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| photo credit: Mike Bowler |
No Halloween party is complete without some freaky ice tricks!
Eyeball Ice Cubes
These were the single biggest hit of the party. I made a ton of eyeball-shaped ice
cubes with blueberry pupils that floated blueberry-side up in everyone’s drinks
and stared at them. Here’s how to
do it:
- Find a round-shaped ice tray or egg carton. I used a plastic egg carton, which
worked perfectly. If you don’t
have plastic egg cartons at home, the styrofoam ones might work or look around
for some of those silicon ice trays that come in different shapes.
- Place one blueberry in the center of each pit in
your egg carton/ice tray. Pour a
small amount of water into each that covers the blueberry halfway or a bit
more. Pop in the freezer for a
couple hours. *You must fill the
trays in steps because otherwise the blueberry will float to the top of the
water and you won’t have a very convincing looking eyeball.
- Once the blueberry is frozen in place, fill the
pits all the way and freeze.
- Voila!
You have some freaky looking
ice cubes!
Variation:
o If
you have access to an Asian grocery store, I recommend buying some tapioca
pearls instead of blueberries.
They may take some more preparation because you’ll probably want to boil
them and soak them in syrup before you use them. However, I noticed nobody actually ATE the blueberries last
year after their ice melted. The
pearls, on the other hand, are made to go in drinks and will probably turn out
to be a yummy alternative.
The Frozen Hand in the Punch Bowl
This is a popular one that can be found many places
online. (My favorite is here) However, I noticed none of these sites
ever explain how to get the hand to stand UP in the punch bowl, so I will :)
- Take two plastic gloves, rinse/wash them and
turn them inside out. (make at
least TWO because it’s no fun when the first hand melts too fast)
- Fill them with water as far as you can and tie
shut with a rubber band or a good snack clip.
- Pop in the freezer overnight so that it freezes
solid. I positioned mine on a bag
of frozen veggies in the freezer so that it had a bit more “believable” shape.
- Now, I made a big base so that my hands would
stand up in the punch. I took some
simple take-out tupperware (so any medium-sized bowl or deep dish will do) and
filled it about ¾ of the way with water.
Freeze that overnight too.
- The next day, carefully remove the glove. You may want to set it out for a minute
or run it under cold water so that the glove is easier to remove.
- Now the tricky part: place the hand on top of
the block of ice and fill the remaining ¼ with water. It does not stand on it’s own, but I was able to prop the
hand against the shelf in the freezer while it finished freezing.
- Pop the base of its tray and place it in the
punch when you’re ready to go!
Note:
o I’ve
read a few places that stress using a plastic glove (like the big ugly yellow
ones) instead of latex for easier removal. Truth be told, I made about four of these suckers last year
and no matter how careful I was, I lost a finger every time. In the end, I took the broken finger
and propped it on the base so that it looked like it had fallen off. Ew.
Variations:
o An
easier way to make the base may be to find a can/jar (like a coffee can) that
the hand will not fit into entirely.
Set the hand on the jar and fill it with water until the base of the
hand is submerged. I’ve also
read that you can prop the hand in a glass (without a frozen base entirely),
put the glass in the middle of the punch bowl and fill the bowl with punch
around it.
o You
can add all sorts of things to the water in the glove to make it more
interesting. The favorites are
jello or red food coloring, but since I’m terribly allergic to all things
artificially red, I went with orange juice.
o Another
fantastic alternative is to fill the glove with TONIC water. Under a black light, the frozen tonic
water will glow.
Super-simple Flavored Popcorn
