Sure, Halloween has become a veritable showdown of festive decorating, cooking and costuming one-upmanship. But that doesn’t mean your Hallow’s Eve prep should leave you feeling like the undead. To make it easy, Canadian Family partnered with costume designer Julie Chetty, founder and creative director of the award-winning educational video series BabyWonders, to bring you great diy costumes for every trick-or-treater or Halloween-party bound kid in your house. Julie’s original creations promise to be low on sewing and high on style (click here to see costumes and instructions ), so if you can wield a glue gun and find a craft or fabric store on the map, you’re good to go. And we’ve got  the down-low on everything from easy-as-pie entertaining to how much candy to buy, too. So go on, have so much fun it’s scary.

NO-FUSS HALLOWEEN- NIGHT PARTY

Why not make Halloween a treat for the grown-ups, too, and invite your closest friends and neighbours to drop by? Not only will this give you a chance to reconnect, but you can tag-team the trick-or-treating so everyone can get a chance to chill and enjoy the festivities. Here are some tips to keep this impromptu party stress-free:

• Keep the menu simple and make a pot of chili or stew the night before. Try our Quick Tex-Mex Chili.
• Stock the fridge with wine and beer the weekend before. When guests arrive, pile the goods on ice in a galvanized bucket for a no-hassle, self-serve bar.
• No time to tart up the house à la Martha Stewart Halloween? Forget about it! Gather gourds in different shapes and sizes to display on the porch and window ledges, change a light bulb to orange or black and slip a scary CD or movie soundtrack into the player. Or, enlist the kids to cut out construction-paper bats and ghosts for your door and windows.

FIVE SURPRISING PLACES TO FIND LAST-MINUTE COSTUMES

If Halloween has snuck up on you – or if you’re among those of us who can’t sew or glue-gun our way out of a wet paper bag – here’s a list of unexpected places to find a fabulous-in-a-flash costume.

• RESTAURANT SUPPLY STORE Pick up a chef hat and an apron for an instant Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver.
• HARDWARE STORE OR MARK’S WORK WEARHOUSE A hard hat, tool belt and plaid shirt with jeans makes your little one over into a charming construction worker like Bob the Builder.
• LOCAL GROCERY STORE Convert a large box or two into a pair of dice, a robot or even a car.
• SPECIALTY SPORTS STORE These shops have countless items to transform your trick-or-treater into karate superstar or an angelic ballerina. It may even inspire a new hobby.
• YOUR OWN CLOSET The possibilities are endless…an old bridesmaid dress can become a flowing fairy princess gown, a peasant shirt can be the beginnings of a hippie costume, or a spa diva can come to life with a terry cloth robe, blue makeup “facial mask,” a towel on her head and fake nails.

THE CANDY GRAB
How much candy do you give each little princess and Spiderman who knocks on your door? Two or three pieces, according to 77 percent of canadianfamily.ca users who answered our poll. Ask a neighbour how many kids to expect if you’re new to the ’hood. It’s better to have extra than to be caught short, so buy more than you think you’ll need. (And don’t forget to factor in the one, two or 75 treats you plan to scarf down yourself.) The last kid to knock on the door before you turn out the light may hit the motherlode, but who cares?

• Help make it fun for everybody. Choose guaranteed peanut-free products from Nestle and Dare.
• Go to diabetes.ca to find tips on how to help your diabetic child to have a healthy Halloween without missing out.
• Want to offer your trick-or-treaters an alternative to sweet and savoury? Give out bottles of water – this thirst-quenching alternative will be a welcome addition to their loot bags on a long night of pounding pavement.
• Don’t give out raisins or toothbrushes, unless you want your house egged.

SAFETY MADE SIMPLE
By now you know costumes shouldn’t obscure your child’s vision and should include some white or reflective tape to keep your kid visible to traffic – after all, traffic accidents, not Halloween hooligans, are the real trick-or-treating danger. For more information, check out these websites:
Canadian Paediatric Society: caringforkids.cps.ca

• Ontario Government Ministry of Children and Youth Services: children.gov.on.ca
• Safe Kids Canada: safekidscanada.ca
• Canadian Red Cross: redcross.ca
• Canada Safety Council: safety-council.org
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency: inspection.gc.ca

DIY DESIGNER PUMPKINS
Carved ghouls and goblins are so yesterday. This year, boost your pumpkin’s style appeal with chic stencils designed exclusively for Canadian Family by artist Saelee Oh.

THREE-TIER CAKE
With a bride and groom on top, this foam-and-felt concoction is a wedding cake. Substitute a faux candle and your little sweetie’s a three-tier birthday treat.

BAG OF POPCORN
Cook up this snazzy box of popcorn with large sheets of white foam board and red ribbon or duct tape.

FOREST FAIRY
Use store-bought wings, a simple bodysuit, craft-store leaves and no-fray tulle to
snip and glue together this enchanting forest fairy frock.

JACK-IN-THE-BOX
Use felt and a cardboard box to make this sweet jack-in-the-box. Julie covered hers with fabric, but you could use wrapping paper or even paint.

iPOD
Snag some Styrofoam packaging from an electronics store and use black or white pleather to depict the most trendy gadget around.

LI’L CHICK
Create this adorable chicken costume using a second-hand baby carrier, yellow feathers and an orange rubber glove.