Its time to toffee those apples, get out the scary masks and fancy dress.  Yes, its Halloween 🎃.

As always I’m here with my top tips on how to have the best Halloween without breaking the bank.

In this issue, I will be helping you with Some great ideas for some spooky, frightening foods and some inexpensive decor all ready for the ultimate Halloween party.

I’ll also be giving you some great advice on how to stay safe when trick or treating in the cold winter nights

Ok so before we start I wanted to give a little heads up to all of you that have taken the time to sign up to Matt Mentoring, I couldn’t do this without your support so thank you ever so much but remember to let all your friends and family know ; so we can grow into an even bigger support network. Remember together we can heal the world.

Right back to the blood sucking, witch cackling, ultimate Halloween party.

A Halloween party is a great way to get your kids to mingle and enjoy this great time of year before going out to get all those lovely sweets when you are trick or treating (more on that later).

So how do you pull off the ultimate party in such a short time? The trick is to prepare a few nights before, have a great imagination and some help from those little ones. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.

Decorations

Decorations always help to give that extra feel and flare to make any Halloween party the best it can be.

An easy way to spook up the place is to get some coloured tissue paper, cut out silhouettes of ghosts, pumpkins 🎃, witches or anything else you can think of. Stick these on your windows to add some colour to your party.

This is always a great one to do. Maybe it could be an activity for all to do, of course, I’m talking about pumpkin carving. This may need some help and supervision and yes it can be a little messy but that’s half the fun. Get some candles inside them, turn down the lights and watch the room transform into a place fit for any zombie or werewolf.

By using some plain paper you can make anything from cobwebs, ghosts, bats, spiders or witches, plus your children will love to get involved.

However you choose to decorate, really get those bloodthirsty juices flowing and just go for it and if you are still stuck for things to do then look on the internet as there are loads of great ideas around.

Food

So now your place is looking the part its time to sort out the food side of things. As a general you can use most things to make something spooky, again you just have to have a good imagination.

So let’s start. A really easy one is using marshmallows and raisins to make ghosts, this really couldn’t be easier to do. Just use the raisins for eyes by sticking them in with some cocktail sticks and your away.

Why not get some hot dog sausages 🌭, cut them in half, dip the ends in some tomato sauce and there you have it, some fingers in blood (the same principle works for bread soldiers and strawberry jam).

Another ghostly treat is to peel some bananas 🍌 and cut them in half put a lollipop stick through each one (but not right to the end) and freeze overnight.

Get some white chocolate and melt in a bowl, take your frozen bananas and dip in the melted chocolate. Again use raisins for eyes and hey presto ice lolly ghost bananas.

Get some jelly sweets and put them into a jelly mould before it sets for that extra touch.

How about making some scary faced pizzas 🍕.

You can buy pizza bases from the supermarket, but why not get some cheap cheese and tomato pizzas so your job is half done. Chop up anything from tomatoes, peppers mushrooms, pepperoni, bacon, pineapple and use them to create some spooky, gruesome faces. Put in the oven and your done. This is another great one to do with the kids and lots of fun.

There are so many more things you can make and spook up for the little one to enjoy.

So there you go, you have the look and you have the food now it’s down to you to start the apple bobbing 🍏 and get plenty of toilet roll for your mummifying. It’s down to yooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu

Staying safe when trick or treating

Children love nothing more than dressing up, knocking on doors and getting sweets 🍬🍬🍬, but safety is a must. Here are my top tips for being safe.

This sounds obvious but in my eyes, i think all children should be accompanied by an adult.  This ensures that children don’t go too far, children are not rude to neighbours and vice versa.

Stay in your neighbourhood 🏚️

By not going too far you can save time and know your community much better.

Give the neighbours a heads up before you go knocking on their door, some people don’t want to have kids knocking on their door and you need to be respectful of that.

Don’t keep knocking on the door 🚪. If someone doesn’t answer then leave them be, it’s not an obligation to answer the door.

Don’t be greedy

Most people will give you a sweet or even a bag of sweet, however, if you get something else like fruit or a chocolate bar 🍫 between a few of you then show your gratitude and be grateful.

Be respectful of others and keep the noise down. Not everyone wants to hear about how many sweets you have so try to keep your voice to a minimum.