If you don't want your children to go from door to door collecting candy from people you don't know, here are some fun alternatives to Halloween you can plan with your kids and friends.

Instead of one huge Ghostly Mob at one house, split it up into three houses, traveling in a group to each house in turn. Use a theme for each house. For example:

First House - The Graveyard

One of the most fun alternatives to Halloween is to decorate the front yard with gravestones and ghosts hanging from the eaves or trees. The party host or hostess should be dressed as a ghost. Have someone tell a ghost story. Find recipes online that feature ghosts.

Second House - Frankenstein's Lab

The Host Hostess could be dressed in lab coats, with mysterious beakers full of smoking liquid (you can use dry ice, but be sure to follow safety guidelines) for one of the more creative alternatives to Halloween. Make a game of blindfolding your guests and have them guess 'What's in the bowl?' Peeled grapes feel like eyeballs, thick wet spaghetti feels like worms, and so on. Watch a monster movie. Serve monster foods -- lots of recipes online.

Third House - The Wizard's Den

The Hostess can be a Fortuneteller, "predicting" each child's future in the most mystical of the alternatives to Halloween. Tack stars to the ceiling that are 'glow in the dark,' and play music featuring songs about magic. Send them home with a "Magic Treat", such as cookies with a special surprise hidden in the middle.

Serve finger foods and appetizers at a kid's Halloween party. This encourages them to have fun and to mingle and talk while eating. Use gummy worms or gummy bugs to garnish things like cookies or fudge. Have you tried blue Jell-O with blueberries and cottage cheese in it? Unearthly! A creepy touch is a hand in the punch bowl. Freeze water in a clean rubber glove. Remove from glove and float in the punch bowl. Play spooky music. Line the walkway with Jack-O-Lanterns.

Keep all lights low, but don't use candles - they are too hazardous around children and part of the reason to explore alternatives to Halloween is creating a safer setting. For tips on how to start including your smaller children in the search for the right costume, take a look at Part One of this magazine's Holiday Organization series, which focuses on that very subject.

There are so many books with scary stories and poems you can read to children. Here are a few of my favorites: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe (for older kids, read with lots of drama), The Golden Arm and Teeny-Tiny from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (both lull you with their quiet story until the last line, which is shouted - great fun to read aloud), My Own True Ghost Story from Under the Deodars by Rudyard Kipling and Hallowe'en by Harry Behn. If you'd rather read your own stories to the kids, take a look at this month's Spooky Story Secrets and maybe discover more alternatives to Halloween not outlined in the article. Above all, be sure that your kids have a safe and sane Halloween. Check out some great Halloween safety tricks in this month's issue!