Sometime in the next few days, you are likely to need a treat for a Halloween party. And what says Halloween yumminess more than a jack-o-lantern cookie? Here are six delicious recipes ranging from decorate-it-yourself ones for the kids to one with (yum!) chocolate and peanut butter and even a healthy one with yam dressing for good measure.

Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches

Here's a cute no-bake pumpkin cookie your kids can make with you, from Food.com.

You need:

2 Ritz crackers 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut butter 1 to 2 ounces almond bark or 1 to 2 ounces vanilla candy coating or 1 to 2 ounces white chocolate or 1 to 2 ounces orange candy melts Orange food coloring Red food coloring Food coloring (pens or decorator gel) Green sprinkles Read More

What you are about to read is totally REAL and creepier than a Hollywood horror movie. Welcome to Scary Story Week on The Stir.

It was a dark and stormy night just before Halloween. Okay, so it might not have been dark and stormy, but it was nighttime and it was right before Halloween. I was a teenager in high school, over at my best friend Kate's house. And we were doing something we loved: playing with the Ouija board.

We sat quietly in the dim living room, legs crossed, knees touching, fingertips resting lightly on the iron-shaped marker. As we always did, we started out by asking in hushed voices, "Is there a spirit here?"

For those of you Ouija virgins, that's how you play. The thinking is that a ghost floating around nearby is what's making the thing move. What, you don't believe in ghosts?

Well, I was skeptical myself until that night. So there we were, in silence for at least a full minute. Nothing happened.

And then suddenly the Ouija came to life.

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One of the great joys of Halloween when you are a kid is coming back from trick or treating with a bucket full of Halloween candy. And one of the greatest joys of parenthood is skimming the best stuff from said treat bucket ... mini peanut butter cups, anyone?

But there's a downside to all that candy: eating it puts kids at a higher risk for obesity, tooth decay, and flat-out sugar-crazed hyperactivity. If you want to discourage kids gorging on candy but don't want to be a party pooper (or have your house egged), here are some ideas for healthier Halloween treats.

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Some of the most fun Halloween treats aren't so much about gourmet ingredients or slavin' in the kitchen for an hour. Instead, they're more like edible craft projects. You know, the spookier version of a gingerbread house. (Although, if you're in the path of this weekend's potentially crazy snowstorm, it might look like it's already time for gingerbread houses this Halloween!) 

At any rate, Ghosts in the Graveyard has to be one of the cutest Halloween desserts of all time. And best of all, the no-bake concoction is really easy and fun to create. Check out the recipe ...

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As a mom, I'm sure you've already figured out that finding a fun and appropriate Halloween costume to wear can be kind of a difficult task. On the one hand, it's the one night of the year you get to step out of the role of "mom," so it's only natural to want to choose a costume that makes you feel a little bit on the sexy side.

The problem is that so many women's costumes go WAY overboard on the sexy these days, putting them into more of a trashy category.

But the good news is that I've managed to find a few costumes for moms that still have a certain element of sex appeal going on without making you look like you belong on a street corner offering up your services.

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Looking for a last-minute couples Halloween costume? Going to a party where you know the people attending will have a sense of humor and don't mind a little bit of crass classlessness? Want to really scare 'em, too? Have we got the solution for you! Remember back in the spring when Bobby Petrino, the ex-head football coach at the University of Arkansas, had a fling with a hot 25-year-old named Jessica Dorrell -- then got fired for it?

And remember how everyone got wind of this whole affair because the idiot got into a motorcycle accident with Jessica and the Internet proceeded to go nuts? This whole story has a point, I promise. Well, check out this costume idea that an extremely creative couple thought of to get folks at said Halloween party talking (and screaming):

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So the march toward Halloween is picking up its pace, and you're still struggling for a costume? You want something hip, of the moment, and totally destined to leave people talking? You mean you want to dress like one of the Teen Mom stars?

It can be done! We have everything you need to pull off the Amber Portwood, the Jenelle Evans, the Leah Messer Calvert, even the Maci Bookout Halloween costume!

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What you are about to read is totally REAL and creepier than a Hollywood horror movie. Welcome to Scary Story Week on The Stir ...

At age 18, I was over-confident. I'd sorta pish-poshed the whole haunted house bit. Ghosts were something that scared me when I was 5, well before the age in which logic outweighed the creepers. I didn't believe in ghosts. But that was about to change.

My mother had asked me to watch my brother's house while both she and he were out of town. In my teen mind, this meant: a couple of nights with my boyfriend in a HOUSE! A house NOT FULL OF HIS SIBLINGS! Make Out City, Population, Us!

Until it hit me -- this was my BROTHER'S house.

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