Fall is probably my favorite season: cooler weather (here in North Carolina that means 70s!), beautiful trees, the Spiel in Essen (and its many new game releases), Thanksgiving (mmmm!), BGG.Con, and Halloween! I love Halloween! Almost every year we host a Halloween gaming party – sometimes running all weekend since several of our friends come from out-of-town. Here are a few of my tricks and treats (lots of treats!) for hosting a haunted Halloween game night.

Decorations

There’s nothing like a fully decorated house for Halloween! If only I could leave the decorations up all year. (Would that be too weird?) Our house has a castle theme (now you understand my last question). I go all-out with decorations.

Our Castle

Here are some of my favorite stops for Halloween stuff:

The Dollar Store – I usually pick up small grave markers, spider webs, Creepy Cloth (black and gray), black plastic tablecloths, small spooky figures, and bloody gel things. Be sure not to put the bloody gel things on walls or doors – the red permanently marked one of my doors; they seem to do fine on mirrors and marble-like countertops though. You gotta love the price!

Craft Stores (e.g. Michaels, A.C. Moore, Jo-Ann Fabrics) – be sure to go to their websites to download 40% or 50% coupons. You may print multiple copies but can only use one per person per day. You can do what I do though: bring your friends and make them buy stuff for you too! These stores tend to have good sales on their seasonal stuff even well before Halloween. I love the Funkins carvable pumpkins. I put one in my foyer with a remote controlled “candle” inside, from Williams-Sonoma. This year I bought a few pieces from Michaels’ Lemax Spooky Town collection, including Broomstick Manor, Haunted Grove, and Monsters Playing Poker. Most of my skeletons, bones, tabletop displays, and scary floating figures are from Michaels. I’ve bought wooden Halloween signs, aged pillars, lighted displays, a crashing witch, and crow feather wreaths at A.C. Moore.

Williams-Sonoma – my flameless candle remote came with two lights (these look more like large tea-lights than candles) and a remote. I found the remote online but not the pack I bought at their brick and mortar store. The remote listed online was sold separately from the candles (also sold online).

Pottery Barn – their stuff varies from year to year but most of it is really good quality. I only had trouble with one metal skull that had small hors d’oeuvre forks in it; the inside was crumbled when I took it out the next year. There must have been some flaw in manufacturing. They took it back but only gave me a fraction of what I paid. Sigh. I found some nice spider web plates there one year. This year I bought an iron haunted house votive holder and some small iron mice (I will put these on the serving table, heh heh).

Costco – they have some beautiful decorations, which vary by year. Over the years I’ve picked up outdoor metal stakes (one Dracula and one ghost), serving bowls, serving dishes, and mugs. I bought the bulk of my flameless candles here. They usually have the candles with timers but I’ve also found a pack of candles with a remote. This is a great place to get less expensive bulk fun size candy.

Grandin Road – I went crazy this year ordering life-sized figures in their Halloween Haven. I think my favorite is the animated witch. Unfortunately I’ve had a few problems with their items. Some were previously opened and only partially worked. They exchanged them without much fuss though, and even included return shipping tags with their orders (hmm, maybe this should have been a clue?). I was able to get further discounts for my trouble as well (although I would rather have had working products to begin with). I will probably still order from them because they carry such great looking decorations.

The witch from Grandin Road.

Favors

I’m a crafter. I admit it. Every year I make personalized favors for each person. Last year I made caskets filled with candy and a small gift. I usually put together a bag of goodies for each guest as well. I try to find things that appeal to gamers, such as glass counters in different colors, small containers for game pieces, personalized journals (for noting games played), and dice.

Halloween Favors and Food Labels

Snacks, Food, and Drinks

This is a controversial topic for the game room. Some people may not allow others to handle food or drinks around their games (and after seeing a couple drinks go all over other people’s games, I can understand why!). And I don’t think anyone wants cheesy doodle dust on his or her games. So what snacks are “board game friendly”, i.e. minimize the risk of disaster?

