DIY Halloween Craft: How to Make Creepy Shrunken Heads

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DIY Halloween Craft Supplies

Large apples

Apple Peeler

Paring knife

Baking cookie sheets

Salt

Lemon juice

Water

Wire(optional)

Edible decorations ideas: black peppercorns, whole cloves, edible pearls

Non-edible decorations ideas: fur trims, yarn, pearl beads, brown permanent marker, staples, craft glue

Halloween Craft Directions:

1. Peel the apples. You can choose to peel all of the skin or leave a little on the top to have a little hat, or on the bottom to have a base for your heads.
2. Mix about half a cup of lemon juice and a half cup of salt together with about a half-gallon of water. The lemon juice will keep the apples so they will have a light and even color, while the salt helps drawing the moisture out.
3. Let the peeled apples soak in the mixture for about half an hour.
4. Take the apples out of the mixture and tap them dry with a towel. Now use the sharp knife and cut out the facial features. Make deep eye sockets, prominent noses, ears, mouths and anything else you can think of. It doesn’t need to be precise; after all, the faces are supposed to look creepy and distorted. When finished, put the apple back into the mixture.
5. Sprinkle salt over the baking sheet or cut 10-12 inch pieces of wire to poke them through the top of the apples and out the side. Twist the wire’s ends together to secure the apple and then hang them from the middle rack of the oven. Turn the oven on its lowest temperature, at 170-180 degrees and back overnight or better yet for 24 or more hours. When going to sleep or out of the house, just turn the oven off and turn it back on when you are ready. Another way is to let the apples air-dry but keep in mind that this could take at least a week and it needs to be done in an area with low moisture.
6. After drying, remove any wires and your shrunken heads are ready for decorating!
7. Since the apples are stretchy at this point, try to pull and tweak them a little, to get the desired look.
8. If they are going to be eaten or put into a punch, use only edible decorations. Whole cloves are a great solution that will also add flavor to the punch.
9. To make non-edible shrunken heads, use the brown marker to color the eye sockets. Now use some craft glue to attach the pearl beads as eyes. You can insert some staples across the mouth and pin or glue some elements on the top as hair.

When not adding these creepy DIY Halloween Craft to a Halloween Punch or a Halloween Buffet, display them on a table or use a wooden skewer and poke the shrunken heads on them. Take some floral foam, put it in a bowl and just stick the skewers into the foam for a spooky decoration. Stick the skewers in a houseplant’s container or use a vase. Another great idea is to not remove the wire and use it to hang the heads from branches or making a garland… BOO!!!

For more Halloween ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Halloween Party Food: Creepy Finger Cookies 

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Total Time: Preparation 25 minutes + Cook: 20 minutes

Yields: 30 servings

Halloween Party Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioners’/powdered sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tube red decorating gel

½ cup whole almonds

Halloween Party Cookies Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine sugar and butter. Beat in egg and vanilla and almond extracts.
2. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, flour, and salt. Slowly add to above mixture.
3. Divide dough into fourth equal parts. Cover and refrigerate for 25-30 minutes or until easy to handle.
4. Work with one piece of dough at a time. Roll into one inch balls, and then shape each into thin fingers. Press one almond into one end of each finger to give the appearance of a long fingernail. With the knife, make 3 slashes in the middle for knuckles.
5. On a lightly greased baking sheet, arrange the finger shaped cookies. Bake 165 degrees Celsius for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let it cool for 2-3 minutes.
6. Remove the almond from the tip of each cookie, squeeze a tiny amount of red decorating gel into the cavity, press the almond over again, allowing gel to ooze around the nail.

Need more Halloween Party Cookie Ideas?

Take a look at our Halloween Cookies Recipe with Royal Icing!

Perfect as Halloween party treats, these frightening finger cookies are too creepy to resist. Instead of using the decorating gel, you can also dip the almonds into strawberry jam for ghostly yet delicious results. Get creative!

for more Halloween desserts on Stagetecture, click here.

Outdoor Halloween Ideas: Creative Party Tips

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Create the Mood with Lighting

A party should have its unique atmosphere and it is more important if it is a Halloween party! And, lighting is the best prop to create the right atmosphere for a place. If you are throwing the party at night, use different types of lights to create the perfect mood.

Battery-operated tea lights along the walkway and colorful floodlights can create a festive mood. To add a touch of elegance and party flavor, use Tiki torches or a portable outdoor fireplace. You can use some handmade props or store-bought Halloween-themed lights to create a spooky atmosphere.

Use Halloween Yard Props

You don’t always need to make the props and crafts for the party. Get relaxed a bit and buy a couple of outdoor décor pieces for your Halloween party. Think of buying something that you cannot make at home. A skeleton dog or a zombie cat, a cauldron, grim gravestones, a few lanterns, flaming or masked pumpkins, etc. can make your party much scarier and spookier.

Spook up the Drink Station

The drink station tends to be a popular spot in any party. So, it is a perfect place to expose some of your inner eeriness! Add glow sticks and sticky eyeballs to the ice. Serve drinks in colorful bottles so they look beautiful amid the glowing ice. To make things creepier, keep syringes filled with red drinks on the drink station. The drink can be grenadine if it is meant for the children but adults can also have it with a pinch of vodka.

Invite the Kids!

The kids can be the prettiest décor items of your party! If the party is kid-friendly, invite the kids of your neighborhood and encourage them to join the party dressed in their Halloween costumes. What can be more adorable than a bunch of tiny, cute ghosts and monsters running into your backyard for collecting their candies?

These outdoor Halloween ideas will be enough to spook up a simple Halloween party. The ideas are not outright scary so that even kids can enjoy such a party.

Are you going to throw a party this holiday? Share some ideas with us!

Stir the brew…and add some worms to the mix!  For this year’s Halloween, quench your thirst with your own homemade Orange Worm Glow Punch recipe.  This super tasty drink recipe is simple to make and will go great with any Halloween party.  The orange worm glow punch will create an everlasting flavor that you will not want to leave your mouth.  So go ahead and take a few minutes to make try out the recipe yourself…Pick Your Poison!

Festive Halloween Drink:  Orange Worm Glow Punch

Image via: Brit & Co.

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Servings: 20 Cups

Ingredients

1 Quart of Chilled Pineapple Juice
1 Gallon of Soften Orange Sherbet
1 Pack of Gummy Worms
1 Liter of Chilled Lemon-Lime Soda

Image via: Cascadiece Water

Image via: Image via: Brit & Co.

Directions

1. Mix the sherbet and pineapple juice in a large mixing bowl very well.
2. Then add in the soda until all of the sherbet is almost dissolved.
3. Lastly hang gummy worms on the sides of the bowl and the sides of the cups that the drink will be served in.

Get ready to delight your Halloween guests with this delicious orange punch that is perfect for this holiday season! Don’t you just love Halloween?

For more Halloween ideas on Stagetecture, click here.