I filched these recipes from our sister site Which Day? (If you're interested in the history of Halloween, it's all explained on their Halloween page).

These recipes vary from some that are traditional to a couple of really easy ones that are great for little kids parties - at least they used to go down well with my children and their friends when they were little.

1¾ ounces fresh yeast
1½ cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
125ml (4 fl oz, ½ US cup) oil
125g (4 oz, ½ US cup) sugar
125ml (4 fl oz, ½ US cup) milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp grated lemon peel
700-800g (1lb 8oz-1lb 12oz, 6-7 US cups) plain flour
oil for frying
sugar for dredging

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, oil, sugar, milk, vanilla, and grated lemon peel. Add the yeast mixture, then mix in the flour, a little at a time until soft dough is formed.

Knead for a few minutes. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size, about 1-1½ hours.

When the dough is ready to use, a small piece dropped in a glass of water will float.

Roll out the dough about 2.5cm (1") thick on a floured surface. Cut out circles with a doughnut cutter or use 2 cookie cutters, one half the size of the other to cut out the centre.

Deep fry four doughnuts at a time in hot oil, turning over halfway through cooking (about a minute altogether). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Make some really sticky icing and ice each donut lavishly for donut on a string games, or just coat with sugar if you want to be boring and serve them on a plate.

8 small apples, washed and stalks removed
225ml (8 fl oz) water
450g (1 lb) sugar
8 wooden lolly sticks

Put the sugar and water into a pan and bring to the boil.

Stir until sugar has dissolved then continue cooking until golden.

Meanwhile, insert a lolly stick into each apple.

Remove pan from heat and allow to stand for 2 minutes.

Dip each apple into the toffee mixture, using a spoon to ladle toffee over the whole surface of the apple.

Hold the apples over the pan to drain, then stand on greaseproof paper to harden.

350g (12 oz) medium oatmeal
125g (4 oz) wholemeal flour
125g (4 oz) butter or margarine
125g (4 oz) honey
125g (4 oz) black treacle
1 tsp ground ginger
4 tbsp skimmed milk
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Grease a 30cm x 15cm (12" x 6") cake tin.

Pre-heat oven to 160ºC (325F, gas mark 3).

Blend flour, oats and ginger together in a mixing bowl.

Melt butter or margarine, treacle and honey together in a saucepan over a low heat.

Add flour, oats and ginger. Mix well.

Gently heat the milk until lukewarm and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add to the mixture and beat well.

Pour mixture into cake tin and smooth out.

Bake for one and a half hours.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes. Turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Leave in an air-tight tin for a few days before cutting.

450g (1 lb) Demerara sugar
75g (3 oz) butter
125g (4 oz) golden syrup
125g (4 oz) black treacle
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
150ml (¼ pint) water

Butter an oblong tin measuring about 20cm x 15cm x 2.5cm (8" x 6" x 1").

Pour the water into a heavy bottomed saucepan, warm over a low heat, add the sugar and stir until it dissolves.

Add the remaining ingredients and and continue heating until it reaches a temperature of 140ºC (270ºF) without stirring.

Pour the mixture into the buttered tin and leave to stand for about 5 minutes.

Mark into squares with a buttered knifethen leave to set before breaking up.

If you want to keep it for more than a day or two, wrap the pieces of toffee tightly in foil or similar, or it will get stuck together and become difficult to prise apart. Alternatively, wrap the whole block and break up when required (keep it somewhere cool, or in the fridge).

Note: If you use a larger tin, we suggest you increase the quantities.

75g (3 oz) butter, softened
175g (6 oz) clear honey
3 eggs
175g (6 oz) flour
1 tsp baking powder
115g (4 oz) chopped nuts
175g (6 oz) raisins

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC (350ºF, gas mark 4).

Grease a shallow baking tin about 30cm x 23cm (12" x 9").

Beat butter and honey together in a bowl.

Add eggs and beat into the mixture.

Sift flour and baking powder together. Blend into mixture.

Fold in nuts and raisins.

Transfer to greased tin and spread evenly.

Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Cut into fingers while still warm. Cool on a wire rack.

175g (6 oz) rolled oats
75g (3 oz) black treacle
75g (3 oz) golden syrup
75g (3 oz) sugar
75g (3 oz) butter

Grease a shallow baking tin or Swiss roll tin.

Preheat oven to 170ºC (325ºF, gas mark 3).

Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat.

Stir in treacle, syrup and sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat and stir in the rolled oats.

Spread evenly in the tin.

Bake for about 30 minutes until firm.

Cut into squares or fingers while still warm. Allow to cool before serving.

675g (1½ lbs) popped corn
1 tbsp butter
150ml (5 fl oz, 5/8 US cup) water
275g (10 oz) granulated sugar
275g (10 oz) brown sugar
175g (6 oz) light corn syrup
1 tsp salt

Mix water with sugars and syrup in a saucepan. Heat, stirring continuously, until sugar is dissolved.

Blend in butter and continue cooking without stirring until the mixture has reached a temperature of 115ºC (240ºF) (use a deep fat or sweet thermometer). If you don't have a thermometer, drop about a teaspoonful into a large container of cold water. It should solidify, and when you take it out (be careful, it will still be very hot) you should be able to roll it into a ball, but it will not hold its shape.

Put corn into a fairly large mixing bowl, pour the syrup mixture over the corn and mix well.

Cover your hands with a coating of butter or oil to prevent the syrup mixture sticking to you, then shape the coated corn into small balls and wrap in waxed paper.

Selection of root vegetables, choose from:
swede (rutabaga, Swedish turnip, mangelwurzel), large carrots, parsnips, turnips, (raw) beetroot (beet), sweet potato...
chilli powder
oil for frying

Scrub vegetables clean. Peel swede, winter turnips and beetroot, top and tail and cut to a size that can be sliced with a mandolin. Peel sweet potato and cut to size. Top and tail carrots and parsnips.

Slice vegetables with a mandolin (a slicer where you slide the veggies over an inset blade), or if you don't have one, slice very thinly with a sharp knife.

Toss the sliced vegetables in chilli powder.

Drop a few at a time into hot oil and fry until golden (well, obviously the beetroot won't go golden, use your judgement here). Keep an eye on them, they don't take long.

Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a metal colander (as a plastic one may melt). When they are all cooked or the colander is full, shake off excess oil, then tip onto kitchen towel to finish cooling.

If not using right away, pile them onto a baking tray and put into a warm oven (180ºC, 350ºF, gas mark 4) for about 20 minutes.

1 blackcurrant jelly mix
1 tin of gooseberries or grapes
black (or blue and red) food colouring

Do your best to get gooseberries (you could also use fresh and stew them yourself in about 10 minutes). When a gooseberry is cut, all the seeds ooze out, which is much more effective than the flesh of grapes, when it comes to masquerading as eyes!

Make up the jelly the night before, using the juice from the gooseberries as part of the liquid. Put in the fridge to set.

If you can't get black food colouring, mix some red and blue food colouring together.

Put the gooseberries in a single layer in a dish and drip the food colouring over them until they look suitably gruesome.

Chop up the blackcurrant jelly and add to the gooseberries. Mix together.

675g (1½ lb) pumpkin
115g (4 oz) castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp of ground ginger
3 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp milk
275g (10 oz) plain flour
65g (2½ oz) margarine or butter
65g (2½ oz) cooking fat (lard)
3-4 tbsp water

Peel pumpkin, cut out the fibrous centre and discard. Weigh out quantity required of the remaining flesh. Cut into cubes.

Put pumpkin in a colander over a pan of boiling water or a steamer. Steam for about 20 minutes until tender.

Mash to a pulp and cool.

Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF, gas mark 5).

Sift flour and two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon into a bowl.

Rub in fat until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Mix with water to form a firm dough, knead lightly and roll out on a floured board.

Line a 26cm x 18.5cm (10.5" x 7.5") tin with the pastry, reserving trimmings.

Prick the base, line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove beans and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes. Do not turn off oven.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together with the nutmeg, ginger and remaining cinnamon.

Fold in mashed pumpkin and 4 tablespoonfuls of milk and mix well.

Pour mixture into pastry case.

Roll out the pastry trimmings and cut into strips.

Arrange strips in a lattice pattern over the top of the pie and stick down with a little milk.

Brush strips with the remaining milk.

Bake for about 40 minutes until filling has set.

Cut into wedges and serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

2 packs chipolata sausages (these are thin sausages - use ordinary ones if you can't get them)
1 tin chopped tomatoes

Cook the sausages, drain on kitchen towel and cool.

Put into a dish and pour over the tomatoes.

If serving hot, reheat in a warm oven.