My favorite snacks for the game room are M&Ms. Did you know that they melt in your mouth and not in your hands? They are best eaten with small twisty pretzels – together! Yes, you pop one pretzel into your mouth and 3 or 4 M&Ms, then chew. YUM! I prefer dark chocolate M&Ms but the milk chocolate ones will do in a pinch. The peanut butter M&Ms are also good with pretzels. If you want to get really fancy, buy the peanut butter stuffed pretzels. M&Ms come in peanut, dark chocolate peanut, almond, and sometimes limited edition flavors, currently coconut (recommend!). They come in pretzel too but I prefer eating an actual pretzel with the M&Ms. Some other coated candies that make great snacks: Reese’s Pieces, Almond Joy Pieces, Special Dark Pieces, York Pieces, Skittles, and Jelly Belly jelly beans. Other neat treats include mixed nuts, pita chips, bagel chips, original Sun Chips, Pringles, Fritos, Wheat Thins, dried fruit, veggie chips, rice snacks, and sesame sticks. Some even come in individual sized bags or snack packs.

Candy corn is an obvious Halloween treat but I prefer my candy with chocolate. There are a number of creepy Gummy treats, such as worms, brains, frogs, bugs, spiders, and rats. I put out a big basket of fun size candy bars – readily available around Halloween. People especially love the mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins (very fresh since they only come out once a year).

On the slightly messier side of things are cheese (string cheese, Babybel, cheddar and other cheeses – try cutting them into Halloween shapes using mini cookie cutters), cheese spread and crackers (I love Boursin), veggies & dip (cherry tomatoes, baby carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, peppers), fruit (seedless grapes, apple slices, blueberries), and cookies. My favorite cookies are the break apart and cook variety (easy!) such as Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough Ultimates: Peanut Butter Cups and Chocolate Chunks or Toll House Sugar Cookies. I usually roll out the sugar cookie dough, cut into Halloween shapes then decorate with colored cream cheese/butter cream frosting in various colors (when I don’t want to spend time piping, I use M&Ms for eyes, etc., e.g. on the bats, pumpkins, and ghosts).

My snack table includes Halloween themed paper napkins and appetizer sized paper plates. I have a couple of small nesting tables available for people to use for drinks and things next to the game tables. Halloween themed coasters are on every game table.

We keep the bulk of the food in the kitchen but allow guests to bring plates of food to the game room, with the understanding that if they slop on a game, they replace it (luckily we’ve not had any issues with this). Some favorite foods include spinach dip with pita chips, nacho cheese and/or guacamole with bite size white corn chips (I don’t recommend salsa unless you blend it with cream cheese to make it thicker), hummus and pita, deviled eggs, pinwheels, stuffed mushrooms, olives, mini-sausages, meatballs, mini éclairs, and mini cream-puffs.

For Halloween, I try to make things look spooky, such as wrapping the mini-sausages in strips of crescent rolls with mustard eyes to look like little mummies or cutting hot dogs into strips and cooking them in sauce to look like worms. Fresh mozzarella cheese cut in circles with sliced stuffed olives make great eyes; I serve them over tomatoes, fresh basil, and a little olive oil à la Caprese salad. Make a layer dip with guacamole on the top layer (grass) and small mounds of chopped black olives (graves). Cut grave markers from tortillas and bake – stick them in the layer dip above the black olive mounds.

My favorite dessert for Halloween is called Dirt. I included the recipe at the end of this article. Sometimes I make individual servings in rectangular dishes, with a personalized grave marker (gray paper cut out, rubber stamped with RIP and the guest’s name, aged with brown and black ink, mounted on toothpick), with a small skull next to it (you may want to warn people if it is not edible). Some people add gummy worms. There are loads of recipe ideas on the web, such as those at Martha Stewart’s website.

For drinks, we provide canned soda and offer our guests the use of neoprene cozies or double walled drinking cups with screw-on lids and plastic straws – both of these help keep condensation off the drinks and guests’ hands. Before dinner I usually make swamp martinis (sour-apple martinis with black vodka). These may be too messy for the game room, especially if served in traditional martini glasses. There are lots of Halloween themed mixed drinks. Check out the Better Homes and Gardens holidays section for ideas. They also have Halloween food recipes.

I like to serve a sit-down meal at our Halloween gaming party, completely by candlelight (although most of the candles are battery operated flameless versions – much safer in certain areas). The dining table has two candelabras with three bleeding candles each (bought at a Halloween supply store). Be aware that the red may stain your table. I put a cheap black plastic tablecloth under them as part of the centerpiece.

Front porch, the mummies are 5′ and 6′ tall.

