Halloween Monster Mash Party Menu & Recipes!

From spiked hot apple cider to fake fingers in the candy bowl – Halloween parties are an open canvas for creative hosts.

I’ve got my second annual Ghoulish Gathering planned for this week, but while I review my favorites from last year, I thought I would share some of my best party food hits.

1. Pumpkin Dorito Cheese Ball: cream cheese based dip of your choice, rolled into a ball then covered in crushed red doritos. Top with the stem of a green pepper and serve with crackers.

2. Deviled Spider Eggs: prepare deviled eggs per usual, make spider topping by cutting black pitted olives (I just purchased two cans) in half lengthwise for the body. Use the other half to cut 6 legs! Serve ‘blood’ dipping sauce (Tabasco) with a finger sticking out!

2.B. Pumpkin Deviled Eggs! So easy! Make deviled eggs as normal but add extra paprika and/or tabasco sauce (or if you’re in CA, go for the sweet and spicy Sirracha!) Press yolk mixture down with a fork to create pumpkin lines. For the stem, cut small pieces off of a zucchini skin slice!

3. Hotdog Mummys! Take crescent dough (I used store bought Pilsbury), roll it out on a flat surface and press creases closed. Cut dough into narrow 1/4 inch strips and wrap around the mummies. Bake until golden brown. Use mustard for the eyes.

4. Pumpkin Cheese Dip! Over medium heat, melt velveeta, cream cheese, taco seasoning, onions, and salsa. Cut off the stem and hollow out a small pumpkin and pour cheese mixture into the pumpkin. Draw on the eyes and mouth to make it look like the pumpkin is ‘throwing up.’ Bake for an additional 15 minutes right before serving. Place guacamole on a plate with the pumpkin so it looks like it’s coming out of the pumpkin’s mouth!

4.B. Spider Web Cold Taco Dip: Mix 3/4 container of sour cream with a taco seasoning packet for bottom layer. Top with shredded mexican cheese and chopped onion. The final layer is salsa. Put the remaining 1/4 sour cream into a plastic zip log bag and cut one corner. Pipe the sour cream into a spider web design on top of the salsa. Glue or tape fake spiders on the side of the bowl and serve with chips.

5. Trick or Treat Candy Popcorn: Take 4 cups lightly salted popcorn and drizzle melted (from 30 seconds on high in microwave) chocolate chips evenly throughout the popcorn, stirring frequently. Repeat for melted white chocolate chips. Add a handful of honey roasted peanuts and craisins, heath bar crunchies or reeces crumbles.

6. Worms and Dirt: So Easy, and so festive. Buy a cheap small chocolate cake from the grocery store. Slice in half and mash it up on the bottom layer of a clear trifle bowl (regular bowl will do if you haven’t invested in a must have trifle dish yet!). Top with two packs of chocolate pudding. Next add 1/2 cup crushed oreos. On top of this we get the remainder of the cake, mashed up, 2 more packs of chocolate pudding, and the remaining 1/2 cup of crushed oreos. Take 1 bag of gummy worms and stick the worms through the top layer of the trifle – so it looks like they are sticking up from the dirt! Optional: Sprinkle heath bar crunch on top! Serve with cool whip.

7. White Chocolate Dipped Ghosts! Cut off strawberry tops and dip strawberries in melted white chocolate (melt white chocolate pieces in microwave on high for 20-30 seconds and stir). Make faces with black icing!

8. Spiked Apple Cider: 1 jug of apple cider, 3 bottles of champagne, 1/2 cup brandy, 1 cup soda water, 3 chopped apples & cinnamon sticks for garnishes.

9. Candy stuffed cupcakes. Prepare cupcakes as normal, but only fill cups halfway with cake batter. Put a mini reeces cup, caramel sauce and toffee bits into the cup and fill with cake batter. Frost as normal, but top with half a mini reeces cup.