It's time to scare yourself silly...

The spookiest time of year is almost here, which means 2 things:

1. More sweets than your molars can handle

2. Fancy dress

If you're planning on heading to a fancy dress party this Halloween but you can't be bothered to spend hours on an elaborate outfit involving glue, safety pins and bits of cardboard, here's a couple of ridiculously simple costume suggestions...

THE ZOMBIE - Super simple, just think Shaun of the Dead. Rip a few holes in some old clothes and get creative with the tomato ketchup/red food dye/that fake blood you can't get off your skin for months. Most effective when you walk with a limp, put your head on your shoulder and slobber a lot.

THE GHOST - There's two approaches here. Stick a sheet over your head or dress completely in white and and make yourself as pasty as possible with talc/flour/face paint (depending on your budget). Don a big black wig and you could even go as our very own GHOSTGIRL, Charlotte Usher.

If you're a Halloween party host, play some fun (and potentially gross) games to get the party started...

WHAT'S IN THE PUMPKIN HEAD?

Take some traditional carved pumpkin heads (or plastic bags if that's too much like hard work) and put something in each one (fake snakes or spiders to make people jump, or baked beans or mashed banana for the yuk factor - basically your kitchen cupboard is your oyster). Then blindfold your guests and make them guess what they're touching.

APPLE BOBBING
This game involves picking up apples from a tub filled with water using only your teeth. If you want to be strict, tie contestants hands behind their backs and blindfold them. Make this even messier by setting the apples (or some other spookier objects) in a big bucket of jelly. yummmmmmmmmm.

And if you're staying in instead and planning a scary movie fest, we'll be blogging soon with some fantastically frightening Halloween movies.