Halloween Party Food

GREMLIN GRINS: Counteract candy overload with this veggie-packed Halloween snack. To form a mouth, cut a slit along one side of a snow pea, beginning and ending about 1/2 inch from each end, as shown. Cut tongues from red bell peppers or carrots sliced on the diagonal, then slide them into the slit. Insert fresh or frozen corn kernels for teeth. 

SPOOKY SUSHI: These monster morsels, topped with slices of smoked salmon or avocado, let your family enjoy a feast of sushi without a scary restaurant tab. Serve them with soy sauce for dipping. 

RODENT NIBBLES: Turn cheese and crackers into an eek-worthy snack. To begin, trim sliced cheddar and Monterey Jack to fit on triangular crackers (we used Town House Pita brand). Add sliced almonds for ears, black sesame seeds for eyes, and a bit of red bell pepper for a nose. Use a peeler to slice a thin strip of celery, then tuck it under the cheese for a twitchy tail.

BAGS O' BOO: Treat hungry souls to some ghostly goody bags. With black permanent marker, draw faces on clear coneshaped treat bags (available at craft stores). Fill them with a mix of popcorn, mini marshmallows, and yogurt-covered raisins. Tie closed with ribbon. 

FRESH FROM THE CRYPT: Who said that mummies don't grow on trees? To make one, use a peeler to trim strips that spiral around an apple or a pear as shown. With a small knife, carve two small eyeholes, then insert mini chocolate chips. If you're not serving it immediately, brush the fruit with lemon juice to prevent browning.

This cheery cake doubles as a festive table centerpiece. Older kids will have fun helping you decorate it: Simply arrange M&M's like a jack-o'-lantern and press onto a frosted cake. Use orange-tinted icing as glue.

The sophisticated flavor of these cookies -- pumpkin spice -- appeals to grown-ups, while the spiderweb icing wins over the younger crowd.

Skip the chips. Instead, upgrade store-bought Chex mix with candy corn plus festive M&M's for a painless Halloween snack.

Simply cut a wedge from apples to make a mouth, then let your kids go to town decorating the funny fruit monsters with their favorite candy.

Piled on a plate, these sinister, finger-shaped breadsticks are sure to illicit a shudder or two. After a bite, though, guests will be grabbing the cinnamon-sugar digits by the fistfuls.

This sweet and savory snack is a snap to prepare and a guaranteed hit at your next get-together. Simply dump a few varieties of store-bought snacks -- from shredded wheat cereal to dried banana chips -- into the biggest bowl you own, gently toss ingredients, and watch it quickly drain.

It may be hard to imagine your kids eating anything good for them with all the candy floating around on Halloween. Try our simple solution for getting a healthy dose of nutrition into your little monsters. Arrange cauliflower, carrots and yellow peppers In the shape of a candy corn and serve with a side of hummus in a pumpkin dish.

No need for any magic spells or witchcraft to turn predictable cupcakes into darling witch heads. Strip the liners off baked cupcakes, turn them on their sides, frost with green icing, and stick a chocolate ice cream cone on top as a hair-raising hat. Draw faces and hair with icing and candy.

Who said cookie decorating was reserved only for Yuletide cheer? Trot out a few ghoulish cookie cutters and whip up a batch of vanilla (or chocolate!) roll-out cookies.

Before you send your little ones out to collect candy, fuel them up for the hunt with a bowl of creepy bug or bat topped chili. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes from slices of cheddar cheese.

Spice up your spread a notch by icing pumpkin muffins instead of cupcakes. Spin a chocolate cobweb pattern on muffin tops coated with cream cheese frosting.

These easy homemade lollipops make swell party decorations as well as sweet treats. Spread a dollop of melted chocolate onto one side of vanilla wafers, attach sticks, and refrigerate. Once the candy-on-a-stick is set, dunk cookies into melted orange and purple sprinkles.

Combine cream cheese, milk, brown sugar, and pumpkin-pie spice for a creamy dip that makes an excellent autumn-flavor accompaniment to fruit and vegetable slices.

Top mini pizza crusts with a perfect-for-fall pumpkin and applesauce concoction spiked with curry powder; then load apple slices like wheel spokes and bake.

For the ultimate comfort food, whip up a batch of these homemade turnovers. Stuffed with apples, raisins, and walnuts, the flaky snack is laced with fall flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Flash-freeze a pan ahead of time and pop it in the oven once guests start arriving.

Kids will love how their lips get stained black after sipping this electric green punch from glasses rimmed with black sugar crystals. For the goblin gulp, pour a mix of apple juice and seltzer on top of scoops of Jell-O.