Category: Food

Harry Potter Children’s party themes

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Transform your child and his or her guests from Muggles to wizards with our Harry Potter Party Ideas! We have suggestions for everything from invitations to activities that will ensure a mystical birthday bash no one will forget!

Harry Potter Children’s Party Planning & Invitations

In addition to basic magical kids party supplies, like plates, cups, napkins, and decorations, you may want to consider purchasing, borrowing or renting the following items for your Harry Potter party:


  • Harry Potter movies, soundtracks or video games

  • A Selection of Magic Tricks

  • Wands

  • You may also want to consider hiring a magician to come perform for your guests.


Invitations are an important part of your planning because they give the first impression of your children’s party to your guests. If you have the time to make your own invitations, here are a few ideas to consider for your Harry Potter Birthday party:

  • Fold a piece of cardstock in half to create a top-fold card. If you are artistic, draw the Hogwarts crest on the front. Underneath the crest, write, “You are Invited…”

  • Punch a hole in the corner of a card-style invitation and attach it to a magic wand. Ask your guests to bring their wand with them to the party.

  • Create a top-fold card and divide the front of the card into four squares. Write one of the Hogwarts house names in each square (i.e. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff).

    Harry Potter Decorating & Food

Transform your party area into a page out of the Harry Potter series with some ‘mystical’ decorations:


  • Make a “Sorting Hat” by cutting a cone shape from a 24″ x 18″ piece of purple poster board, as shown below. Roll it into a cone, and tape or staple it closed. Cut out star and crescent moon shapes from yellow construction paper, and glue them onto the hat. As each guest arrives, put the hat over his or her head and announce that they have been chosen to the [child’s last name]’s house! Then, use the Sorting Hat as a centerpiece.

  • Hang two or three stuffed owls from the ceiling of the party area.

  • Cut a large lightning bolt out of white poster board and spray paint it silver. Hang it on the door leading to the party.

  • Create placemats that represent the four houses of Hogwarts using plain white construction paper and coloured markers. Write one of the house names on each placemat, and decorate them with the appropriate colours:

    • Slytherin: Green and Silver

    • Gryffindor : Scarlet and Gold

    • Hufflepuff: Yellow and White

    • Ravenclaw: Blue and Silver


When it comes to children’s party food, your guests would most likely be perfectly happy with pizza or hotdogs. However, if you would like to include some Harry Potter themed snacks, consider these ideas:


  • Serve “Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.” We suggest using Jelly Belly brand jelly beans because of the wide variety of flavors available.

  • Make chocolate frogs using chocolate chips and gummy frogs (available at candy stores). Microwave one cup of chocolate chips for one minute or until melted, and stir. Dip the gummy frogs in the melted chocolate, and then place them on wax paper to cool. Keep the frogs chilled until you’re ready to serve them.

  • Serve “magic potion”. Freeze cranberry and grape juice in ice cube trays before the party. Serve a colourless soda at the party, such as ginger ale or lemon-lime. Let your guests select their ice cubes, which will “magically” change the colour of their drinks.

  • There are a number of treats from the Harry Potter stories that are made from everyday products, such as Butter Beer (root beer), Choco Balls (chocolate covered strawberry mousse balls), Fizzing Whizbees (sherbet balls), Rock Cakes (randomly shaped cakes with raisins), chocolate eclairs, and licorice wands.

    Harry Potter Party favours

Put a smile on your guests’ faces by sending them home with party favours that fit your theme. You could give one large favour, such as one of the Harry Potter novels or movie tickets; or combine smaller favours such as:


  • A magic wand

  • A book of magic tricks

  • Harry Potter stickers, pencils and stationery items

  • Plastic Harry Potter glasses

 

Kids eat free

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We believe all mums deserve to have a break from cooking at home everyday, but sometimes eating out with Kids can be pretty expensive. If you are looking for a place to treat your Kids with a delicious meal without breaking your bank account, look no further! We’ve done the hard work for you by compiling these fab restaurants which offer ‘Kids Eat Free’

Gordon Ramsay Restaurants

Selected location

There are several Gordon Ramsay’s Restaurants which offer Kids Eat Free for every adult main course ordered, including Maze Grill Mayfair, Bread Street Kitchen and The Narrow in London.

