Halloween party food ideas

Two children eating Halloween party snacks

Healthier snacks

A batch of these brilliant healthy Halloween nachos will go down a storm, served up either with guacamole or a pumpkin hummus centrepiece on the buffet table. Or, for a different idea, try spooky stuffed peppers – they're much easier to carve than a pumpkin!

Halloween dinners

Witches? brew (Pea & bacon chowder) Lesley Waters Kids Cooking page 52

Looking for a more substantial evening meal before the kids go trick-or-treating? Our witches' brew pea & bacon chowder, eyeball pasta and impressive witch's cauldron with glow-in-the-dark goo are all suitably creepy while providing a more balanced meal.

Sweet treats

It wouldn't be Halloween without a sweet-tasting treat, so serve up a slice of this Halloween apple & strawberry pie to your ghoulish guests, or scary Halloween jelly and slime bug cups – young ones will love them. For the brave-hearted, make our spooky surprise truffles and fill them with a mixture of trick-or-treat flavours.

Toffee apples

For something a bit special, these sleek and shiny toffee apples make a stunning centrepiece at a Halloween gathering. As the liquid toffee gets very hot, making these goodies is a job for grown-ups, but kids will be delighted to eat them. Add an extra menacing glint to the candy apples by including red or black food colouring and edible glitter in the toffee mixture.

Creepy cakes

For a spooky showstopper, this haunted graveyard cake will be a hit with everyone from toddlers to teens, or make our gruesome Halloween slash cake if you have a bit more time on your hands.

Quick and easy options also include our popular hooting Halloween owls – a seasonal variation on butterfly cakes – these beautiful spiderweb chocolate fudge muffins and our cute Halloween cupcakes. You might also be tempted by the ease of a pumpkin traybake or these kiwi slime pies.

Halloween is the perfect time to get kids into the kitchen. For more tips, learn how to make Halloween cupcakes and see our top 10 scary cupcake designs.

Delicious drinks

Halloween Family Children, teenagers eyeball and hand fruit punch

Dracula's blood punch and this eyeball & hand fruit punch will help little ghosts and ghouls to quench a deadly thirst. Make your beverages extra dramatic by freezing a glove of water and using it as the ice for your punch bowl. Don't forget to accessorise your drinks with grapes, olives or lychees to make eerie 'eyeballs' skewered on cocktail sticks, as in our ominous eyeball snot-tail recipe.

Discover more Halloween drinks ideas for kids and grown-ups with our Halloween cocktails, punches and soft drinks collection.

Ghoulish games

At your party you can run a few silly contests for awards like 'biggest witch's nose', 'best broom' or 'scariest fingernails' so that everyone wins a little prize. Great homemade giveaways include these eerie eyeball cake pops, toffee popcorn bark or squeamish squares.

Try spicing up traditional apple bobbing by adding some food dye to the mix to make it frogspawn green or blood-curdling red. You could also add edible glitter and fake spiders to turn it into a witch's potion or a giant's blood bath. Whoever bobs the most apples in a limited amount of time can win a small party bag of treats to take home.

Putting ingredients like cold spaghetti, lychees or runny jelly in a bowl and getting blindfolded party guests to guess what they're feeling is always good, squelchy fun. Give your concoctions names like 'baby snakes', 'eyeballs' or 'goblin goo'. Remember, tailor your entertainment to your age range and make sure it stays fun for everyone!

If you're looking for something a little less scary, go on a hunt for a ghost ship's treasure chest – you could scatter clues attached to gold chocolate coins around the house leading to a hoard of ghostly goodies like cheap costume jewellery or bags of popcorn.

One of the prizes could be our ghost-shaped biscuit piñatas. They're fun to make and contain a hidden surprise centre of popping candy and edible silver balls to make little ones squeal with delight.