Creepy Cooking and Other Halloween Fun

I think that one of the best things about Halloween is that you can have so much fun with Halloween-themed food.  I'm pretty sure that this year we did more Creepy Cooking than ever before, yet somehow managed not to consume any actual pumpkin.

And... we had some other traditional Halloween fun as well.

There are real benefits to being the only kid at home when Mom makes cookies.
(This was a chocolate mint-chip cookie dough recipe which I substituted Reese's Pieces
for to make it fall-ish.  The combo wasn't as great as I'd hoped but still fun to try.)

When I gave the kids a few options of festive cookies to make one Sunday
afternoon, they voted on Candy Corn Cookies, which turned out really cute
and yummy and we had lots to share with friends and neighbors.

It was obvious by the kids' excitement over pumpkin Jell-O Jigglers
that I don't make Jell-O often enough.
Or maybe I make just enough?

Our neighbor joined us making Jack-O-Lantern pizzas the Sunday before Halloween.

Jack-O-Lantern pancakes for breakfast on Halloween,
and Sharpie'd Cutie Oranges to go into lunches.

We didn't just eat pumpkins, we decorated the family room with them.

We had a mostly-spooky dinner with Suz's family the night before Halloween.

We followed up our spooky dinner with roasting marshmallows in the back yard
and telling some kid-appropriate scary stories that night, including The Vinder Viper,
which the former Boy Scouts in the group had already heard.  It was fun that after
hearing the different stories, Luke told us his own scary stories, using elements of the
stories he'd heard, and extending their length drastically.

Though there were several people who helped the kids at pumpkin-carving time,
they did quite a bit of the carving themselves.  (We had two different friends
and Suz's family over during the two carving sessions.)  All of the kids and
adults were pleased with the way the Jack-O-Lanterns turned out.