Mood Music

To set the mood, I like to play creepy tunes in the background. My favorite Halloween music comes from Midnight Syndicate. They have a variety of CDs perfect for Halloween, includingVampyre, Born of the Night, Out of the Darkness, Gates of Delirium, The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, Dungeons and Dragons, and The 13th Hour. Last year they released a collection of the best recordings from their first 13 years, appropriately named Halloween Music. To hear samples of their music, click on the highlighted titles under the CDs listed on their website.

Glow-in-the-Dark Games!

I wish there were more (and better) glow-in-the-dark games. There’s something really special about playing a game in the dark on Halloween (especially if there’s creepy mood music in the background). It’s like the gamer’s version of sitting around a campfire telling scary stories. Here are a few of the better or more popular glow-in-the-dark games.

One of my favorite glow-in-the-dark games is Nacht der Magier (Magician’s Night) for 2 to 4 players. It takes about 20 minutes to play. I make sure to pull this one out every year. Although it plays well with children (some might even call it a children’s game, bah!), it’s a lot of fun for adults. It’s a dexterity game with loads of beautiful wooden pieces. The production quality is excellent and although the price may seem rather high, it is worth it.

The board is basically a platform with a glowing cauldron in the center. The cauldron covers a glowing ring around a hole. Around the cauldron are 12 round pieces with glowing symbols on top, in 4 different designs, one for each of the 4 players. Surrounding these pieces are a series of non-glowing pieces that are either cone shaped or disk shaped. These go right to the edge of the board. Each player takes a figure with a round base and glowing symbol. The object of the game is to use your figure to push one of the pieces with your matching symbol into the ring under the cauldron, starting from the outside of the board and working inwards. Unfortunately if any of the pieces on the board fall off, your turn ends.

The game is so much fun to play that players usually want to play it several times in a row. Of course the glowing objects will probably need to be charged up with light between games but this only takes a few seconds.

I own the Halloween themed glow-in-the dark Yatzee, but I’m not sure how one would keep score since the score sheet does not glow, just the dice do. I would suggest using an iDevice of some kind, maybe with the screen brightness turned down so it won’t overpower the dice. There is also a similar version of Jenga available.

Here are a few I haven’t played but would like to try:

Geister or Ghosts (2 players, 20 minutes)

Vampires of the Night (2-4 players, 20 minutes) This game is by the same designers as Nacht der Magier.

The Fantastic Forest (2-6 players, 20 minutes) This is a cooperative game with glow-in-the-dark recipes.

Board Games That Fit the Halloween Theme

Here’s a list of games the fit the Halloween theme. I’ve played some and added a few comments here and there. Others I included are either popular and/or have high ratings on Board Game Geek. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section!

Zombies!!! (2-6 players 60 minutes). Zombie games by Twilight Creations are popular in certain crowds year round but even more popular at this time of year. Their games aren’t as highly rated on BGG as others I mention here but the sheer number of releases merits attention – I think there are 9 or 10 games that either integrate or expand the base game – plus they offer glow-in-the-dark zombies: Bag o’ Glowing Zombies!!!, and for those geeks without a lady in their life, Bag o’ Glowing Zombie Babes!!! (Note: the exclamation marks are part of the titles!!!) Matt Carlson: Definitely a game full of Halloween theme. The plastic figures add to the theme as they slowly clutter up the landscape throughout the game. My main complaint lies in the game outlasting its welcome.  It just seems to take too long to play for what I get out of it.

Zombie Plague (2-6 players, 60 minutes)

Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead (2-5 players, 180 minutes) This is a very thematic game – you will probably have to hole up to survive. And good luck with that.

Eaten by Zombies! (2-4 players, 20 minutes)

Mall of Horror (3-6 players, 60 minutes)

The Looney Bin (3-7 players, 30 miutes)

Fearsome Floors (2-7 players, 60 minutes) Mark Jackson: Fearsome Floors has some nifty ideas but a timer is needed… it’s a game about fleeing the monster that can slow to a crawl as each player carefully works out his move. Brian Leet: Agreed that the game can bog down if analysis paralysis is allowed. I’ve had success with a combination of a warning before starting the game combined with a touch of peer pressure and good natured ribbing. A perennial favorite for us on this special day.

It’s Alive! (2-5 players, 30 minutes)

Vampire: Prince of the City (2-5 players, 180 minutes)

Witch’s Brew (3-5 players, 45 minutes) has a more “Euro” feel to it than some of the others listed here. Game mechanisms include simultaneous play, bluffing and resource management. Collect ingredients for potions (victory point cards). Mark Jackson: With the expansion from the Alea Treasure Box, Witch’s Brew works for 6 players.

