Everyone loves an excuse to let their hair down and celebrate with friends or colleagues, but there aren’t many occasions on the holiday calendar more exciting than a Halloween party. Whether you love the costumes, the horror, or the Halloween snacks, almost everyone can agree that “spooky season” is one of the most fun times of the year.
Halloween (short for All Hallows’ Eve) is an evolution of an ancient Celtic harvest festival, and the Gaelic festival Samhain. Although Halloween has evolved a lot over the centuries, our modern Halloween celebrations, from wearing costumes to feasting to carving pumpkins, are based on ancient traditions.
If you want to get into the spirit by hosting a Halloween party at your home or the office, here are some tricks and treats to bear in mind.
Send spooky invitations
Set the scene for the party before it even starts with some themed invitations. This is where you can build excitement, inform guests of all the details, ask for dietary requirements, and gather RSVPs to help you get organised. Use Halloween invitation templates on a website like Canva to make them look polished, then either print, or send your designs digitally.
Plan your Halloween party food platters
Spooky season is the perfect excuse to get imaginative, eerie, and even gory with your Halloween food platters! Here are some ideas for terrifying treats to create:
- Build-your-own graveyard tacos
- Devilled eggs
- Open sliders with skull faces cut into the cheese slices
- Olives and thin olive slices on pizzas arranged in the shape of spiders
- A platter of ribs arranged to look like a skeleton (bonus points for a fake skull at the top)
- Guacamole with a “web” of sour cream laced on top
- Get creative with pastry – “mummify” your snacks with thin strips of pastry before baking, or make the tops of pies into skull faces.
- Disguise pigs in a blanket or hot dogs as severed fingers – with plenty of tomato sauce, of course!
- Mini pumpkin pies
There are so many great ideas out there when it comes to Halloween party platters – but if your time is already being eaten up by putting a costume together, sourcing decorations, making a playlist and managing RSVPs, consider having your Halloween party professionally catered.
Alongside all the classic party snacks like skewers, mini pies, and bao, we also have a spooky selection of Halloween snacks for you to simply select, and have delivered straight to your door on the day! Our savoury Halloween collection includes crab and spiced pumpkin sliders, both served on charcoal and red slider buns; and our popular mixed finger sandwiches with a twist of green, orange, and black coloured fingers. Guests with a sweet fang (sorry, tooth) will love our Halloween donuts and pumpkin mousse popsicles.
Halloween drinks
According to folk stories, the original Halloween, Samhain, was an occasion when plentiful drinks flowed. Punch is the perfect party staple; Halloween-ify it by serving it from a cauldron, and adding lychees stuffed with blueberries as floating eyeballs. Take it to the next level by glueing a disembodied hand to the serving ladle, or adding dry ice to the table for an eerie effect. Bloody marys should also be on the menu, along with other cocktails or spritzers coloured with green, blue, or red food colouring.
Don’t forget, we can also supply the rest of your beverages along with your Halloween catering delivery.
Halloween party decorations and entertainment
Go all-out to spookify your house or office with bats and spiders, ghosts, masks, props and creepy decor. One smart place to source party décor is your local thrift shop. Look for cheap antique items: candelabras, creaky wooden furniture, vintage prams and old mirrors are some examples of items you can set up around the place to amp up the atmosphere. Consider using candles, strobe lighting and coloured light bulbs to create an unsettling scene, although don’t forget to illuminate the food, drinks, and bathroom a little more so guests can see what they’re doing. Tip: do your decorations the night before so you can take your time, and aren’t rushing around on the day to set up.
You can also set up a projector on a wall, or a TV in a corner playing horror movies on silent. Think classics like The Shining, Halloween, The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, or The Blair Witch Project.
Playlist-wise, you can go down a few different paths: cheese classics like Thriller and Monster Mash; dark indie tunes to create a chilling atmosphere; or a non-themed good-times party playlist to keep everyone upbeat. Youtube and Spotify both have curated Halloween party playlists, if that’s your jam.
Halloween catering
Halloween catering doesn’t have to be tricky! Event planning can be time-consuming, so organising a frightening feast for family or colleagues can be the last thing last on your list. Browse our range of Halloween catering options both savoury and sweet – and now you know how to throw the best Halloween party of the century, you can start planning!
Ordering catering for your Halloween party is both a trick and a treat! Get in touch now to discuss how we can help.