Damon’s Restaurant, Lincoln / Liverpool / Sheffield

Kids under 12 years old can enjoy a free main course from the kids menu which available from Monday to Saturday 12-6pm at Damon’s restaurant.

Coal Grill & Bar, various location

Kids aged 10 and under can enjoy a fun free meal from Coal Kids Menu per adult spending £10 or more, available from Monday to Friday 12-5pm.

Brewer’s Fayre / Beefeater Grill / Thyme / Table Table – Premier Inn, Countrywide

Enjoy up to two under 16s free Premier Inn all-you-can-eat breakfast per one full-paying adult. Kids can choose from hot and cold breakfast, as well as freshly-baked pastries, fruits and juices.

Morrisons, Countrywide

Morrisons offers one free kids meal (for under 16 years old) with any adult hot meal (over £4.50) from 3pm every day.

Crown Carveries, Countrywide

Visit your local Crown Carvery any Sunday (and bank holiday Monday) to get free kids carvery for each adult ordering a roast or pub classic meal. ASDA, Countrywide

Kids can eat free on weekdays after 3.30pm for every adult meal purchased worth £4.

Choctastic days out

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We’ve found some chocolate themed, indulgent, scrumptious family Days Out…because well, if you can’t go chocolate crazy at Easter, when can you?

Cadbury World; Bournville, Birmingham

A chocoholics dream day out surely has to be Cadbury World! Discover the history behind your favourite chocolate treats and explore the magic of how they are created. Visitors have the chance to grow their own cocoa bean and experience chocolate rain! With so many amazing things to discover, including an adventure play area and the world’s biggest Cadburys shops, this is one delicious day out not to be missed!

Hotel Chocolat – The School of Chocolate; Leeds & Covent Garden, London

Learn the noble art of chocolate making in a creative Children’s Chocolate Workshops with expert chocolatiers. You can try chocolate decorating and experience a fun and educational introduction to cocoa and chocolate. Plus, everyone will receive a delicious goody bag to take home!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical; Drury Lane, London

Feeling a little queasy after all those delicious sweet treats, then why not treat your little Oompa loompas to Roald Dahl’s timeless, chocolate themed extravaganza! Charlie Bucket and the mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka come to life in this gigantic new musical that is choc-full of Fun fantastical treats to dazzle your senses.

York’s Chocolate Story; York, North Yorkshire

Visit this entertaining and informative guided tour discovering chocolate’s origins, how to make it, how to taste it like an expert and even the future of chocolate! Travel through the interactive choctastic experience and learn the secrets of this scrummy treat in their virtual factory! Fancy getting messy, then why not make and decorate your own sweet delights at the Chocolate Making Station.

Halloween Party Games

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Apple bobbing

A large bowl of water is placed on the floor (a baby bath is ideal for this if you have one). Without using their hands, they have to try and lift an apple out of the water using their teeth. Children can wear aprons if you have them and spread plenty of newspaper over the floor as this can get quite messy!

Dangling Doughnuts

Tie some doughnuts with holes in the centre using a length of elastic or string and hang them from a pole in a row. Without using their hands AND without licking their lips, the children must munch through their doughnut. The first to eat the whole doughnut is the winner.

Watch out – this party game can get quite messy!

Witches’ Cauldron

Fill a bowl or ‘cauldron’ with items that represent different body parts. Put things like peeled grapes in the box and pretend they are feeling eyeballs, linked sausages for intestines, cauliflower for brains, a balloon filled with water for a heart, liquorice laces for veins or jelly for liver.

Get the children to sit blindfolded in a circle and take it in turns to pull out each item and guess what it is.

Pumpkin Lanterns

To create a true Halloween party atmosphere you really need a pumpkin lantern, put it near a window or outside your front door or have it as centerpiece on your table. They are easy to make and pumpkins are cheap and plentiful at this time of year.

Using a sharp knife, cut a thick slice off the top of a fairly large pumpkin. Reserve the top for the lid.

Scoop out the seeds using a spoon and discard them along with any fibrous threads. Carefully cut and spoon out the pumpkin flesh leaving about 2cm flesh all the way round. You can keep the flesh you remove to make recipes like pumpkin soup or pumpkin pie.

