Halloween Dinner

In college, my friends and I started doing Halloween dinner. It would just be a random October night where we made Halloween-themed foods. It is a tradition that we have continued and now do with our families every year!

Our family even loves it so much that we typically have multiple Halloween dinners. We start off October with one, throw one in the middle of the month, and have a fun, themed meal on Halloween night. It is something my kids look forward to.

Over the years we have come up with and found so many fun ideas! We try new things each time and occasionally throw in a few favorites! Our Halloween dinners always have a lot of food. We usually add in an appetizer, special drink, main dish, some sides, and a dessert or two.

Pinterest has so many ideas, so we thought we would narrow down some of our favorite spooky Halloween recipes for you!

Stuffed Bell peppers are easy, low prep. We buy orange bell peppers and carve jack-o-lantern faces into them. Then I stuff them with a mixture of taco meat, Spanish rice, and cheese.

A bit less appetizing in appearance, but if your kids are like mine, they will always eat a hot dog. These are a spooky touch to any Halloween dinner. Cut the hot dogs to look like fingers, toss them on a bun, and add a touch of ketchup.

There are so many variations you can add to your pizzas! Pick your favorite toppings and get creative! Here are some of our favorite Halloween pizzas.

1. Begin with your choice of sauce and your favorite pizza toppings.
2. Sprinkle cheese over the pizza.
3. Create a spider web design using string cheese.
4. Craft a spider using olives to complete the spooky look.

Also, if you aren’t feeling crafty, Papa Murphy’s offers a fun jack-o-lantern pizza you can pick up and bake at home!

Make your favorite Sloppy Joe recipe, then after building the sandwich, add pickles for legs and olives for eyes. Quick, easy, and spooky!

This recipe is delicious, but it takes some prep time. With carrots cut to be pumpkins and the noodles dyed to look like bats, it is perfect for a cool October night.

Filled with your favorite pizza toppings, these calzones could not be easier! Lay out one crescent roll, add your toppings, and sandwich with another crescent roll! Fold over the top corner and roll the bottom of the hat up. Ta-da! You have an adorable witch hat. We decorated our hats with pepperoni!

These are so versatile! You can make jalapeño poppers, cheese sticks, or pigs in a blanket!

Wrap your hot dog, cheese stick, or jalapeño (stuffed with cream cheese and bacon) with strips of crescent roll. If desired, add some eyes for a spooky touch. We have bought eyes before or we use peppercorns.

We have mummy hot dogs at least once each year. My boys LOVE them!

Serve up some eerie yet delicious corn ribs for a perfect Halloween side dish. Add some skeleton body parts and slice the corn off the cob (trying to keep it intact). This time we weren’t all the way successful, but it still made a yummy table display. We found this idea here and loved it, so we had to try it!

Or you can make a full charcuterie board! Simply lay some white and black (purple or dark blue) treats and snacks to rest on your board, throw on some skeleton pieces and voila! You have a scary display that is equally delicious! Some food we recommend for this are: white chocolate pretzels, gouda cheese cubes, swiss cheese slices, crackers, black grapes, blueberries, blackberries, mini cookies or cupcakes (white or chocolate), white chocolate bark, and some meat selections such as salami or pepperoni.

Start by washing and thinly slicing your sweet potatoes. Then either use a cookie cutter or trim the tops with a knife to shape the slices into pumpkin shapes. You can also carve a face onto them if you want.
After shaping your sweet potato slices, brush them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Place them in the oven at 400°F (200°C) and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until they're tender and slightly crispy.

These spooky yet delectable empanadas will surely add a ghostly touch to your dinner spread. Using a premade (or homemade) pie crust and cookie cutters, make some spooky-shaped empanadas. You can use whatever filling you choose. For our kids, we like taco meat filling! You can also do this same thing with hand pies and fill each shape with pie filling, then brush with a glaze and sprinkles!

Pasta salad, but make it Halloween! Use food coloring to dye your noodles after you cook them. We used purple, green, and orange. Put your noodles in a ziplock bag, add a couple drops of food coloring, and shake them up. Let them sit for 5 minutes, then rinse. Instead of dicing cucumbers, make them into monster faces! A simple touch to make a haunting side.

Another side with many varieties! You can make spiders, eyeballs, or pumpkins from your deviled eggs.

Spiders are our favorite way to make them Halloween because we love the olives!

These broomsticks come together quickly and are so cute! Grab a variety of cheese sticks and get building some brooms!

To create fun Halloween-shaped tortilla chips, start by using a cookie cutter to cut out spooky shapes from the tortillas. Brush these shapes with oil and then bake them in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes, or until they turn crispy. Then layer your favorite dip ingredients in a pie pan, and decorate it to look like an eyeball.

Another Pinterest-perfect side, that we are going to have to try again! Rhoades rolls are delicious and make this easy!

Looking for a no bake dessert that is creepy and equally delicious? Witch fingers are such an easy dessert! Simply dip large pretzel sticks into melted green chocolate, add a slivered almond for the fingernail, and use a fork to make some knuckle lines.

Add a spooky spin to the classic cheesecake and watch it vanish before your eyes. Use a chocolate mold to decorate it with skulls and bones.

A simple twist on a classic treat makes these mud cups perfect for fall or a Halloween party! Just add pumpkin candies and a vine using a green licorice or sour punch straw!

Delight your guests with these cauldron-shaped brownies that are bound to cast a spell on everyone’s taste buds. Buy (or make) some brownie bites and add some cream cheese frosting to the top. Sprinkle with green balls.

We made cheesecake tartlets and made them Purple People Eaters. We used the following recipe and mini tart tins to bake them in. If you don’t have any, a mini muffin tin would also work well.

Instead of just adding the cheesecake topping, we piped the topping onto the tarts to make the monsters look hairy. We then added edible eyes and sprinkles.

To make any drink especially spooky, fill a food-grade plastic glove with water and freeze it before your party. When it is party time, you will have a hand ice cube to add to your punch bowl.

Serve up a bewitching concoction that will have everyone under its spell. This family-friendly float will have everyone asking for more! Just grab a 2 liter of Sprite, a can of pineapple juice, and some Lime Rickey ice cream. Mix the liquid together and add a scoop of ice cream to everyone’s punch!

Quench your guests’ thirst with this spine-chilling yet delicious punch. Grab some green juice (Hawaiian Punch is an excellent option) and throw in some creepy crawlies! Gummy worms or other bugs make this drink a terrifying addition to any Halloween party that kids love!

We have made some other fun Halloween treats with our kids’ help, such as Oreo bats and pumpkin rice crispy treats. If you want to make some fun treats with your kids and enjoy adding an extra touch of magic; hop over to our Etsy shop and grab a copy of our kids' spell book, Magical Mixology: A Kids Potionology. It is full of Halloween fun. Our Magical Mixology has delicious treats as well as spooky science and crafts to give your Halloween an extra touch of wonder!

With these creative Halloween party foods, you can create a memorable and entertaining evening for your family and friends. Embrace the spirit of the season and let your creativity soar as you indulge in these eerie culinary delights.