Every year we have a Halloween party in our grounds and this year is no different. We’ve been looking for the best outfits, the best products and the best fireworks for our big Halloween and Bonfire Bonanza.
This is very much a family friendly event with people coming from all over the UK, and so, we’ve omitted the booze and concentrated on some good clean fun with a big bonfire and some great halloween treats.
Here’s the plan.
An Egg Hunt
Why shouldn’t we have a Halloween egg hunt? All the guests are bringing a torch and we’ll be hiding eggs throughout the grounds. We’ll also hide other surprises like these from Cadbury.
New for 2016 is a deliciously chilling Cadbury chocolate egg filled with gooey white fondant. This is a treat with a spooky twist, as pesky phantoms have stolen the yolks from some of the eggs this year. Devilish detectives who locate one of the 50 hidden eggs containing a yolk and winning coupon will instantly win a family ticket to Alton Towers Scarefest. So get hunting to find these delicious Cadbury ghooost eggs across the nation.
Cadbury Crunchy Spider
Cadbury Treatsize Goodies
Conjure the perfect potion for your Halloween party this year with the ultimate Cadbury selection of treats. These selections will help us delight every vampire or ghostly ghoul that knocks on our door.
Pass the Parcel
A Good Game or Ten
Cupcake Creations (Make your Own Halloween Cupcake)
Cake Angel Cupcake Decorations
We’re asking everyone to make their own cupcakes and we’re loaded with decorations from Cake Angel! We can’t wait to see the myriad of concoctions the children make along with some of the adults! Cake Angel is available, very cheaply, at Morrisons.
Home Made Halloween Decorations
We’ve been making our own decorations using plaster of Paris, clay and hama beads plus the very new paint sticks and paint pens. The paint pens are from Graphik and are the best we’ve ever used, they’re quite simply phenomenol
Halloween Hama Beads
We’ve been making glow in the dark Halloween decorations with Hama beads
from ghostly houses to nightly bats, we’ve had a whale of a time and also made pumpkins.
Paint Crayons
These chunky paint pens have helped us make short work of decorations. They’re completely washable so we haven’t worried about the carpet or curtains. They paint like a soft wax crayon would adding a lot of colour in a short space of time. They’re perfect for pudgy fingers!
Graphik Paint Pens
For a more accurate finish these fine line paint pens from Graphik are ideal. We were bowled over with the usability and quality!
Something Warm
It’s going to be a cold night and we don’t want our guests to feel uncomfortable and so we’ll have this as our centrepiece, at the entrance (where people gather at first)
The new Dancook 9000 fireplace is the perfect gathering point in our garden and will enable us to have fireside cosiness and a barbecue too. This is for the hotdogs and burgers!
With the Dancook 9000 we can use both wood and charcoal. Standing 50cm high, the fireplace is very safe with edges that do not get hot. The bonfire is stainless steel with the cooking grid made out of 6mm chromium-plated steel – which makes for a better distribution of the heat. The fireplace is also a cosier alternative to a terrace heater and is much easier to move around.
Then we’re handing out handwarmers. Some are, of course, from the pound shop due to the amount of people at the event but others are higher quality and ones which can be used again and again.
Zippo HandWarmers
Safer Fireworks
Zippo have also sent us a good lighter for the fireworks so we can keep a safe distance away!
Halloween Treats
Our favourite are these sweets from Swizzles:
Bonfire Food
The bonfire food will be Parkin, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, our cake angels cupcakes, burgers and hot dogs, which wouldn’t be complete without a good dollop of Heinz. Heinz have actually introduced the perfect mustard for this, find out more below:
Enjoy the big bangs and bright lights of Bonfire Night with new Heinz Yellow Mustard. This great tasting American-style mustard has been specifically created to offer a flavour the whole family can enjoy. The result is a deliciously smooth and creamy mustard that’s perfect for elevating even the simplest winter meals.
Inspired by the authentic taste of mustards served in New York delis, Heinz Yellow Mustard is the ultimate all-purpose ingredient to transform cosy comfort food from good to great. Available in two flavours – Mild and Honey Mustard – Heinz Yellow Mustard comes in a family-friendly squeezable bottle to make it even easier to slather on sausage rolls and pulled pork sandwiches. Use it to bring roast dinners to life or add to casseroles, sauces and marinades for a mild and zingy kick.
The Right Smells and Ambience
I’m a big believer in smells making an event, they evoke so many memories. To help it along, we are using these little beauties from the Library of Fragrance.
These are memories in a bottle. Check out the others as they have everything from the smell of paperbacks (my favourite) to crisp fresh snow and wet gardens.
The Library of Fragrance Bonfire cologne / £15 / 30ml
The Library of Fragrance Pumpkin Pie cologne / £15 / 30ml
There’s more to come so please keep checking back as we still have to organise the outfits and the fireworks!