Hamburg - What do hot dogs and cauliflower have in common?

They are both perfect for making guests at a Halloween party cringe in disgust. Hot dogs can be transformed with little effort into a severed finger, while cauliflower can be made to look like the brain's gray matter. There are loads of similar decorating ideas available on the internet. As Lisa, a Halloween enthusiast from Hamburg, explains, "I have gathered a lot of weird ideas on the internet, particularly at websites based in the US."

Decorations: Some of what she's found include party decorations. For example, furniture and walls can be covered with mollitan, a thin dark fabric that is easy to work with, said Juergen Strasser. Tempura paints also are practical. When they are sprayed on the fabric, it looks like blood.

A large, flat box can be used to make a casket by cutting it to size, gluing or taping the pieces together and painting it, Strasser said. Gravestones also can be cut from cardboard boxes and painted gray. "The name and message on the stone can be made from paper mache," said Lisa. "I also stuck on a black cross I made from styrofoam."

It took a bit more effort to make shrunken heads. Lisa formed the heads out of a dough she made from salt. She then baked and painted the heads and used an old wig for the hair. One website recommends making severed hands by filling latex or workmen's gloves with foam insulation.

Food and drink: "We cooked a cauliflower, poured red sauce over it and put a meat cleaver in it. It looked like a brain," said Lisa. The hot dogs are made into fingers by inserting an almond into one end to make a fingernail. She also made a red punch and served it as a welcome drink in syringes presented on a silver platter. And because Halloween also has to do with disgusting things, she cut a box open so that her guests could reach in blindly. Inside were slimy lychees and cold spaghetti.

Costumes: There are dozens of Halloween masks for sale on the internet. Latex masks are softer and therefore easier to wear than hard plastic masks, said Susanne Klenzer, a hair stylist and mask-maker who works as a teacher at a German vocational school. If they cover the head entirely, it gets very hot and humid underneath, she said. A cheap wig also can make the scalp hot. Klenzer said people who would rather go without masks and wigs will find products that can be used to create an effect, such as spider webs that can be sprayed into the hair.

Makeup: A good basic kit are those that have fake scars or festering sores included, said Klenzer. But there's other ways to create a fake wound: Try spray-on bandages, which can be shaped to look like hanging skin. Start by pushing the skin together, then spraying it with the spray-on bandage product. Then let the skin loose and wrinkles are created. "They can then be opened up and, with a little makeup, made to look like torn skin."

Adding blood is another option. Klenzer said she would buy fake blood, which is widely available. The homemade kind can stain. She also suggests applying a bit of powder over makeup to help it hold. As a rule carnival makeup is oil-based. She recommends avoiding water-based makeup because "if it's warm at the party, it just runs down your face." (dpa)