Using a pencil or felt pen, mark out the facial features on the front of the pumpkin. Then cut around the lines using a small pointed knife, cutting away small sections at a time.

Place a night light inside the pumpkin. Light the candle and place the lid on top.

Mummy Wrap

Take your party and divide them into partners. You will need a lot of toilet paper. One person will be the mummy, and the other will be the wrapper. The object of the game is for the wrapper to cover toilet paper around his or her mummy, including their arms which are held out. The winner is the first person to be wrapped like a mummy in toilet paper.

Pumpkin Bowling

You will need: oranges, plastic bottles of water.

Draw pumpkin faces onto the oranges and substitute your living room for the local bowling alley. Use the bottles of water in them as pins and replace the ball with the oranges and try to get a strike!

Graveyard Game

Choose one person to be the grave keeper. The grave keeper closes his/her eyes and counts to ten while everyone else gets into a good frozen position and stands very still. The grave keeper then walks around looking for anyone who moves. If the grave keeper catches you moving (breathing doesn’t count), you are out. You can move positions when the gravekeeper’s back is turned but don’t get caught moving. The last person left is the winner and can be the new grave keeper if you choose to play another round.

Do some monster baking

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Halloween is becoming more and more popular in the UK, make sure this year you are ready to make some Halloween children’s party food that will impress your little monsters!!

Ghoulish Ghost Cakes

Dariole moulds are the ideal shape or these spooky little cakes but you could cheat and use a mini chocolates rolls under the white icing!

 

175g butter

175g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

175g self-raising flour

800g ready-to-roll white icing

1 tube black writing icing

 

Beat together the caster sugar, butter and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time with a tablespoon of flour for each egg. Beat well and fold in the remaining flour.

Spoon into 8 greased and floured dariole moulds, place on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Cut the top of the cakes off to form a flat surface and then turn out onto a board or plate. Leave until completely cold.

Roll out the white icing on a surface dusted with cornflour and cut out 8 x 16cm circles (can use a saucer as a guide). Drape these over the sponge cakes to form ghost figures. Draw the ghost’s features using a tube of black writing icing

Makes 8 mini ghost cakes

Spider And Bat Cakes

These are fun to make with your children. You can make five of each design, divide the cake mixture in two and add one tablespoon of cocoa powder to half of it .

 

Fairy Cakes

100g (4 oz) soft margarine

100g (4 oz) caster sugar

2 eggs

100g (4 oz) self-raising flour

(substitute 2 tbsp cocoa powder for 2 tbsp of the flour for chocolate fairy cakes)

1 tsp pure vanilla essence

Spider Cake Decoration

100g / 4 oz milk chocolate

liquorice laces

10 chocolate marshmallow teacakes

Assorted liquorice sweets

Sugar-coated coloured chocolate buttons

 

Bat Cake Decoration

100g / 4 oz softened butter

175g (6 oz) icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp milk

1 tube black writing icing

black liquorice sweets

edible silver balls

 

To make the fairy cakes: pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy and then beat in the eggs one at a time together with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Add the vanilla and fold in the remaining flour. Line a bun tin with paper cases and half fill each case with the mixture. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove and put on a wire rack to cool before decorating.

 

Spider Cakes

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Using a palette knife, cover each cake with some of the melted chocolate. Arrange six liquorice strips for the spider’s legs and stick a teacake in the centres. Finish with assorted liquorice sweets and sugar-coated coloured chocolate buttons as eyes.

 

Bat Cakes

To make the chocolate frosting, beat the butter until creamy. Sieve together the icing sugar and cocoa and gradually beat into the butter together with the milk using a wooden spoon. When the cakes have cooled, cut off the tops of the cakes and cut into three sections and use the two curved ends to make wings (reserve the middle section).

 

Draw a ‘V’ with black writing icing on the wings. Spread a thick layer of chocolate frosting over the surface of the cake, position the wings to that they stand up: you will need to cut small squares of cake from the middle section to position under the wings to prop them up. Stick edible silver balls on top of black liquorice sweets for the bat’s eyes.

 

Makes 10 to 12 spider cakes

Tombstone Sandwiches

You can use a variety of fillings like Marmite, Peanut Butter, Egg Mayonnaise, Cheese and Tomato to make these spine-chilling sandwiches.

