Kitty Litter Cake, above, may look like the real thing, but the "tidbits" are actually Tootsie Rolls. Photos by Clint Karlsen. Icky Jelly Worms can be made in any of a number of disgusting colors. Day-Old Bath Water Punch looks even more glorious for Halloween if you add a glowing plastic stick to the cup. Witches' Hats aren't gross, but they're both simple and tasty. Melba's Bleeding Brain is created with the help of a brain-shaped mold.

If you're throwing the kids a Halloween party this year, you might want to go gross. Trust us, especially if the kids are in the 7-to-10-year-old range, it'll probably be a big hit.

"Around 7 or 8 they start liking the gory stuff," said Joanna Fischer, an employee of the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, who was supervisor/counselor of the resort's Ritz Kids program this summer.

If you're looking for ideas, start with the Internet, which has numerous sites devoted to Halloween recipes, (some of them deemed a little too gross for our readers who aren't in the 7-to-10-year-old range). Kitty litter cake draws a chorus of "icks," it's simple to create amputated icy hands for the kids' punch and Halloween stores sell brain-shaped gelatin molds (as well as hand-shaped and head-shaped, if you're going for a different look in disembodied body parts).

And, OK, you don't have to go gross, although your giggle-meter will drop off if you don't. Halloween themes can be carried out in dozens of ways as simple as cutting a piece of American cheese with a jack o'lantern-shaped cutter and putting it atop a burger, or pizza, or cutting bell peppers or other vegetables into appropriately spooky shapes and using them to adorn burgers, pizza or sandwiches. Heck, you can even use a pumpkin- or ghost-shaped cutter to make an open shape in the top layer of any sandwich.

Erin Coburn, Becker Community School coordinator for the city of Las Vegas, said the center's workshops sometimes involve ghost cups, for which kids mound pudding and add whipped topping, with candies for eyes. Or the kids melt chocolate and pour it into molds with Halloween-themed shapes to create their own candies, such as little gravestones or this year's vampire suckers. Or they pop an ice-cream cone upside down to create a witch.

In the past, said Sue Livziey, recreation leader at the center, the kids have created gingerbread-house-style haunted houses, "and they made ghosts coming out of the houses, and bats coming out."

Coburn said the center's kids are divided into 3-6 and 7-14 age groups, with activities "mellower for the little ones. The 7-to-14-year-olds like the spookier stuff."

And we shouldn't discount the tried and true. Fischer said her charges enjoy "games like musical chairs, bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the donkey -- the classic things that kids still like to do."

Who knows? Maybe someday kitty litter cake will be a classic.

KITTY LITTER CAKE

1 spice cake mix (German chocolate can be used if spice is unavailable)

1 white cake mix

Eggs and oil to prepare cake mixes (see package directions)

2 small packages instant vanilla pudding

Milk to prepare pudding (see package directions)

1 12-ounce package vanilla sandwich cookies

Green food coloring

Tootsie Rolls, as desired (quantity depends on size you purchase)

1 new, unused kitty litter pan

1 new, unused, kitty litter scoop

Prepare cake mixes according to directions on boxes and bake in 13-by-9-inch pans (other sizes can be used if 13-by-9 is unavailable). Cool cakes.

Prepare pudding mix according to package directions. Chill.

Crumble cookies in food processor or blender, or in a zip-top bag, crushing with a rolling pin. Reserve ? cup, and mix with a few drops of green food coloring in a small zip-top bag or in a bowl.

Break cakes into chunks and crumble into an extremely large bowl, tossing with half of the uncolored cookie crumbs. Toss again with half of the chilled pudding, adding pudding until cake mixture is just moist, not soggy.

Wash and dry litter pan and scoop. Transfer cake mixture to litter pan.

Put a few Tootsie Rolls on a piece of waxed paper in the microwave and heat on high just until pliable -- only a few seconds. Shape, tapering ends, and bury in cake mixture.

Repeat with additional Tootsie Rolls, rolling some of them in uncolored crumbs, and add them to the top of the cake mixture. Drape one over side of pan.

If desired, heat a few more Tootsie Rolls on waxed paper until they melt, and when cool, add the "plops" to the litter pan. Sprinkle with remaining uncolored and colored crumbs. Use scoop as serving utensil.

