Halloween Party Food Ideas

When decorating your Halloween food table, don't forget to buy some fun and festive tableware that coordinates perfectly with the color scheme and theme of your party. Here are some great options from Celebrate Express (Get Free Shipping on orders $75 or more.)

Floating Hands in the Punch Bowl - Many Halloween gift and party supply stores carry plastic hand molds (they are reusable). We just buy some of the red Hawaiian punch and then fill and freeze the molds a few days before the party. We make our favorite punch that has a light color (so the hands are noticeable) and float the frozen hands in the punch bowl to keep the punch cold during the entire party. Guests get a kick out of the scary, bloody looking hands. Our punch recipe:
6 cups pineapple juice
4 cups water
4 cups apple juice
1 - 12 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate (undiluted)
1 - 12 oz can frozen orange juice (undiluted)
4 cups ginger ale
Combine all ingredients (except ginger ale) together in a large punch bowl. Stir well, cover and chill at least 2 hours in refrigerator. Just before guests arrive, stir in the ginger ale. Makes about 5 quarts of punch.

Coffin Shaped Beverage Cooler - For our annual Halloween party, we have a blow-up black coffin that we fill with ice and beer/pop for the party. It is a great decoration as well as a practical way to keep all the beverages cold. I've seen them at many stores online as well as local party supply shops. Several designs exist such as the purple coffin with the pop-up skeleton shown to the left or the black coffin with the character from the movie Scream that we use at our party. Also see the photo link below for one that I found on Amazon!

Brain-Shaped Vodka or Rum Jello Shooters - You can buy a brain-shaped jello mold at many party supply stores. Just buy some red cake decorating gel (it comes in a tube in the cake mix aisle of the grocery store) and some peach flavored jello. Line the veins of the jello mold with the red gel and then pour in the jello mixture (replace 1/2 the suggested amount of water with either rum or vodka). Then just refrigerate until it sets. Flip it out onto a serving dish just before the party for a wiggly and scary alcoholic treat. Be sure to have plenty of spoons on hand so that guests can indulge. You can see some other brain ideas in the Flickr photos below. Some of them used raspberry sauce to pour over the top of the molded brain to create a bloody look - it is a great effect!

Spider Cakes - For a super easy Halloween dessert, try making some spider cakes (shown to the right). Just buy your favorite flavor of cake mix, two tubs of chocolate frosting, and candies to decorate the spider face. We actually found packages of gummy mouths and eyes to use on our cake. Then use black pipe cleaners or pieces of black licorice to form the legs.

Mix the cake as directed and use 2 medium size oven safe bowls splitting the cake mix between each bowl. Bake as directed and cool. Frost cakes with chocolate frosting and decorate with candies to make scary spider faces. We made a spider web pattern with a marker on a white cardboard cake holder. The two cakes looked great at the party and everyone loved eating them too! See some of the cake photos below for more spider cake ideas!

Spider Web Cupcakes - Here is another quick and easy dessert that you can whip up for your Halloween party guests. Buy a gourmet chocolate, apple spice or pumpkin cake mix along with a tub of creamy white or cream cheese icing at your local grocer. Bake the cupcakes as directed on the package (be sure to use Halloween themed paper cups which can also be purchased at the grocery store or places like Target). Cool the cupcakes and frost them with the white colored frosting (or tint orange if you prefer). Then, either use a tube of black decorating gel or a another tub of white frosting that you color with black food coloring to make the webs on top of the cupcakes. If you make your own black icing, put it in a plastic sealable storage bag, cut off a tiny angled corner of the bag bottom, and squeeze the frosting out to decorate. Basically, you put a dot of black icing in the center of the cupcake and then draw concentric circles around it (see the photos below to get a clear picture of how to do this). Then, take a toothpick and drag it from the center of the cupcake to the edge (like you are cutting a piece of pie). If you do this 6 or 8 times around the cupcake, you will form what looks like spider webs. We always add either gummy spiders, candy gum drops with licorice legs, or black plastic spiders (at adult parties) to them to dress them up. Photo courtesy of Cutco.ca.com

Halloween Cookies - Kids and adults alike love cookies so what better way to dress up the food table than with some fun cut-out Halloween cookies such as witches, pumpkins, black cats, or bats. Halloween cookie cutters are available at local craft, party shops and online at Amazon (see the cookie cutter sets below). If you aren't a big baker, save time by purchasing the rolls of sugar cookie dough that are in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Roll it out according to the package directions and use the Halloween shaped cookie cutters to create festive cookies. Decorate them with black and orange sprinkles, candy confetti, or icing. If you are short on time or just don't feel like baking, consider buying the Halloween cookie party favors or a cookie bouquet centerpiece from companies like Gourmet Cookie Bouquets. They have gourmet cookies in the shapes of monsters, ghosts, pumpkins, black cats and more.

Broom Cookies - Make up a batch of peanut butter cookie dough from scratch or buy refrigerated cookie dough. Roll the dough into 1 1/4" balls. Buy the 8 inch long pretzel rods and break them in half. Place halved pretzel rods on an ungreased cookie sheet, pressing a dough ball onto the cut end of each prezel rod. Prior to baking, use a fork to press down on each cookie to create the vertical lines of the broom bristles. Then just bake the cookies for the recommended amount of time (usually about 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees). Remove them from the oven and cool. After they are cooled, you can decorate them with chocolate and orange frosting to make them look more festive for Halloween. I don't have a photo of these cookies so if you have one you'd like to submit, just e-mail me.