 

Sliced bread

Grated carrot

Grated cheddar cheese

Mayonnaise

Salad cress

 

Cut the crusts off the bread and cut into rectangles. Using a plain round cutter or a saucer as a guide cut the top of the sandwich into a round tombstone shape. Mix together the grated carrot, cheese and mayonnaise (or use a filling of your choice) and sandwich the bread together with this mixture.

Arrange the tombstone sandwiches upright on a plate and sprinkle the cress around the sandwiches before serving.

Star Wars party ideas

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Now that the Force has awakened, no doubt you have a child in your life begging for a Star Wars birthday party! We have some great children’s party ideas to help you throw the ultimate celebration.

Spacey Decorations

Luckily, recreating “space” isn’t too complicated! Use a black tablecloth or sheet and splatter with white paint to add a galactic feel. Hang it up as a backdrop for food/cake table or for a photo booth! Lay out black plates, cups, and cutlery, and blue and black balloon bouquets as centrepieces. There are tons of resources for printable garlands.

Finally, try gathering some white paper lanterns and using gray paint to create the Death Star ship.

Fantastic Food and Drink

You can get really creative with the snacks at your Star Wars party, and this is a great opportunity to use puns. (Even if the kids don’t appreciate them, it’s fun!) Party foods like Obi Wan Kabobies, Yoda Soda, and Padawan Popcorn are all great choices. Use your clever wit and put your own sci-fi twists on old party favorites.

As for your Star Wars birthday cake, you can have one made by the pros with expert detail or you can take the DIY approach. If you opt for making your own, there are some pretty simple designs that the amateur baker can try, like this awesome BB8 cake. Cupcakes are also a great option, and you can include multiple Star Wars characters.

Galactic Games and Activities

There are a lot of kid-friendly games that you can incorporate into a Star Wars kids birthday party. Create light sabers out of pool noodles! Set up target practice with Nerf guns to take out the toilet-paper roll Storm Troopers. Add some “Jedi Training” with a galactic bean bag toss and a “laser” obstacle course made out of streamers. Or, Pin the Bun on Princess Leia, anyone?

Want to really blow your child’s mind? Invite Darth Vader or Hans Solo to visit!

Menu’s for fussy eaters

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Children are the most honest of guests. – If they don’t like something they won’t eat it. Some children won’t like ham, others won’t like tuna – so put on an even spread of sandwiches with a variety of fillings, so you aren’t left with some kids that don’t want to eat anything grand then go home hungry.

Trying to trick your own children into eating fruit and vegetables may be a constant battle at the best of times, but in a party scenario it could prove even harder. And it is a party after all so perhaps now isn’t the best time to worry too much about healthy eating.

That said, learning to hide the greens is still possible – have you thought about cooking a delicious vegetable cake, for example a carrot cake?

Our suggestion though would be to have a good mix of sandwiches, fruit and veg that can be eaten by hand.e.g. cherry tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks, cheese cubes, then a nice range of crisps and sweets. A simple range of food like this makes life easier and also reduces allergy issues.

Planning food for children’s parties can often be a challenge, as one has to always think about the dietary requirements of other kids. It’s quite possible that you will have some children with allergies or intolerances. Often the parents will have told you if this is the case but it is worth checking yourself to be sure. (maybe ask parents to mention this on your party invites)

If you do have certain allergies or dietary requirements to cater for then you may want to ensure the food for that child is on a separate plate so it makes life easier for them and also doesn’t run the risk of contamination of their food with things they can’t have e.g. for nut allergies.

There seems to be a law of balances involved at every stage of the menu planning process. On the one hand, too much sugar can turn your party into mayhem, whereas on the other, too little could make your food too boring.

Aiming at the middle is the way forward. Cake, crisps and jelly are the traditional vouch-safes; but you could also consider throwing in some chocolate-dipped fruit or fruit juice for good measure.

If presented with a choice, children will almost always opt for the sugariest option. Preparing drinks on a tray before-hand and distributing them as a matter of course can help deal with this issue. You could even try distributing glasses of milk, should the sugar intake be reaching dizzying levels. But to make life easier we’d suggest juice boxes as they’re nice and easy to put on the table, reduce spillages and are easy to throw away.