Wicked Witches Way (2-6 players, 30 minutes) is a cute little memory game in a clever box. The box is in the shape of a book with a dice tray built in. A player rolls the dice then everyone looks them over. When one player decides s/he can remember enough to create a valid formula, s/he closes the box. Everyone tries to create a valid formula with his or her cards then the box is reopened and each player’s formula is checked against the dice. Valid formulas are rewarded with special cards and movement on the board.  Matt Carlson: A fun little game that rewards not just memory but the speed of memory.  It is simple enough to teach to non-gamers.

Geistertreppe (2-4 players, 15 minutes). This is a children’s game with adorable ghost pieces. Unfortunately it involves a lot of memory, thus I suck at it. Fraser McHarg: An excellent game for the four to six year olds, not bad for the older ones too.

Mark Jackson: Geisterwäldchen (2-6 players, 15 minutes). “Ghost Grove” is a sequel of sorts to Spooky Stairs (Geistertreppe)… but this is more of a “take that” race game with very cool ghost pieces.

Pyramid or Fluch der Mumie (2-5 players, 30 minutes) is another one of my Halloween favorites. One person plays the mummy trying to catch the other players. The other players are tomb raiders trying to collect a certain number and type of treasures. The board is a vertical pyramid floor plan with magnetic pieces.

Age of Steam: The Zombie Apocalypse (3-5 players, 120 minutes) is from my husband’s favorite line of games (i.e. Age of Steam).

Matt Carlson:  Nightfall (2-5 players, 45 minutes) is a horror themed Dominion clone. Lots of vampires and werewolves on the cards make a nice horror theme. Compared to other deckbuilding games, Nightfall is very interactive with players directly attacking each other in order to dish out negative points. The chaining mechanism keeps everyone at the table involved even when it isn’t their turn, but is also a minor hurdle to overcome when first learning the game.  People can easily bash on the leader, but the game still remains quite fun.

Ted Cheatham:  Horror House (2-4 players) This is a print a play from many years ago that is a horror themed version of Atlantic Storm.  The game play is identical but, the theme is hunters vs. monsters in a haunted house. There was a lot of work printing this one.  It is a shame it is not main stream as it really is a nice system and with the horror theme, it works very well.

Ted Cheatham: Waldschattenspiel or The forest Shadow Game  (3-8 players, 15 minutes) [Frank Branham: Thanks for the title!]  At Gulf Games II in Panama City, Florida, Frank brought a really unique game that we played in the dark in an abandoned, roach infested kitchen area. (We went there because it was really dark.) The group plays Fairies or something similar trying to escape a witch. So, it is many players facing an evil player. The board is wooden trees of a forest and a candle….yes a real lit candle.  The candle actually casts shadows by the trees and moves around the board casting various shadows.  It is not good to be caught in the light of the candle. It was a hoot!

Cooperative or Semi-Cooperative Halloween Themed Games

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Game (2-5 players, 90 minutes) is a one-against-the-rest semi-cooperative game. Very thematic! Different scenarios make it interesting.

Arkham Horror (1-8 players, 240 minutes) – this one is a bit long for my tastes but it can be fun with the right crowd. With the wrong crowd it can be torture. Matt Carlson: I own it and am not a huge fan, due to the long play time as well as the large setup commitment. However, it does a great job with the horror/Cthulhu theme and I have friends who rank it as one of their favorite games.

Elder Sign (1-8 players, 120 minutes) is touted by some as Arkham Horror light. It can end much sooner if the players roll poorly or don’t cooperate well. I played with 6 or 7 and would recommend a max of 5; the downtime can get too long with more players.  Matt Carlson: One could try to promote this as cooperative, horror-themed Yahtzee. I agree that 5 is a good number (3 or 4 might even be better) and more than 5 will make player turns few and far between. Brian Leet: I think this is coming up for a more detailed OG treatment sometime soon. I’ve only got one play under my belt. Enjoyed it, but with five players we were definitely at a down time upper limit.

Castle Ravenloft (1-5 players, 60 minutes) is a cooperative dungeon crawl. Brian Leet: This is a terrific simpler dungeon crawl. Admittedly, the theme doesn’t scream Halloween to me, but a good suggestion for those who want a purely cooperative game or a step down in complexity from Descent.