Graveyard Cake - This fun and festive dessert is easy to make and looks great in the center of the food table at Halloween parties. Just buy and bake your favorite flavor of cake in a 9" x 13" cake pan. You can either leave the cake in the pan or dump it out onto a rectangular tray if you are going to use it as a centerpiece. Frost the cake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting. Take a 15 oz bag of crushed chocolate Oreo cookies and sprinkle it atop the cake so it looks like dirt. To make the gravestones, dip some peanut butter Nutter Butter cookies in white or gray colored chocolate or plain Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies and write on the top half of the Halloween cookie with black gel frosting (things like R.I.P.). After the chocolate has hardened, stick them in the 'dirt' to make a graveyard. Then add some gummy worms, plastic skeletons and spiders to make it even scarier. See the many examples of graveyard cakes in the Flickr photos below.

Jack O' Lantern Cake - Another easy and festive Halloween dessert option. Buy one box of cake mix in your favorite flavor, 2 tubs of white frosting, green and orange food coloring, and some candy to create the jack o' lantern face. Mix the cake as directed on the package. Pour batter into two greased and floured medium oven safe bowls and one hole of a mini cupcake pan (to make the stem). Bake the bowl cakes and mini cupcake according to directions making sure not to over bake the mini cupcake. Let cool. Reserve about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the white tub frosting to color green. The rest of the frosting can be colored orange. Place one of the bowl cakes onto a serving plate. Spread a bit of orange frosting on the surface of this cake (be sure cake is leveled off before frosting) and then stack the other bowl cake on top to create a ball shape. Frost the entire ball with orange icing and frost the mini cupcake completely with green frosting. Set the cupcake on top the ball to make a stemmed pumpkin. Add Halloween candy to create a fun and festive jack o' lantern.

Fruit Kabobs in Pumpkin - Buy a nicely shaped round pumpkin along with some waterproof paints or markers. Use the markers to create a fun face on the outside of the pumpkin. Buy your favorite fruits cutting them into bite size pieces and place them on wood skewers. Using a small drill bit, drill holes around the top side of the pumpkin with a couple inches between each hole (the bit should be much smaller than the diameter of the skewers). Stick the kabobs in each of the drilled holes to create a beautiful holiday fruit arrangement. NOTE - depending on the strength of the kabobs, you may not need to drill the holes - they may just poke into the pumpkin directly without breaking.

Apple-shaped cheese ball - Since Fall is apple season, an apple-shaped cheese ball would be a nice addition to any Halloween party. Buy a package shredded white cheddar cheese and a block of plain cream cheese. Mix the cheeses along with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/8 teaspoon of ground red pepper until it is smooth in a medium glass bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Form the cheese into an apple shape that is slightly larger on top and smaller on the bottom with an indent at the top to look like an apple, wrap it in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least a few hours to firm up. Just before the party starts, roll the ball of cheese in red paprika so that it is completely covered. To make the apple look a bit more realistic, stick in a cinnamon stick to form the stem and a few bay leaves on the top of the cheese ball (do not allow guests to eat bay leaves). Place it in the middle of a serving platter and surround it with gourmet crackers.

Deviled 'Eye-Ball' Eggs - Mix up a batch of deviled eggs using your favorite recipe. You have several options to create the eyeball effect. In the center of the yolk egg mixture, press in a black olive to create an eye-ball. Then take a tooth pick dipped in red food coloring to create veins in the egg white portion of the egg. Just make them look squiggly as the radiate from the center of the egg. Another option is to mix some green food coloring into the yolk mixture before spooning into the center of the egg white to create the deviled eggs. Then just place half a black olive to create the eyeball and use red food coloring for the veins as directed above. See even more eyeball photos below to see how great these devilish eggs look at Halloween parties.

Pumpkin Cheese Ball This ingenious cheese ball is decorated to look like a pumpkin or jack o'lantern. Buy a couple packs of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, a block of regular cream cheese, and a block of chive and onion cream cheese. In a glass bowl, mix the cheeses together adding some paprika, tabasco sauce and/or red pepper flakes for a little kick. Cover and chill for about 4 hours or until it is firm enough to shape into a ball. Shape it into a smooth ball that is 4" to 5" in diameter. Then, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a few hours so it sets up. Use the back of a regular kitchen knife to create the pumpkin ribs (vertical lines around the pumpkin). Top it off with a 1" tall piece of broccoli stalk to create the pumpkin stalk at the top. Keep it refrigerated until party time when you set it out on a plate surrounded by crackers. If you want to create a jack o' lantern, press some triangle-shaped wedges of green pepper into the ball prior to refrigerating it in Saran wrap. You can also use the top of a green pepper rather than a broccoli stalk to create the stem.

Monster Mouths - Here is a quick and easy snack that the kids (and adults) will love to eat at the party. Buy some red apples, peanut butter and miniature marshmallows (or slivered almonds or triangle Halloween candy corn) to create these healthy appetizer treats. Core and slice each red apple into 6 to 8 long segments to create the monster mouth. Toss the segments in a plastic storage bag with some lemon juice or Sprite to keep the apples from turning brown. Then 'frost' each segment with peanut butter and place 3 or 4 mini marshmallows (or almond slivers or candy corn) in the peanut butter to create the gums and teeth of these Halloween monster mouths. These little snacks are super cute.

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