Whether Your Halloween Fun is Homemade or Store-bought, Make This Year the Scariest Ever

Whether Your Halloween Fun is Homemade or Store-bought, Make This Year the Scariest Ever (ARA) - Halloween is a great time of year to let your imagination run wild. For some, the challenge of putting together a great costume, decorating for a party, or serving child-friendly or grown-up treats is what makes Halloween fun. So whether you head to the store to put together your Halloween festivity, or do it yourself -- from costume, to decorations to food -- here are a few helpful ideas to make this year's fun a real scream.

For costumes this Halloween, anything related to movie themes is hot. According to Tom Mautino, assistant manager of Costume World in Pittsburgh, Pa., the adults are favoring costumes inspired by the movie "Chicago." "A lot of our adult customers are renting, and buying, gangster costumes for guys and flapper attire for women," said Mautino. He added that other big movies inspiring costumes are Daredevil and Pirates of the Caribbean.

And for the youngsters? "Kids are more into the Hulk and of course SpiderMan is still a big hit," he said. "Storybook characters are always huge. The 60s are back too. And don't forget about Elvis!" He added that another always "in" costume is anything with animal print such as leopard.

But if you don't like the mass-market approach to Halloween costumes, try making your own. Here are a few simple ideas for the grown-ups from Kathleen Brockman, graphic design instructor with The Art Institute of Charlotte.

* Dress in brown head to toe, use eyeliner or shadow to totally blacken one eye, cut a large "P" out of construction paper and pin it to your chest: You're a black-eyed-pea.

* Alternatively, dress in green, pin a small "P" to your chest, use a British accent, and you're an English Pea.

* Wear an evening gown, lots of jewelry, a crown (Burger King crowns are great), use black eyeliner or eye shadow to draw stitches all the way around your neck: You're Marie Antoinette.

* Put a white bag over your body and stuff it with paper, color a big yellow circle on your chest, wear horns and carry a pitchfork: You're a deviled egg.

* Dress in white, wear a Burger King crown, put heart stickers all over your clothes and go to the party as the Queen (or King) of Hearts.

* Wear a white shirt and black pants and a Burger King crown, pin a big black construction paper "check" mark to your chest: You're a Royalty Check.

To set a perfectly spooky mood around your home -- for trick or treaters or a Halloween get-together -- Jack Beduhn, academic director of Interior Design at The Art Institute of California, San Diego, recommends using the common technique of "up-lighting" around your house to welcome the little ghosts and goblins.

"A simple lighting scheme should only take a few hours to position. Inexpensive, low-voltage spot lighting is available at most hardware stores," said Beduhn. "Adding some simple lighting can add eye-catching glows and eerie shadows around decorations you already have out."

Now that you've got the scary house and costume, it's time for a treat. According to Chef Toni L. D'Onofrio, of The Art Institute of New York City, this clever Halloween menu uses colors and treats of the season in a more adult way. For example, for starters, Chef D'Onofrio has created a pumpkin and caramel soup, lightly sweet and rich. The midcourse salad, says the chef "plays off the traditional colors of candy corn, orange, white and yellow." And finally, cocoa braised veal shanks show off the complexity and richness of chocolate without being sweet.

Pumpkin and Caramel Soup

Yield 4 servings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup diced onion

1 clove of garlic chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of water

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of pumpkin puree

1-1/4 cups of water

Salt and pepper

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