Wrath of Ashardalon (1-5 players, 60 minutes) is an improved (so I hear) version of Castle Ravenloft. There are three official bonus adventures if you own both games. Brian Leet: Much like Castle Ravenloft although perhaps even a bit more refined.

Matt Carlson: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game (1-5 players, 60 minutes) has just been released and continues the dungeon crawl line. The three D&D co-op games are compatible with each other. Ravenloft (vampires, etc…) and Drizzt (underground spiders, drow, etc…) seem to carry a bit more Halloween theme.

Mansions of Madness (2-5 players, 120 minutes) is a one-against-the-rest type of game. Brian Leet: Definitely my recommendation for a group against the Keeper style game with a Halloween theme. Interesting play combined with very evocative stories. Only downside is that it does come with a bit of set-up complexity and rules load.

Fury of Dracula (2-5 players, 120 minutes) – one player takes on the role of Dracula while the others try to hunt him down. Mark Jackson: Fantasy Flight Games rebooted the classic Games Workshop title and made it a much cleaner & more enjoyable game. Brian Leet: Classic game with a clear Halloween connection. Play this on the fateful night and your geek cred is firmly intact!

Ghost Stories (1-4 players, 60 minutes) is a cooperative game, players versus the game. Brian Leet: Excellent cooperative game. My experience is that this is one game where no player ever dominates play with their observations and experience simply because there is so much to plan that it really takes everyone’s input for a chance at survival. Wonderful Halloween theme and a ton of cooperative replay. I think this title would be even better known as a great cooperative if the simpler Pandemic hadn’t come out in close timing to its release.

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game (2-6 players, 90 minutes)

Letters from Whitechapel (2-6 players, 90 minutes)

Betrayal at House on the Hill (3-6 players, 60 minutes) Mark Jackson: Both editions of the game have component problems… and the structure of the game (with a random villain & 50+ different game scenarios) can lead to rules problems. With those caveats, it’s a romp of a game that incorporates pretty much every horror movie cliche out there.  Matt Carlson: There are “replacement books” as files on BGG to fix some errors in the original version. I really enjoy this game as it packs a pile of theme in a short (60 minutes tops) time frame.  With the variation of scenarios, one never knows what’s going to happen. Because of the random nature of the game, some games can be unwinnable by one side or the other (a traitor is chosen about a third of the way into the game) but I’ve found it a fun experience. Brian Leet: I’m normally a stickler for clear, well written and thoroughly edited games. This is none of those, but I don’t care. We’ve always had a blast when playing with a sort of “go with the flow” attitude. This is our perennial crowning piece of Halloween. As it rarely comes out on other occasions we still haven’t played a many of the scenarios, so looking forward to continuing the tradition for many years.

A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game (2-8 players, 120 minutes)

Witch of Salem (2-4 players, 60 minutes) is another cooperative, players versus the game.

Ted Cheatham: Chill Black Morn Manor (2-6 players, 120 minutes) This was a very cute horror game by Pacesetter.  One person serves the master and everyone else tries to figure out who the master is, get the item to kill it, and find the room where he lives.  This sounds simple enough until you realize everyone can change sides.  If you lose too much willpower you become a minion and serve the master.  If you are healed you become a hunter.  It has tile placement and cards that make the game very random…..but, a nice ride.

Games for Lots of People

Werewolf – this comes in many iterations, but only Ted Alspach has the Ultimate Werewolf edition, for 5 to 68 players, 30 minutes. Matt Carlson: More than any other game I know, this one lives or dies depending on who is playing (and perhaps more importantly, who is leading) it.

Zombie Dice can be played with a lot of people but the more players, the longer the game, and the longer the down time. I like it best with four players. It’s a light, push-your-luck game where players (zombies) take turns rolling dice for brains while trying to avoid gunshots (the bane of every zombie).

Ghost Party or Midnight Party (2-8 players, 30 minutes) is an enjoyable game that plays well with many people (unlike some of the aforementioned in the last sections). Hugo the ghost is trying to catch his party guests before they hide in the rooms. There is even a version with a glow-in-the-dark Hugo!

These games aren’t Halloween themed but are fun for many people. Most of you probably already know about Time’s Up! and Apples to Apples for large groups, but with multiple copies of these games, many people can play at the same time. FITS, Take it Easy, Würfel Bingo (High Score), Finito! and Take it to the Limit may all be played at the same time with one person selecting the pieces and calling them out. We usually play Liar’s Dice or Looping Louis (Bobbin’ Bumblebee) simultaneously, with winners competing in another round tournament style.

