Here are some great "Tips and Tricks" for Hallowe'en from the Foodarama Party Book! Or was that, Tricks or Treats?! Anyhoo, here's how to dish out some real Hallowe'en party magic on the spooky day, thanks to Kelvinator!
It's hard to deny the amount of 1959 creativity oozing out of this page of the classic "Foodarama Party Book" from the Kelvinator Institute for Better Living. We should all aspire to this level of party "Swankienda!"
"Who can resist the time of the black cats and full moon, grinning Jack-O-Lanterns and cherubic Trick or Treaters? Hallowe'en for young and old and in-betweeners is party time. Atmosphere galore awaits your guests.
They arrive at a well-lighted house (on the outside), but the front door opens and they step into darkness. The host shakes hands (using a rubber glove filled with crushed ice). A chill wind (a bowl of ice cubes in front of a fan) and the sound of clanking chains and clacking bones, moans and groans, greet them. They are led through a maze of spider webs (wet strips of cloth dangling from the ceiling); toy spiders and bats (suspended by threads) flutter overhead; a row of horribly grinning faces suddenly come alive (dime store masks placed over Christmas tree lights).
If the guests survive, the lights go on and more Hallowe'en atmosphere surrounds them — cornstalks, autumn leaves, paper skeletons and witches. The party table white cloth is scattered with little, black paper cut-outs of owls, bats and cats. A great, jolly, lighted Jack-O-Lantern centerpiece rests in a circle of bright red apples, nuts and oranges, and white candles are based in cored red apples. Or sprinkle your white cloth with orange, yellow and red confetti, and use small, hollowed-out pumpkins as "containers" (lined with aluminum foil) for spoons, napkins, sugar, favors, candles, etc.
A contrasting centerpiece might be a decorative basket filled with autumn leaves, or apples, nuts and grapes. Serve cider in a jug or a wooden bucket and doughnuts "on a stick" (one or two sawed-down broom handles, nailed to wood board bases).
Children love "Black Cat" favors made of black gumdrops held together by toothpicks.
Fortunes must be told, apples bobbed for; add Musical Chairs, a corn candy Treasure Hunt and Charades."