Tips on catering

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An important part of any child’s birthday celebrations is the party food, and parents who are choosing to do the spread themselves will want to create a feast that is guaranteed to get eaten. Naturally, dishes you choose will be dependent on what kind of party your child is having but there are a few ways in which you can make sure that your party food goes down a treat.

It’s always fun to create your own fun dishes. You can get loads of ideas form the internet. No matter what you do it’s almost certain that some dishes will be more popular than others. You therefore should aim to create a spread that is a mix of good party food staples like cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, sandwiches, etc.…with ‘experimental’ plates like party themed cupcakes, food shaped as characters from a theme, etc.… Whilst planning the menu, make sure that you consider what leftovers you may have, and how you would use them too as there can be a lot of food left over.

With classic party food such as crisps and biscuits, buying multipacks and refilling will mean that any leftovers you have are fresh and easily used in lunch boxes and for snacks. With more ‘experimental’ dishes, make sure that you and your family will be willing to eat them if left untouched.

When sending out the invites, it might be suitable to request any dietary information from parents that will help you create a spread that can be enjoyed by all. Parents of children with severe allergies or special dietary requirements may already know they need to contact families prior to attending birthday parties to avoid issues on the day, but some will assume that they will be catered for or forget to mention it.

By asking families to provide details of special diets, you can include (or not include) certain dishes that means no one at the party goes hungry.

Do try not to add unnecessary stress or pressure on yourself. Most parents are on the quest to create the perfect children’s birthday celebration and therefore may think that presentation of their party food is essential. Of course it’s fun to make things look nice and show some thought. Although presentation and display of party food may be important to adults, do remember it’s not necessarily noticed by the children and it is a kid’s party after all.

If you have the natural creative flare and want to put on a great spread of fantastic looking party food, then why not!! But if it’s going to stress you out then do remember that with all the excitement that is created from entertainers, party games, and celebrating with friends, when it comes to picking from a selection of party food, children won’t be too fussed about any delicate arrangement, but more about taste and variety and you could have gone to all that trouble only to find it not being appreciated afterwards.

Of course if you’re making party food together with your children, before the party, then your kids will love this as it gets them involved in their party even more and it’s a great activity to do with your kids.

The Puppeteer

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Puppet shows are great for children of all ages and have been part of our culture for thousands of years. They’re normally aimed at 3-7 year olds but can work for 2 years too. Even if the younger children don’t fully understand the storyline or the jokes, they can still enjoy the visual aspects and get involved with audience participation, which usually includes shouting things to the puppets and doing loads of funny actions.

Puppet shows can be the main event or form part of a huge mix of party activities. Either way, it goes down a treat and is often one of the things kids remember best.

The Circus Performer

Circus performers or clowns are great for parties where the guests are a little bit older (maybe 4 and up) any younger and the kids can get a bit scared of clowns as they don’t like the makeup on the face or the red nose and clown wig. Our clowns do loads of fun clown gags and jokes. The parties are very interactive for children. A clown is not something kids see every day so it really adds a brilliant wow factor when your child sees a clown coming to their party for their birthday. Apart from general clowning around, a clown can be a magician, he can hold a puppet show, do games, juggling, etc. Clowns can be balloon modellers or, face painters; their versatility really is endless.

Don’t go overboard.

We are well aware of the pressures facing parents, and would like to tell you that those looking to create a memorable birthday celebration for their little one should focus on simplicity and fun and try to ignore, where possible, the feeling that they have to compete with other parents as this can actually result in having an adverse effect on your children’s party!

Ask any parent and they will tell you of the increasing pressure they feel when planning their child’s birthday party. The growing competitive element of hosting a children’s birthday party that has recently emerged now means that many parents end up overspending and creating a party that is filled to the brim with far too many activities.

Do remember that children love simplicity. Not to say the entertainment shouldn’t be good or varied. It should definitely be good and varied. It needs to be engaging, fun and imaginative too. But parents should avoid the temptation to overload their kid’s party with too many activities at the same time as this will end up being over stimulating and confusing. We’ve seen it time and time again where parent book an entertainer, bouncy castle, popcorn machine, mascot, face painter, etc. all in one party that last just 2 hours.