Makes 15 to 20 servings.

-- Recipe adapted from various Internet sources.

DAY-OLD BATH WATER PUNCH

1/2 gallon rainbow sherbet

12-ounce can frozen lemonade

1 2-liter bottle lemon-lime soft drink, or Mountain Dew

Thaw sherbet for about 15 minutes and place in a plastic tub or punch bowl. Add lemonade, prepared according to directions, and soft drink. Sherbet will melt and turn the mixture grayish brown.

Makes 15 to 20 servings.

-- Recipe adapted from www.thefamilycorner.com

ICY HANDS

Wash desired number of powder-free, food-safe disposable vinyl gloves and rinse well. Fill with water, squeeze out air and fasten tightly with a rubber band. Freeze in desired position, and float in punch bowl. Hands show up particularly well in translucent, dark-colored punch.

WITCHES' HATS

32 Hershey kisses, unwrapped

1 11 1/2-ounce package fudge-striped shortbread cookies

1 tube orange or red decorating icing

Attach 1 candy to inverted (chocolate-covered) bottom of each cookie, using icing.

Pipe icing around base of candy.

Makes 32.

-- Recipe from Betty Crocker

FROG'S EYE SALAD

Salad:

1 cup uncooked acini di pepe pasta (this is a tiny cut, the size of peppercorns)

1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits packed in juice, drained (reserve juice for dressing)

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple packed in juice, drained (reserve juice for dressing)

2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Dressing:

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pineapple juice

1 egg

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse and cool.

Make dressing by combining all dressing ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils, stirring constantly. Cook until thick.

Mix pasta with dressing. Add drained fruit, whipped topping and coconut, if desired.

Serve chilled.

Makes 15 to 20 servings.

-- Recipe adapted from www.youthonline.com

MELBA'S BLEEDING BRAIN

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

1 29-ounce can peaches in syrup

6 tablespoons peach-flavored syrup, if desired

Fresh or drained canned raspberries, pureed and sweetened with sugar to taste

To prepare mold, follow instructions on package, which generally advise spraying the mold with nonstick spray or oiling it lightly.

If necessary, place the mold in a bowl to keep it stable.

Pour milk and cream into a small saucepan and sprinkle with gelatin. Whisk the mixture well, then let it sit for 3 minutes. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking frequently to ensure the gelatin dissolves. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, pour the contents into another bowl and let the mixture cool for about 20 minutes.

Puree peaches, with syrup, if desired. Pour puree into cooled cream mixture and stir well. Pour about half of the mixture (reserving the rest at room temperature) into the prepared mold. Chill until set but not firm, about 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove mold from refrigerator. Carefully spoon the raspberry mixture into the center, scooping out a small amount of the peach mixture, if necessary. Carefully pour the reserved gelatin mixture over the filling and return the mold to the refrigerator. Chill until firm -- at least 4 hours.

To unmold, dip the bottom of the mold in a bowl filled with hot water, taking care to not let any water get into the mold. Dry off the bottom of the mold and shake the mold gently. Place a platter over the top of the mold and invert both. Carefully remove mold.

To serve, slice into interior of "brain" to expose raspberry mixture.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

-- Recipe adapted from www.fabulousfoods.com

ICKY JELLY WORMS

1 box flexible drinking straws

Tall plastic container or clean half-gallon milk or juice carton

1 6-ounce package raspberry or black-cherry gelatin

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

3 cups boiling water

? cup whipping cream

Combine gelatins in a bowl and add boiling water; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Chill until lukewarm, about 20 minutes.

Pull straws to extend to their full length and stand them in the container.

Blend cream with the lukewarm gelatin mixture. Carefully pour into the container, filling the straws in the process. Chill until firm, at least 8 hours.

Pull straws from container and pull them apart, gently smoothing gelatin from the outside. Using fingers, pinch down on top of straw and move fingers down to "squirt" worms from straws.

(If worms don't leave straws readily, run hot tap water over 3 or 4 at a time, for about 2 seconds.)

Lay worms on waxed-paper-lined baking sheets; cover and chill until ready to use -- at least 1 hour or as long as 2 days. Worms will hold at room temperature for about 2 hours.

-- Recipe adapted from www.fabulousfoods.com