Halloween is the one time of the year when you

can really get into the spirit and let your imagination go wild.

There’s no end to the possibilities for hosting a ghoulish gathering or creating a den of darkness for your family or yourself.

For Halloween guru, Sarah Smith from 100 Mile House, All Hallows’ Eve and the days surrounding it are the best time of year — even better than Christmas, she says.

“There’s no pressure and nobody has expectations. It’s just about pretending and having fun.”

She pulls out all the stops on Halloween and admits it’s just as much for her own enjoyment as it is for sons

Jake, 14, and Kevin, 9. Dressing up in costume is a big part of the celebration and Smith has a closet full of fantasy fashions she’s sewn over the years.

“I’ve dressed up every year for kids at the door on Halloween.

As they make their way to the house, trick-or-treaters can usually count on being greeted by a talking skull out by the walkway or any of the mountain of Halloween decorations she’s collected over the years.

Decorations usually flow from the front door, through to the kitchen, and while the bulk of Smith’s collection comes from the store, she says one of the least expensive and easiest ways to decorate is with black paper.

“Make silhouettes from black paper. Things like a picket fence, cats, owls and bats work well. Use orange paper for pumpkins.”

Traditions are fun, and something her family does each year is joining the rest of the gang at Grandma’s for a pumpkin-carving party with a lot of snacks and memory making.

No time to carve? Smith says it’s easy to dress up a pumpkin with a little paint, a hat and even a pair of earrings.

Food is a big part of her own ghoulish gatherings

and she sets a terrifying table with goodies, including witches’ fingers,

mummy dogs and punch with floating eyeballs.

Serving up freakish delights can be easy with a little imagination and Smith has a recipe file that can get pulses racing and hearts pounding. Here are a few:

• Witches’ Fingers - Shape packaged or homemade bread dough to look like fingers and carve wrinkle lines with a paring knife. Poach for one minute in a pot of boiling water to which 2 tsp. of baking soda has been added. Brush with egg whites and press on a painted almond as a fingernail before baking for 15 minutes at 350 F.

• Mummy Dogs - Wrap a wiener in crescent roll dough to resemble mummy. Bake as per package directions, and when it’s cool, apply dabs of mustard for eyes.

• Ghost pears - Insert a wooden candy apple stick into top of green pear. Dip in melted white chocolate to cover. Pour a small puddle of chocolate on waxed paper for tail and place pear on top of it. Use chocolate chips for eyes.

• Goblin Eye Roll-ups - Make wraps filled with ham, cream cheese and lettuce. Cut into one inch pieces and place a slice of stuffed olive on centre of cut side to make it look like an eyeball.

• Dirt and Worms with Spiders - Fill wine glasses with chocolate pudding (instant is easiest) and sprinkle with crushed chocolate wafer cookies. Top with a gummy worm and gummy spider.

• Mummy Cookies - Take a rolled cookie dough recipe and shape the cookies into finger length mummies, then bake. Hold cookie on a narrow spatula and pour melted white chocolate over to cover. Drizzle some back and forth to resemble bandages. Press in small chocolate chips for eyes.

• Floating eyeballs - Freeze olives in ice cubes and float in your favourite bowl of punch.

• Ancient Eggs - Hard boil eggs, and when cool, roll back and forth to create cracks in shell. Soak in a mixture of strong tea and 1/4 cup of Soya sauce for three days in the fridge. Peel before serving.

• Frozen Hand - Wash a latex glove thoroughly inside and out and then fill with green-coloured water or other beverage. Hang in freezer to keep shape. When solid, peel off the glove and float the hand in a bowl of punch or prop it up on the edge of the bowl.

• Spooky Candy Apples - Insert a stick into apple and dip in melted chocolate or a combination of melted caramels and water. Decorate with gummy worms and spiders, cookie crumbs, candy corn and other Halloween candies. Cat faces with licorice string whiskers are easy. Decorate caramel dipped apples immediately but let chocolate dipped apples set up slightly first.

• Flavoured Popcorn - Pour 1/2 cup of melted margarine over a batch of popped corn. Add garlic salt, pepper and other seasonings and bake on a cookie sheet at 250 F for five minutes to crisp. Add pretzel pieces for variety.

It’s not hard to put together a spooky spread and to make the most of it, display it all on a table with decorations and maybe a smoking cauldron.

Shrunken heads made from carved and dried apples stuck on the end of a wooden skewer make creepy table décor, too. Peel the apple then carve a simple face and dip it for 30 seconds in a solution of lemon juice and salt. Leave it out in a warm place to dry and time will take care of the rest. Smith says it will take about two weeks of drying time to create a really evil looking head.

Above all else, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy and have a happy Halloween.