Oooooo-ooh
Posted on October 29, 2009 by Ailbhe Phelan
It’s that ghoulish time of year again. The days seem shorter, the nights stretch longer and there are noises out there waiting to scare us witless. Yes, it’s Hallowe’en folks!
Well, we here at Decoder just love any excuse to celebrate even if, especially if, there is a chilly economic wind whistling round the front door. And to get you all in the mood for the upcoming Eve’ of All Hallows we’ve created some Hallowe’en Horrors Masks for you and your family and friends to use.
So with our ready-to-print masks, ready-to-play games and easy-to-make cake you should have plenty of time to get ghouling. You can download them as PDF files here.
Enjoy!
Traditional Hallowe’en Parlour Games
When we were young chislers in Ireland we all played family games at Hallowe’en. So why not try these ‘parlour’ games again that all ages can enjoy.
Bobbing for apples in a basin
Fill a basin or bucket with water and float apples of varying sizes in it. Place this on the floor. Now kneel down and try and catch an apple only using your mouth, no hands. Make sure there is plenty of protection first on the floor, it’s a very wet game!
Hanging apple
Tie an apple by a string to nail on an open door frame and, taking it in turns, try and eat it with hands held behind your backs. Make it an extra hard task by twisting the string first and try and catch it as it spins and swing. Or work in pairs, player one is blindfolded and spun around a few times before player two has to give instructions to player one how to find the hanging apple and get a bite. Allow a time limit before the players have to swap roles. After the time limit another pair plays. The team who succeeds to bite the apple with the quickest time wins.
What’s my fortune
Fill several saucers (or plates – who has saucers these days eh?) and place on a table in a darkened room. Fill one with water, one with a ring, one with a coin and one with coal or dust etc. Then take each player one at a time into the darkened room, blindfolded for extra measure, and choose a saucer by touch. Whichever saucer is touched first will be your future.
- coal or dust = poverty
- ring = true love and marriage
- money = riches
- water = travel overseas
- stick = hardship
Great fun and laughter (with some tears from the younger ones if they get a ‘bad’ reading).
Barm Brack
And if all of that seems fun then why not make a traditional the irish Hallowe’en cake, Barm Brack. Seriously easy to make you can get all the details here on Ailbhe’s food blog.