Coming up with new tricks to wow Halloween visitors and party guests every year can be a monstrous challenge. but don’t be scared. We’ve got a treat for you: A grab bag of spooky decorations and frighteningly easy refreshments to get you in the spirit of the holiday.

MINI CARAMEL APPLES

Bite-size versions of the fall fair treat, these tiny "caramel" apples are a great party snack.

YOU WILL NEED:
4-inch lollipop sticks
Melon baller
Granny Smith apples (one apple makes about 8 mini apples)
Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
Chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, shredded coconut (optional)
Small paper candy cups

First, cut the lollipop sticks in half at an angle (the pointy end will go into the apple pieces easier). With the melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Each ball should have a section of apple peel. Push half of a lollipop stick into the peel of each ball. Pat the apple pieces dry.

Melt the chips according to the package directions. Dip and swirl the mini apples in the melted chips, then roll the apples in nuts, sprinkles, non-pareils or coconut, if desired. Place the mini apples in paper candy cups to set.

— FAMILY FUN MAGAZINE

BLACK BEAN CAT CRUDITES

Looking for a Halloween night snack that’s both healthy and festive? This skeletal array fits the bill, no bones about it — just assorted fresh vegetables and a bowl of dip arranged in the shape of a spooky cat.

BRAIN CUPCAKES

Here’s a treat to put you in a Halloween mindset. Spread a coat of light orange icing (we stirred drops of yellow and pink food coloring, and just a touch of green, into 2 cups of buttercream frosting until we had a hue we liked) on a dozen cupcakes.

Then use a pastry bag fitted with a number 10 round tip to top them with fat zigzags. It works best to first pipe two zigzags down the middle and then fill in the sides.

WITCH'S HOUSE CAKE

When guests dig into this devilishly delicious cake with its broken candy "glass" path, cookie graveyard, marshmallow ghosts and spooky hilltop shack, it will be love at first bite.

Ingredients:
3 baked devil's food or chocolate cakes: a 13- by 9- by 2-inch, an 8-inch round cake baked in an ovenproof bowl and a 6-inch loaf
4 cups chocolate frosting
1 cup orange frosting
Decorations: chocolate graham crackers and ice-cream cones, Nutter Butter cookies, black shoestring licorice, green gumdrops, chocolate kisses, twisted licorice, mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, chocolate-covered raisins and green hard candies

Cover a large cutting board with foil. Place the 13- by 9- by 2-inch cake on top to create the "graveyard." On one end, place the bowl-shaped cake "hill." Ice the graveyard and hill with chocolate frosting. Cut out a 2- by 3-inch rectangle, about 1 inch deep, on top of the hill to accommodate the house.

Turn the loaf cake into a house by cutting the corners off one end to make a peaked roof. Place the house in the 2- by 3-inch slot and "paint" the house with orange frosting. Tile the roof with chocolate graham crackers and frosting. Add scary details: windows made of broken chocolate cones with orange icing grids and a peanut butter cookie door with a candy doorknob.

Surround the house with shoestring licorice barbed wire. Add a flying witch (a gumdrop face with a chocolate kiss hat on a twisted licorice broomstick).

To create gravestones, break peanut butter cookies in half and pipe on spooky sayings with orange frosting ("R.I.P.," "Boo" and so on). Secure in the muddy frosting. Next make ghosts in the trees (cut crooked branches in a piece of twisted licorice and add mini marshmallow ghosts with mini chocolate chip eyes), then plant the trees in the mud. Next, draw a crooked path from the base of the cake to the witch's door with a toothpick. Outline the path with chocolate-covered raisins, then sprinkle with broken green hard candies. At the entrance, add a chocolate graham cracker drawbridge. Finally, outline the yard with broken chocolate cone fencing. Set the house in a place for all to see — and scream about. Serves 20.

CANDY CORN BALLS

A sprinkling of candy corn makes these popcorn balls an extra-special treat. While boiling the syrup is a job for adults only, shaping the balls is a fun activity for little hands.

To make them, put 12 cups popped popcorn in a mixing bowl large enough to allow for stirring. Mix in 1 and 1/2 cups candy corn.

Next, fill a medium-sisze bowl with ice water and set out a cookie sheet or a piece of waxed paper.

Mix 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup corn syrup, 6 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a 4-quart pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Stop stirring and let the syrup boil until an inserted candy thermometer reaches 275 degrees (a parent's job).

Carefully pour the syrup over the popcorn and stir well with a wooden spoon to evenly coat the kernels and candy. Cool slightly. Now quickly dip your hands into the ice water and shape the popcorn into 3-inch balls. Place on waxed paper to cool completely. Tightly wrap the balls individually in plastic. Makes 18 to 24.

SPIDER PRETZELS

These arachnid treats are easy to make — and they look positively lifelike crawling across a snack plate.

Ingredients
For each treat:
2 round crackers
2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter
8 small pretzel sticks
2 raisins

With the peanut butter, make a cracker sandwich. Insert eight pretzel "legs" into the filling. With a dab of peanut butter, set two raisin "eyes" on top. Makes 1.

— All projects from ‘FamilyFun Tricks and Treats,’ from Disney Editions