Trick or Treat? Give Me Something Good to Eat!
Halloween is just around the corner. This week, we are sharing tips to host a SPOOKTACULAR dinner party. A dinner party is an excellent way to get into the spirit of Halloween while still maintaining an air of elegance. Follow these tips to host a memorable night full of SCARY and DELICIOUS fun.
Spread The Word On Your Wicked Bash
We recommend going paperless and using online invitations. Evite, Punchbowl and Paperless Post offer a large selection of SCARY free and premium designs that are perfect for Halloween. Although Facebook invitations are not customizable, they are easy to create and distribute to your Facebook friends. Decide if your dinner party will be a casual evening or a more formal affair. Don’t forget to specify whether guests should dress in costume. We have suggested some invitation wording below:
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FORMAL Your haunting presence is requested at our home for dinner, cocktails and conversation at our Spooktacular Dinner Party at eight o’clock in the evening on All Hallow’s Eve Please come dressed in costume |
POTLUCK Join us if you dare For a Halloween scare Be here by eight and meet your fate Bring your scariest food concoction and your tastiest date Costumes suggested! |
CASUAL Please join us for a trick or treat Eyeballs and worms, plenty to eat The fun begins at eight Wear your costume and don’t be late |
Decorate With Deranged Decor
Halloween is really all about the DECOR! We love themes since they help simplify the decorating process. Consider the following themes to spruce up your Halloween dinner party:
- Haunted Mansion
- Dark Fairytales
- Pumpkins
- Macbeth / Witches
- Zombies
- Edgar Allen Poe
- Gothic
- Mad Scientist
- Vampires
Focus most of your decorating efforts on the dinner table. Decide if you want a buffet or a seated dinner.
Each of the above themes will give you plenty of inspiration. Don’t be afraid to just stick to a broad Halloween theme as bright orange will pop beautifully against black and white decor. Design spooky table settings with your dinnerware, napkins, placemats and place card holders. If you have black dinnerware, a Halloween dinner party is the perfect time to showcase it. Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma seasonally feature Halloween inspired dinnerware, napkins, place card holders, serving dishes and silverware.
You can also create your own creepy napkins by printing Halloween images onto transfer paper and ironing them on cloth napkins. You can transform small pumpkins into place card holders, simply attach name tags to the pumpkins or paint them with each guest’s name. If this is too much work, you can print customized halloween tent cards on card stock. To decorate the buffet table, incorporate black and orange candles and feature a DAZZLING centerpiece:
- White Roses with Spiders, Snakes or Cobwebs
- Orange Roses
- Pumpkins
- Glass Jar of Candy Corns
Create A Spooky Menu
Whet your guests’ appetites with an AMAZING menu featuring Horror D’oeuvres, Erie Entrees and Devilish Desserts. Give each menu item a Halloween inspired name: deviled eggs, pumpkin cheese ball, mummy pizzas, cured epidermis, grape leaf fingers, monster tacos and mummy meatballs with fettuccine. Dips are easy to make, consider adding coagulated blood with a beating heart (beet dip), bloody tomato salsa and ghoul-a-mole to your buffet.
Use MustHaveMenus to display your spooky menu. The site has a wide selection of free Halloween themed menus.
Conclude your meal with SCARY treats. If you plan to bake a cake or cupcakes, consider the following flavors: spiced pumpkin, devil’s food cake and red velvet. Use a small piping tip to draw spiderwebs, pumpkins, ghosts, Frankenstein, mummies or Halloween words like “boo” with buttercream frosting. If you aren’t much of an artist, simply buy candy pumpkins to top off pumpkin cupcakes. If you are up for a challenge, make a graveyard devil’s food cake:
- Dip marshmallows in colored chocolate to create ghosts, mummies, pumpkins and Frankenstein; attach marshmallows to toothpicks
- Color a portion of the frosting purple, green and brown
- Frost the cake with white frosting
- Add brown frosting to the center of the cake to create dirt
- Write RIP on a Milano cookie and place in the center of the dirt
- Add a candy corn fence around dirt
- Use a grass tip and green frosting to make the grass around the fence
- Create purple borders around the cake
For the brownie lover, use your favorite brownie recipe and top with candy corn to add a Halloween touch. Use Halloween themed cookie cutters to make scary cookies. Frost and decorate the cookies with edible embellishments, such as colored sugar, licorice and sprinkles. For many adults, candy is the most anticipated part of Halloween. So stock up on candy corn, caramel apples, and black and orange treats.
Pick Your Poison
In addition to a spooky menu, make sure to have plenty of options for scary drinks. Keep non-alcoholic options on hand like soda, juice, or lemonade. Have a red and white wine option for your guests as many people have a preference. If you have the budget, set up a fully stocked bar with a variety of mixers and encourage guests to “pick their poison.” Otherwise, create a signature cocktail with a Halloween name:
- Mummy Martini
- Vampire’s Elixer
- Gin and Toxic Tonic
- Tom Collins Tombstone
- Pomegranate Poison
Follow these tips to ensure your party is a scream!
“Everyday is Halloween, isn’t it? For some of us” ––Tim Burton
This is SO fun! I haven’t done a halloween party in SO long.
So many great ideas! I can’t wait to start hosting get-togethers again.
I love these ideas! I need to have an halloween party this year I miss it!
You have some great tips here in this post! Easy and practical ideas for anyone wanting to host a spooky party!
Oh, I so wish I could go to a spooky party this Halloween. Thanks for all your great tips. Bring on the scares!