The Monster Mash Menu - Festive Halloween food!

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!

3. 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.

4. 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. 

5. 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. 

not my photo ! 

6. 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!