Halloween Party Food
Pizza Nightmarinara
Here's a hauntingly tasty idea for Halloween dinner. First, top a premade pizza crust with pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella. To make the spider, cut a pitted black olive in half lengthwise. From another olive, cut 8 thin slices for the legs. Set the spider pieces in place (tweezers make this easy). Bake the pizza according to the instructions on the crust's package. Meanwhile, cut a ball of fresh mozzarella into 1â„4-inch-thick slices. With a paring knife, trim away bits of cheese to form head and arm shapes. With 3 minutes of cooking time left, set the ghosts on the pizza, then finish cooking. Remove the pizza from the oven and add bits of olives for eyes. Serve warm.
Spewed Fruit
Let this melon monster make a scene at your Halloween bash. To create it, cut open one end of a watermelon and scoop out the flesh with a large spoon or melon baller. Trim a zigzag edge along the top, and cut eyes and a mouth. Add horns by securing leftover melon pieces with toothpicks. Fill the head with bite-size fruit—we used melon cubes, sliced strawberries, blueberries, and grapes—and add more pieces spilling out of the mouth.
Deep Space Cupcakes
When these aliens invade a classroom party or family gathering, earthlings will cheer. To make them, pre- pare a batch of your favorite cupcakes. Tint prepared white frosting with green food coloring, then top each cupcake, using the spreader to form a pointy chin. Roll the frosted tops in a bowl of green sugar sprinkles. Add white Good & Plenty candies for the eyes.
Terrifying Tapas
GREMLIN GRINS: Counteract candy overload with this veggie-packed Halloween snack. To form a mouth, cut a slit along one side of a snow pea, beginning and ending about 1/2 inch from each end, as shown. Cut tongues from red bell peppers or carrots sliced on the diagonal, then slide them into the slit. Insert fresh or frozen corn kernels for teeth.
SPOOKY SUSHI: These monster morsels, topped with slices of smoked salmon or avocado, let your family enjoy a feast of sushi without a scary restaurant tab. Serve them with soy sauce for dipping.
Scary Snacks
RODENT NIBBLES: Turn cheese and crackers into an eek-worthy snack. To begin, trim sliced cheddar and Monterey Jack to fit on triangular crackers (we used Town House Pita brand). Add sliced almonds for ears, black sesame seeds for eyes, and a bit of red bell pepper for a nose. Use a peeler to slice a thin strip of celery, then tuck it under the cheese for a twitchy tail.
BAGS O' BOO: Treat hungry souls to some ghostly goody bags. With black permanent marker, draw faces on clear coneshaped treat bags (available at craft stores). Fill them with a mix of popcorn, mini marshmallows, and yogurt-covered raisins. Tie closed with ribbon.
FRESH FROM THE CRYPT: Who said that mummies don't grow on trees? To make one, use a peeler to trim strips that spiral around an apple or a pear as shown. With a small knife, carve two small eyeholes, then insert mini chocolate chips. If you're not serving it immediately, brush the fruit with lemon juice to prevent browning.
M&M's Pumpkin Cake
This cheery cake doubles as a festive table centerpiece. Older kids will have fun helping you decorate it: Simply arrange M&M's like a jack-o'-lantern and press onto a frosted cake. Use orange-tinted icing as glue.
Spiderweb Cookies
The sophisticated flavor of these cookies—pumpkin spice—appeals to grown-ups, while the spiderweb icing wins over the younger crowd.
Quick Spooky Snack
Skip the chips. Instead, upgrade store-bought Chex mix with candy corn plus festive M&M's for a painless Halloween snack.
Apple Monsters
Simply cut a wedge from apples to make a mouth, then let your kids go to town decorating the funny fruit monsters with their favorite candy.
Creepy Finger Food
Piled on a plate, these sinister, finger-shaped breadsticks are sure to illicit a shudder or two. After a bite, though, guests will be grabbing the cinnamon-sugar digits by the fistfuls.
Sweet & Salty Party Mix
This sweet and savory snack is a snap to prepare and a guaranteed hit at your next get-together. Simply dump a few varieties of store-bought snacks—from shredded wheat cereal to dried banana chips—into the biggest bowl you own, gently toss ingredients, and watch it quickly drain.
Directions for making a cute owl snack that's made from crackers, cream cheese, almonds, and raisins.
Festive Halloween Snack
It may be hard to imagine your kids eating anything good for them with all the candy floating around on Halloween. Try our simple solution for getting a healthy dose of nutrition into your little monsters. Arrange cauliflower, carrots and yellow peppers In the shape of a candy corn and serve with a side of hummus in a pumpkin dish.
Witch Cupcakes
No need for any magic spells or witchcraft to turn predictable cupcakes into darling witch heads. Strip the liners off baked cupcakes, turn them on their sides, frost with green icing, and stick a chocolate ice cream cone on top as a hair-raising hat. Draw faces and hair with icing and candy.
Directions for decorating a cupcake to look like it's a house that's fallen on a witch.
Vanilla Halloween Cookies
Who said cookie decorating was reserved only for Yuletide cheer? Trot out a few ghoulish cookie cutters and whip up a batch of vanilla (or chocolate!) roll-out cookies.
Creepy Crawly Chili
Before you send your little ones out to collect candy, fuel them up for the hunt with a bowl of creepy bug or bat topped chili. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes from slices of cheddar cheese.
Jack-o' Muffins with Cobweb Icing
Spice up your spread a notch by icing pumpkin muffins instead of cupcakes. Spin a chocolate cobweb pattern on muffin tops coated with cream cheese frosting.
Tricks on Sticks
These easy homemade lollipops make swell party decorations as well as sweet treats. Spread a dollop of melted chocolate onto one side of vanilla wafers, attach sticks, and refrigerate. Once the candy-on-a-stick is set, dunk cookies into melted orange and purple sprinkles.
After School Dip
Combine cream cheese, milk, brown sugar, and pumpkin-pie spice for a creamy dip that makes an excellent autumn-flavor accompaniment to fruit and vegetable slices.
Directions for decorating a cupcake to look like it's a house that's fallen on a witch.
Curried Pumpkin Pizzas
Top mini pizza crusts with a perfect-for-fall pumpkin and applesauce concoction spiked with curry powder; then load apple slices like wheel spokes and bake.
Apple Raisin Nut Triangles
For the ultimate comfort food, whip up a batch of these homemade turnovers. Stuffed with apples, raisins, and walnuts, the flaky snack is laced with fall flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Flash-freeze a pan ahead of time and pop it in the oven once guests start arriving.
Green-Goblin Punch
Kids will love how their lips get stained black after sipping this electric green punch from glasses rimmed with black sugar crystals. For the goblin gulp, pour a mix of apple juice and seltzer on top of scoops of Jell-O.
