What kind of Halloween Crime Scene Party would you throw for your friends?

[Lyn LeJeune]

Mine has ghosts, a voodoo priestess, a secret society, a New Orleans trolley, a book, libraries, Cajun food (especially gumbo), contests, readings, and a rebuild New Orleans campaign. Let me know if you want to know more, here or at www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com or [e-mail]. I'm planning a real Cajun Zydeco foot-thumping party.
Lyn lejeune

[Karyn J. Powers]

I'm having a House of Voodoo Halloween party and have already started decorating the house. I have turned my craftsman style cottage into a swamp shack with bamboo runners around the front door, a voodoo priestess and witch doctor, a full size alligator, lots of bones, chicken feathers, beads and some crazy Harlequin dolls I picked up at Goodwill. My husband ordered a set of paper/cloth one-piece suits that people use for painting or spraying herbicides, and they will become a pair of life size zombees holding a seance on the front porch.

For the party, I'll have a touch of NO style foods, but our friends bring their kids and grand kids so I make sure there is kid-friendly fare. Last year, while I was finishing up the food prep, we had all of the kids who wanted to, pull jokes out of a jar and stand on a special carpet to tell their joke. The best ones came from the 5 & 6 yr olds who usually had an adult whispering their lines to them. Later, while the adults relaxed after dinner, they had pumpkin-face-assembly relay races and smashed pinatas in the garage. A good time was had by all!

[Karyn J. Powers]

I made a jello heart and a jello brain and floated the brain in the punch. The heart was supposed to be in the center of a gorey fruit salad, but it came apart as I was getting it out of the mold. One of my dear friends was helping me get the meal together while Pat entertained the hoard. We were working on the stubborn heart over the sink when it came apart and we ended up in one hilarious juggling act trying to capture the parts as they slipped to the floor. Later, the fruit salad was served without that tell tale heart!