of things, and she wasn't too keen on the spiderweb idea.  At least she wasn't too keen on making only spiderwebs.  That's right.  I was going to make ONLY spiderweb cupcakes? That just wouldn't do.  My mom had so many great ideas, and I really couldn't say no to any of them, they were just too good!  

My mom and I decided to take a batch of devil's food chocolate cupcakes, and we decorated them in five different ways, all with a Halloween decorative theme.  We made some pumpkins, mummies, flying ghosts, candy corn cupcakes, and of course, the spiderwebs.  The cupcakes are all really simple to make, and require nothing more than frosting (which can be store bought! There's nothing wrong with that in this case), Halloween sprinkles and colored sugar, candy (I used m&m's and candy corn) and some fondant (which you can purchase at a store like Michaels).  Nothing crazy or out of this world here.  There's no crazy piping techniques or anything like that.  Anyone can make these.  All it takes is a little patience and some creativity. 

I thought cupcakes would suffice, but my mom clearly did not think so.  We had to make even more Halloween-themed treats!  Cake pops seemed like an obvious direction to go in.  For the cake pops, I turned to my sister for assistance.  My sister has been obsessed with cake pops for the longest time now, and she's always had a knack for shaping dough/fondant, so I had to have her help me with the pops.  We made the usual round cake pops, but she also made some cake pops in a "ghost" shape! Too cute. 

The last Halloween treat on the table is probably one of my favorites.  It doesn't really have a name, so let's just call it Halloween toffee popcorn for now I guess.  I love popcorn, especially when it gets all dressed up like this.  It's really nothing more than some homemade caramel corn that is topped with a chocolate drizzle and some Halloween themed sprinkles.  It's so simple to make.  If you're not planning on having a Halloween celebration of some sort, at least make this popcorn and watch a scary movie…that sounds like a great plan to me. 

These are some simple and easy Halloween treats that anyone can make…I guess I should show you how I made all of them right?  Duh.  I wouldn't just show you a bunch of pretty pictures and not give you the methods to my madness (my mom and sister are included in this madness).  Just be a bit more patient.  From now until Halloween, I'll post the "how-to's" of everything you see in these photos. I just couldn't wait and had to give a sneak peak of what's to come in these next three and a half weeks!

Thank you to my mom and my sister, without them, there's no way I would have been able to make all of these Halloween-inspired recipes during the weekend!