Prize Table

We provide the prizes for our Halloween prize table. I keep my eye out all year for deals on board game favorites. For example, Tanga or Barnes and Noble can offer games at 50% off or more. I also add little goodies such as sets of small containers for game pieces, T-shirts, play mats, etc. If I have a tournament or a costume contest and didn’t buy a special prize for these, I allow those people to select off the prize table first then raffle off the rest. We usually have enough goodies to do two rounds so the last person will get two selections in a row then I work backwards to the person who chose first.

If you don’t want to invest much money, ask each invitee to bring a board game. The best results come from a chained selection process since it encourages people to bring better games. The first person is selected randomly and their donation is taken off the table (to be given to the last person). The person who brought the game s/he selects gets to choose next, and so on.

After Midnight Fun

A couple years ago we decided to run a Clue-like game at 12:15 a.m. We made everyone go to bed by midnight with instructions that if someone had to get up they were to use the candles in their rooms for light (battery operated flameless versions). I think most people knew something was up, except one person… we’ll call her Janna. She asked my husband, Ravindra (a.k.a Snoozefest), why we all had to go to bed. By the way, we live out in the country – with woods around us. Ravindra told her that we lose power at midnight. Somehow that satisfied her and she went off to bed.

At 12:15, one of our friends (as planned) found Ravindra “dead” in the hallway with glitter blood on his forehead. She “woke” everyone screaming (she’s very loud). This was just outside Janna’s door. Everyone ran to the scene of the crime, except Janna. I rang the front bell, playing the detective. I had a flashlight and went to investigate. Still no Janna, so I banged on her door… she poked her head out and said she had to put her pants on; she was in her PJs.

We all gathered in the living room where I permitted the only light. Everyone else had his or her candles with them. I passed out cards with the names of suspects (i.e. our guests) and rooms – one of each to each player. I placed a set of floor plans of our house on the coffee table in the center of the room. They had to solve the mystery of which cards were missing – the scene of the crime (room), the murderer (a guest), and the weapon. The way to collect weapon cards was, on a player’s turn, to search a room. I put florescent orange sticky notes on suspected weapons in different rooms of the house (this was done during the 15 minutes that people were in their rooms). Nothing had to be moved to see the sticky notes but only a small portion of the sticky note might be showing so they had to look around fairly carefully. It would have been a lot easier with the lights on but they were only allowed to bring their candles to search. I wanted it to be a little spooky.

On a player’s turn s/he could ask another player for a card type, search a room, have the detective (me) check a weapon for blood, or make a guess. Players were allowed to bring one other person with them to search a room but if the person turned out to be the murderer, points were deducted each time. Sadly one person brought the murderer with him 3 or 4 times (even though he had a perfectly safe person in hand). I allowed them one clue for rooms; I gave a direction (e.g. North, South-East) of where to search in the room, corresponding to the floor plans.

I think the game would have worked well with a couple improvements. I had players check weapons with me as a turn; unfortunately one guy horded the weapons he had found (and he was the best at finding them) but didn’t get them checked because he didn’t know who the murderer was or what room. If I did it again, I probably would make the check immediately when they brought the weapon sticky note back. If another player asked to see a weapon card, they were required to show the player a new one each time. The other problem was that I didn’t have anyone check my directions – and I’m dyslexic. I had two rooms with the directions on the opposite side. Oops! Sorry! These couple things turned what should have be an hour game into a three hour slap-happy torture session. At least we can laugh about it now.

Another game to try on Halloween is one in the How to Host a Murder series. There are quite a few listed on Board Game Geek, including some reviews and ratings. Of the ones I checked, the playing time was listed as 180 minutes, although I’m not sure if this includes just game time or dinner as well. I played one of these years ago; we had a good time. We each dressed the parts as well.

If you have any other suggestions, please post a comment!

Dirt Dessert Recipe

Ingredients

1 lg package Oreo cookies

2 Tbl butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

2 sm packages chocolate pudding

3.5 cups milk

12 oz Cool Whip

Directions

1. Crumble (smash in zip lock bag) Oreo cookies

2. Mix butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until creamy.

3. Mix milk and pudding.

4. Add cream cheese mixture to pudding mixture. Fold in Cool Whip.

5. Put mixture in pot/container, top with smashed Oreo cookies.

Table Decorations