Team Building Culinary Halloween Parties

TeamBuilding Unlimited/Murder on the Menu offers an array of Halloween Parties to fit every budget. What could be more fun than a company Halloween party. Great reward and teambonding event.

TeamBuilding Unlimited Culinary Halloween Events

GINGERBREAD HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSES

Teams work together to design, build and decorate the best Haunted House to reflect their company and/or their group within the company. All materials are provided including instructions, gingerbread, decorations, icing, candy, sprinkles and other goodies! You supply the resourceful creativity and dynamic energy. So roll up your sleeves and get down to food basics. Design a delicious Haunted House that reflects the raison d'être of your group.

CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSES

What could be more tempting than building a Haunted House completely from Chocolate? In this case, chocolate and chocolate related foods. TeamBuilding has never been so Sweet!
Group will be divided into teams and provided with all kinds of chocolate based foods that might include chocolate-covered graham crackers, M&Ms, chocolate Gummy Bears, Hershey bars and anything you can think of that is made of chocolate. We go for different shapes, sizes, and textures.

Teams then compete to build their own Chocolate Haunted House. The result has to stand up on its own and, except for the white cardboard base, has to be completely edible. Teams are given time to design and build, and then they have to present the results.

HALLOWEEN BAR TO BAR TO BAR SCAVENGER HUNT

Using the diversity of sights, sounds and materials of a city of your choice (San Francisco, Napa, Carmel, New York, Chicago?), teams will compete as they comb through the essence of the area's core to provide the winning touch to an exciting scramble related to the company, the group, HALLOWEEN and "The Bar to Bar to Bar" Hunt.

What are the most important three basic food groups? Caffeine, Chocolate and Alcohol! This Scavenger Quest is not for the faint of heart. The HALLOWEEN Bar to Bar to Bar Quest is for great team building and team bonding. There is an emphasis on fun, creativity and enjoyment.

Teams must visit and bring back proof of the visit—electronic, paper, product or otherwise—from a place that serves or sells coffee, a place that serves or sells alcohol, and a place that sells or produces high end chocolate that has specific Halloween-themed products.

HALLOWEEN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT, TOO!

This is not just Icing on the Cake... Teams design and decorate cakes to reflect their team, their company, and Halloween.

Each person designs and decorates a chef's hat with their team name. Then the real fun begins. Each team is challenged to create and decorate a cake that symbolizes the team itself, the company, and Halloween. Spiders? Ghosts? Vampires?

Each group will be given a large sheet cake that can be carved or left as is. With a variety of cake design supplies, tools and assorted cake decorations, the group will turn their concept into reality. And, in the end, participants will enjoy their creations. You can have your cake and eat it, too!

Contact TeamBuilding Unlimited for more information on these events. Make Your Halloween a Howling Success!

Halloween: Amusement Parks are Tricked out

I love Halloween. Shouldn't come as any big surprise since I run Murder on the Menu. So over the next few weeks or so, I'll be giving some info about places to go for a fun Halloween event--for your company or your family. I'll also be giving you links to recipes and other ideas for the holiday--and a link to mystery novels set during Halloween.

I saw a great article in today's USA Today about Amusement Parks that are tricked out for Halloween. Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia is having "Terror Behind the Walls". Six Flags in various states will hold a "Fright Fest". Universal Studios in both Universal City and Orlando will have "Halloween Horror Nights". Even Hersheypark will have "Hersheypark in the Dark." Read the entire article here.

If your local park isn't on the list, check them out online. They may be doing a Boocrew or Howloscream or at least a Haunted House!

Live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Check out the Haunted Bay website. Calendar, lists of haunted houses and pumpkin patches.

Want Murder on the Menu/TeamBuilding Unlimited to provide entertainment or team building for your Halloween party? We can do a Monster Mash Murder or any theme you'd like, as well as a delicious "Have Your Halloween Cake and Eat it, Too!" team building event. Now that's a major treat. You design and decorate cakes for Halloween and either eat them when you're through or take them back to the office. Great idea for a Halloween party!

Halloween Spirits

Looking for that special Halloween drink tonight? Not afraid of spirits? Go to Drink of the Week.com for some wicked brew!

Want wine only? Choose some Halloween themed wines such as:
Vampire Wines. Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet, Merlot Rose, Pinot Grigio, White Zinfandel or Chardonnay.
Dracula wines: Zinfandel and Syrah (originally the grapes for this wine were grown on the Transyvlanian plateau, now they're made from Califonia grapes.
Poizin from Armida Winery in Healdsburg is a 'wine to die for'.... The wine, a zinfandel, comes in a great bottle with skull and cross-bones, and it's all packaged in a coffin.

For more fun Deadly Wines, go to Celebrate Wine. Other labels include Leelanau Cellars Witches Brew, Evil (updside down and backwards label), Owen Roe Sinister Hand, Toad Hollow Eye of the Toad, Zeller Schwarz Katz.

Want to give the personal touch to your Halloween wines? Add ghoulish labels or rebottle in cool jars with apothecary labels from Pottery Barn (or do them yourself). For a great article, go to Spooky Halloween Bottle & Glass Labels.

Don't forget some bloody toasts!

Halloween Chocolate Cemeteries

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. And, I'm always "dying... for chocolate."

These spooky Halloween cupcakes are fun to make and eat. Use any one of the following decorating ideas on its own, or put several together to create a tray of different treats. Easy to bake, you can use any devil's food cake recipe.

To make a cupcake cemetery, spread devil's food cupcakes with chocolate icing. Dip the top of each frosted cupcake in crushed chocolate wafers to create the look of dirt, then insert shortbread-cookie tombstones, piping them with scary messages like "Boo!" or "R.I.P." in royal icing.

Top more devil's food cupcakes with chocolate ganache and chocolate-wafer "dirt," make a hole in the center of each cupcake with your finger, and position half a gummi worm to look like it's slithering out of the hole.

Happy Halloween! Boo!!!

How to Create your own Spooktacular Halloween Party

Murder on the Menu is in the business of creating super Halloween parties, but maybe you want to do something on your own. Here are a few tips. Your guests will be 'dying' to attend. You can adapt these ideas for kids or adults.

Invitations: Use a cool evite or send an invitation in the mail. Your invitations will let your guests know what to expect when they come to the party. What to wear, when to arrive, what to expect. Here's a cool site for invitations.

Costumes: Depending on the theme of your party, you can ask your guests to come as their favorite sleuth, Dead Celebrities, Monsters (doing the Monster Mash), Ghouls and Goblins, etc.

Decorations: Many choices available-- glow in the dark pumpkin lights to crime scene investigation scenarios, complete with blood and gore. I often use crime scene tape, keep the lights low, glow in the dark tape for the body on the floor. So many choices. Of course, it depends on the type of party you're planning. How about Mr. Body: stuffed pants in stuffed shoes (remember the socks) sticking out from under a couch or skirted table?

Food: I'll be posting my favorite ghoulish cupcake recipe soon, but there are so many great recipes on the web right now. Check out the Food Networks' Devilish Delicious Treats.

Drinks: Drink of the Week has put together a Halloween collection or recipes for dastardly drinks, murderous martinis and creepy cocktails!

Activities: Mystery Box Game, create your own or hire Murder on the Menu. The game of Clue with Multiple games available for larger crowd. Pumpkin carving. Bobbing for Apples. More Great Halloween Games.

Music: Spooky Halloween CDs. There are several CDs with themes from TV crime and mystery shows, too.

For more great ideas and tips, go to Cheryl Williams' website.

Boo!!!