All the best Halloween parties include a haunted house. But what if you don't have the space or the props to put one together? Well, with a little creativity, you can make a fun little haunted house using everyday food items.
Set the Stage
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Because your guests tour this "haunted house" blindfolded, the entire house can be confined to one room. Lead your guests in circles or zigzag them through the room to disorient them. Bring them in only a few at a time. Remember, they're not going to be able to see a thing.
Hang streamers or yarn from the ceiling, so it feels like they're walking through cobwebs. If you don't mind getting your floor messy, toss around some corn chips or dried noodles to simulate cracking twigs or bones.
Play loud, spooky music to disorient them further. You can find lots of spooky music and sound effect CDs at your local party store.
Use Food to Gross Out the Guests
Set up stations of gruesome foodstuffs and walk your guests around, telling them what they're touching -- brains, guts, eyeballs. Be creative and make up scary stories about each station.
- Bowl of eyeballs -- Simply fill up a bowl with peeled grapes. You can even add a tiny bit of olive oil to make them slippery.
- Bucket of vomit -- Anything creamy or chunky works -- stuff like salsa, corn and peas. Yuck!
- Zombie brains -- Cauliflower looks and feels a lot like brains, doesn't it? To make your "brains" more slimy and realistic, try coating them with cottage cheese "brain matter." You can buy Jell-O molds in the shape of a brain, too.
- Heartless -- Jell-O also makes a good fake heart. Look for a mold at your local party store or just make some in the general size of a human heart.
- Plate of guts -- Cold spaghetti makes excellent squishy, icky innards. Add a bit of oil or sauce, so the pasta is slimy and doesn't stick together.
- Licked by a werewolf -- Tell your guests there's a werewolf in the room who wants to say hello. Wipe their cheeks with a thin-sliced dill pickle -- it feels like a tongue!
- Maggots and creepy crawlies -- Cooked rice with a little bit of water feels a lot like maggots. A pile of gummy worms feels icky, too.
- Dried-up ears -- Put some dried fruit in a bag (like apricots). Tell everyone the bag contains the ears of yesteryear's unlucky guests.
- Bloody good -- Corn syrup makes a good, sticky base for blood. Use it on anything!
- Dismembered Hands -- Get some surgical gloves and fill them up with oatmeal. Tie off the ends, so things don't get messy. Make several and you'll soon have a plate of dismembered, squishy hands.
When It's Over
Don't let your guests remove their blindfolds until they're safely in another room. Why ruin the illusion?
And, of course, remember to clean up! Provide your guests with some moist towels at the end of their Halloween adventure so they can wipe off the mess. There's nothing scarier than cleaning sticky corn syrup off the furniture.
Happy haunting!
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