Holidays

20 Exciting Halloween Party Food Ideas for Adults

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Instacart

Last Updated: Nov 2, 2021

A Halloween party is a lot of fun to attend, but hosting one involves a lot of preparation. Outside of decorating and choosing a costume, prepping all of the food for the party is a lot of work. Luckily, you can transform almost any food into a Halloween-themed meal with a few easy steps.

How to choose what kind of food to serve at a Halloween party

When planning a Halloween party, you want to have all of your bases covered with your serving food. You need to have various snacks, main dishes, and desserts that all fit into the Halloween theme. Try and pick a mix of premade foods that you can easily set out and some delicious dishes that are simple to prepare. Make sure to factor in any dietary or health restrictions of your guests.

Halloween party snacks for adults

Your guests are going to want multiple snack options to graze on while partying away. These snacks are easy to prepare and will power them through the party.

1. Devilish deviled eggs

Fun food for kids. Halloween boiled eggs with black olive spiders on top of them. Alternative to candy. Free space for text.

Prepare deviled eggs as you usually would, but make them devilish by adding horns, wings, and a tail cut out of red bell pepper. Alternatively, use black olives to create spider designs on more mild deviled eggs.

2. Pumpkin pie cheesecake dip served in a pumpkin

Purchase a container of pumpkin-flavored cheesecake dip, and serve it in a small hollowed-out ornamental pumpkin.

3. Witch guacamole dip

Simply fill a plate with guacamole, then arrange a layer of carrots around the guacamole to act as her hair. Next, put some black or purple tortilla chips at the top to look like a witch’s hat. Add some other garnishes like a pickle nose, grape eyes, and a pepper mouth to make this scary snack.

4. Goblin fingers

A healthy snack option, these “fingers” are quickly made by smearing hummus on the end of baby carrots to make it look like a fingernail.

5. Spooky snack mix

This simple snack mix requires very little work, and your guests will love munching on it. Just mix a bag of party mix and add pumpkin-shaped candy to it for sweet and salty goodness.

Halloween party food for adults

When your guests are ready for something more substantial than snacks, have a few of these dishes that are easy to prepare in large quantities prepared for them to dig into.

6. Eyeball casserole

Fill a casserole dish with cooked bowtie pasta and sauce and bake. When it is finished cooking, place mozzarella balls all over the top and then cover each one with a sliced olive to make a meal that will watch you eat.

7. Mummified hot dogs

sausage baked in pastry "mummy" food for Halloween party or children's party

Take a package of crescent roll dough, cut it into strips, and wrap it around a hot dog with a piece of cheese in between. Do your best to make it look like it is wrapped up like a mummy, and give it eyes with your preferred condiments.

8. Ghostly personal pizzas

Scare your guests by taking personal pizza crust, saucing them, then placing a piece of mozzarella cheese shaped like a ghost on the top.

9. Spider web potato casserole

Give your guests arachnophobia with this delicious potato casserole. Stuff a round casserole dish with mashed potatoes loaded with cheese, bacon, and chives, and then draw a spiderweb on the top with sour cream. Add a couple of spider toys for that extra touch.

10. Zombie meatloaf

Shape your meatloaf like a skull, but before you bake it, wrap it in bacon to make it look like the skin of a zombie. Don’t forget halved onions for eyes and diced onions for teeth.

11. Jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers

Jack-o-Lantern vegetarian stuffed peppers served at a Halloween party.

These stuffed peppers are made the same as a stuffed pepper normally would be, but to add a spooky touch, cut designs in the bell peppers like you would if you were carving a pumpkin. Make some scary and some cute.

Halloween party desserts

Making Halloween-themed desserts might be the most fun part of hosting a party. Let your creativity go wild while cooking these.

12. Frankenstein Rice Krispie treats

When making your Rice Krispie treats, add green food coloring to make them the color of Frankenstein’s monster’s skin. Top with icing hair and mouth, candy eyes, and marshmallows for neck bolts.

13. Graveyard dessert

Elevate a typical dirt dessert to frightening levels by adding tombstones made of iced graham crackers, gummy worms, and even a toy skeleton or zombie.

14. Ghostly chocolate covered strawberries

These spooky spins on a classic have your strawberries dipped in white chocolate to resemble a ghost. Don’t forget to draw on eyes and a mouth once the chocolate sets.

15. Brain Jell-O

Your guests may be afraid to dig into this dessert that is simply Jell-O in a brain mold. Make sure to add evaporated milk to the mixture to make the brain opaque.

16. Halloween cupcakes

Halloween decoration shot in a room with a white background wall

You can decorate cupcakes in many ways to make them Halloween-themed. Try chocolate cupcakes with orange icing and sprinkles or iced to look like jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, or even eyeballs.

17. Witches hat cookies

Partygoers may want to cast spells after seeing these witch hat cookies. Make them by putting a chocolate kiss on top of a round cookie and pouring chocolate on top. Draw on a yellow belt for a nice finishing touch.

18. Witches fingers

These terrifying treats are made by dipping a pretzel rod in green food-colored chocolate and placing a dyed black almond on the end to be a fingernail.

19. Boo bark

This dessert will satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth. Melt your favorite chocolate on a sheet pan and swirl in orange and black coloring, eyeball candy, candy corn, and sprinkles.

20. Pumpkin clementines

Tangerine jack o'lanterns made of tangerines and celery stick with spider decoration. These healthy halloween are fun food for kids on rustic wood table.

For those that want a light and healthy dessert option, all you need to do is peel some clementines and push a small piece of celery stalk through the top to look like a tiny pumpkin.

How to make your food Halloween themed

A lot of dishes are simple to add a Halloween flair to. Here are a few extra tips you can use:

  • Use orange and black food coloring, icing, or sprinkles on different parts of the food.
  • Draw a scary face using food writing gel.
  • Stick plastic ghost or pumpkin garnishes on individual desserts.
  • Add a bloody touch with red dye or jelly.

Final thoughts on Halloween party foods for adults

Once you plan what tasty treats you want to have at your Halloween party, all you have to do is shop for the ingredients. Instacart makes the shopping process so easy you don’t even have to leave your house. You can choose either same-day pickup or delivery or have it delivered at a specific time to fit your schedule.

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