Creepy Halloween Punch for Kids

We threw a children's Halloween party last year for about fifty fourth graders. I don't like to serve cans or bottles of soda or even juice boxes, because the kids take a sip and forget which one is theirs. This makes for a lot of waste and a lot of mess if they get knocked over. So, I thought about making a big bowl of punch. I wasn't sure about it at first. Most parties serve soda for kids and alcohol for adults.

I remembered at a family party quite a few years ago we had made a punch with frozen pieces of fruit floating in it. I thought that would work quite well, but I also wanted to make it kind of creepy since it was Halloween. We went to a Halloween party store and I bought a couple of body part molds. One was a heart and the other was a hand. You could use anything you wanted like, special baggies shaped like gloves or a rat.

I filled the heart mold with fruit juicy red Hawaiian punch and added some maraschino cherries and orange slices, then I covered it with a large freezer bag (just in case it spilled) and put it in the freezer overnight. I did the same thing with the hand mold, but I used green berry rush Hawaiian punch and I used oranges and limes. If you think you're going to need more than one of each, then you can make them up a couple of days a head of time.

For the red punch, I used 1/2 of the large plastic bottle of Hawaiian fruit juicy red punch, one large can of pineapple juice and one bottle of ginger ale. If it's a little too sweet you can always add a bunch of ice cubes to dilute a little. Then I added the frozen heart right before the kids came so that it didn't lose it's shape.

For the green punch, I used 1/2 of the large plastic bottle of Hawaiian green berry rush punch and one bottle of Squirt soda. If you can't find Squirt, you could use Fresca or a lemon-lime soda. The same goes for this punch if it's too sweet dilute it with ice. Then float the hand in the punch at the last possible minute. Some lucky kids might even get a frozen finger in their drink.

The kids loved it and so did the parents. Everyone asked for the recipe. I was embarrassed because it was so simple.
I also picked up some super creepy ladles for serving the punch. They were pretty inexpensive at the party store. It's worth the investment, because you can store them away and reuse them every year.

These are two great punch recipes. You could even add a little alcohol to spice it up for an adult party. I like to try new recipes and add my own personal touch. It's fun.