Parents feeling the need to plan a children’s party filled with different activities can actually leave birthday boys and girls so overwhelmed with far too much to take in that they don’t focus properly on any one thing and are unable to really enjoy their special day properly. Instead, parents should choose no more than a handful of activities for the children and to make sure that there is plenty of time for the kids to enjoy all of it.

In the same way, parents that don’t plan enough activities or have any form of kids party entertainment at all, can often find that their children are completely underwhelmed, bored or worse become very restless and start running around and be difficult for parents to control. If there is no structure to the entertainment planned this can happen a lot, which is something all parents want to avoid.

A perfect party has a few fun activities planned for different times, but parents should be prepared for their party ‘timetable’ to change slightly during the celebration so it can be adapted to suit the kid’s energy levels on the day and to accommodate any unforeseen events e.g. food running late.

Get creative this Halloween

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Lots of kids either have a craft side or simply enjoy making something, regardless of the end result and Halloween is a perfect time to go this.  There are hundreds of different craft ideas for kids around the theme ranging from simple pot decoration to more complex activities.

For the little ones, painting a pot is a good idea.  Cover a pot in some white paper the day before, stick it down and leave it to set for a blank canvas.  Then the kids can paint it orange, cut out some black eyes, nose and mouth and add a stalk and leaf in glittery paper to make a cup pumpkin lantern.  Or paint it luminous green, draw on some face features as well as a big black gash with stitches then paint the rim black.  Add a couple of metallic T-shapes on either side and you have a Frankenstein pot!  Once decorated, they can fill them with sweet to give out on the night to trick or treaters or for a party.

If you’re having a party, a Halloween decoration or ten are compulsory.  For the younger kids, you can start simple.  Buy some wooden blocks, one for each letter of Happy Halloween.  Let them paint them orange or whatever colour they want then write a letter on each in a black marker.  Either glue them together to form the word or if you are handy with a drill, drill holes through them and string them onto some thick cord.

Another decoration is a nice witches broom to hang above the fireplace but using the real broom can be a bit heavy.  Instead, take the inside of a roll of wrapping paper and get the kids to paint it black.  Wrap a few sections of yellow around it and you have the stick.  For the broom, take a piece of cloth and either stick or stick a load of threads on it then wrap it around the stick and glue it.

Costume Ideas

Going out trick or treating means that a costume is compulsory.  Some kids choose to just go with a favourite character without regard for the time of year but others want something special to Halloween.  You can buy lots of them in the shops but if you want to make something unique and spend time with the kids making it, you can create your own.

The scary spider is a simple option and all that is needed are some plain black clothes to start with.  A hoodie, trousers and black shoes are the basis for the outfit.  Take two pairs of black tights and stuff them with the content of an old pillow or some bubble wrapping.  Stitch them onto the top and tie loops at the end so that kids can move their spider legs with their arms.

Perhaps one of the easiest costume options is the Grim Reaper.  A black hooded cloak that goes all the way to the ground is all that is needed along with a white swimming cap to hide their hair.  Face paints to make their faces white and add big black eyes and a cardboard scythe finish the outfit.

For the girls, a witch is a good choice.  Pick up a witches hat from the shop and decorate as you like.  A feathered scarf is a good addition to the outfit and a coordinating top and skirt to match the hat colour is needed.  You can cut out paper or cardboard stars and other shapes to stitch onto the clothes for that witch chic.  Then some makeup or face paints will finish the look.

Children’s Party Food

With all the elements of Halloween it is easy to find food that can be transformed into something spooky or gory.  For instance, Dracula cookies are an easy quick option.  Take some chocolate chip cookies and cut them in half.  Put some red jam on one side of each then stick some white marshmallow pieces in to resemble teeth.  For the fangs, slide some slivers of almond between the marshmallows – instant vampire cookies.

For cupcake fans, the ideas are endless.  Green icing and some witches’ legs sticking out is one design while spider’s webs iced into a flat cake is another great look.  Using biscuits to make grave stones and have them sticking out of crumbly chocolate icing works well for spooky cemetery cakes while a simple iced face on a white cake makes for a ghoulishly tasty snack.

If carving a pumpkin is a bit too much for you, why not make oranges into carved lanterns instead?  Cut the top off the orange and scoop out the middle then cut out eyes, a nose and a funny mouth.  You can even add jelly inside them and leave to set before carving the face.