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Awesome Life Hack of the Week: 9 last-minute Halloween hacks for Torontonians

Oh crap, you totally forgot about that Halloween party you promised to host… until now. With just a few days to go, it’s time to hone your Halloween hacking skills and do some quick-and-dirty decorating in your Toronto apartment to get the joint ready for when your friends show up decked out in Miley Cyrus costumes.

Or, even if you’re not hosting a party and feel like it’s about time you decorated your pad for the season, we’ve compiled some awesome hacks to throw together in a pinch and, usually, on a budget.

  1. Halloween plastic cup lights

http://thriftymommaramblings.com/2013/09/spooky-halloween-candle-light-cups/

Grab a sharpie, multicoloured Dixie cups (or any kind of plastic cups) and LED tea lights. Draw cute or creepy Halloween-y faces upside-down on the cups, then place the cups on a tray with tea lights inside.

  1. Glowing drinks

http://ourbestbites.com/2010/09/kids-in-the-kitchen-glow-in-the-dark-food-magic-colors-and-giant-bubbles/

Guess what? Tonic water glows when exposed to black light, thanks to a handy but super unsettling ingredient called quinine. So invest in a couple of black lights, pour some tonic water into clear cups and bottles, and you’ve got a Halloween party!

  1. Surgical glove party favours

http://queenscardcastle.blogspot.ca/2012/10/hello-my-friends-hope-your-monday-is.html

This one’s easy, and hey, everyone loves party favours! Pick up some plastic surgical gloves, a few boxes of Halloween candy, and combine! Throw a spider ring on one finger of each glove, like in the link to the original blog with this idea. Tie with ribbon, twine or whatever you have hanging around the apartment.

  1. Spider ice cubes

http://www.lovethispic.com/image/35366/spider-ice-cubes

Regular ice cubes are boring. Plop a plastic spider in each section of your ice tray, top with water and freeze.

  1. Mummy boxes

http://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/decorating/spooky-decorations/?page=13

Having a kid-friendly party? Make mummified juice boxes by wrapping each box in white electrical tape, toilet paper or strips of opaque tissue paper. Add googly eyes. For the adults, wrap plastic cups in white electrical tape and add googly eyes (toilet paper not recommended for the plastic cups… yuck!).

  1. Super easy Halloween costume idea #1

http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Miley-Cyrus-Halloween-Costume-Ideas-2015-38317646#photo-38317646

Since we mentioned Miley Cyrus costume ideas earlier on, it just wouldn’t be fair to leave you hanging without a Halloween costume hack, and since the titles of the next three hacks are “super easy Halloween costume,” add that to Miley Cyrus and, well, you see where we’re going with that.

Anyway, some pink tape and sparkly or shiny bikini bottoms or underwear ought to get you mostly there, then just doodle up a big blue eye with spikey eyelashes, stick it onto the right side of your chest, and then cut one leg off a pair of leggings, paint the remaining leg in triangles with sparkly paint and find some peace-sign sunglasses at your local dollar store.

  1. Super easy Halloween costume idea #2

Remember when Miley dressed up as a pride flag? Paint a chunk of cardboard in rainbow colours, strap it to your back and tie multicoloured streamers or ropes into your ponytail. Don’t forget the “very trendy” turquoise eyeliner on the bottom eyelid. Nailed it.

  1. Super easy Halloween costume idea #3

Then, there was the eyes and lips look at the VMAs. Here’s how to make it happen: Put on the skimpiest bikini you can find, draw some oversized blue eyes with dopey eyelids, sporting pink lashes. Attach to chest. Cut out a giant lip-shaped section from more cardboard, paint in red. Apply hideous translucent orange visor. Done!

  1. Make your bathroom scary

Not sure why, but bathrooms are creepy at the best of times. Terrify your guests, your parents, your girlfriend or your cat by making your bathroom extra freaky. Just a few ideas:

Sacrifice one fluffy white towel and apply red paint to your hand, then smear it on the towel.

Write “Watch your back” or “REDRUM” on the underside of the toilet seat in red washable paint.

Leave rope-wrapped “dead bodies” (ie. pillows) in the bathtub and smear the tub with washable paint to look like blood.

Unscrew the lightbulbs and make the only lighting in the room courtesy of glow sticks or LED tea lights place inside toilet rolls with scary-shaped eyes cut out.

Erin Cardone: Born on the Prairies, Erin Cardone grew up knowing there was more to life than canola fields and AAA Alberta Angus. So she escaped, living in Europe and Australia, white-knuckling it through plates of calf brains and raw horse meat, and learning languages she can't remember anymore. After a stint as a jaded, skeptical journalist, she changed tack and began writing rather awesome blogs and showing businesses that advertising is dead, so long live social media, with her businesses Legendary Social Media. She now splits her time between various Canadian cities, Costa Rica and wherever else the wind blows.