Recipes for Purple Ooze and Blood

Creep out your kids and gag your guests this Halloween by brewing up beakers of "blood" and purple ooze for them to drink.

Both drinks have serious gross-out factor, but are easy to mix and can be made with or without alcohol, depending on the age of the goblins who will be slurping them.

To play up the mad scientist theme, consider buying inexpensive laboratory glassware, such as 200-millimeter beakers to use as drinking glasses, as well as various flasks and test tubes as party props.

This glassware can be purchased at numerous sites online. But never eat or drink from used laboratory glassware; you don't know what chemicals were once in them, no matter how clean they look.

For even more impact, be sure to have "blood" dripping off the rims of your drinking beakers. For the dripping blood, you will need glucose or corn syrup and red gel food coloring (available online or at baking and craft stores).

To make this, in a shallow bowl stir together 2 tablespoons of glucose or corn syrup with about 1/4 teaspoon of food coloring. Overturn a drinking glass or beaker and dunk the rim into the "blood." Set it upright and the blood will slowly drip.

It's important to use gel food coloring (as opposed to liquid), because it won't add excess moisture to the syrup. They also provide more vivid colors. For the blood, look for a red food coloring labeled "tasteless" so the rim of the glass won't taste bitter.

Start to finish: 5 minutes

Servings: 3

1 cup grape soda

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup Cool Whip or similar frozen whipped topping, thawed slightly

1 1/2 ounces vodka (if not using, substitute additional grape soda)

1/8 teaspoon purple or violet gel food coloring

In a blender, combine the grape soda, banana, Cool Whip and vodka. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. The drink will be thick and frothy. Add the food coloring and blend until the mixture is a deep purple. Serve immediately.

Start to finish: 5 minutes

Servings: 2

1 cup pomegranate juice

1 tablespoon frozen lemonade concentrate

1 tablespoon frozen cranberry juice concentrate

1 1/2 ounces vodka (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. When pouring into glasses, do so slowly to prevent any bubbles on the surface from going into the glass. This preserves the look of the "blood."