Who says Halloween is just for kids? Not at our house! While the actual date of October 31 is completely focused around our children, we definitely manage to have some fun with our friends too.
Get the adults in the trick-or-treating spirit by throwing a dinner party the weekend before. Take your menu beyond pizza with these elegant, yet festive Halloween food ideas and for your next grown-up feast!
The full spread
No boring food here. A little creativity and some prep work can make your adult Halloween Dinner party anything but kiddie food!
The starter
Start off with Graveyard Spinach Dip. Here’s one of my favorite recipes, but if you’re short on time, store-bought dip is great too. Costco has a great, party-size spinach and parmesan dip. Top with some chopped parsley for color, a few artfully-arranged Townhouse butter crackers (essential b/c they’re oval shaped like a tombstone!) and some eerie skeleton parts for a fun take on this classic appetizer.
Spinach dip with tombstone crackers makes for easy hors d’oeuvres
The entree
These stuffed peppers are quite the treat, and they’ll be the talk of your dinner party since they’re so simple, yet impressive.
I love this main dish of stuffed peppers because it provides your protein and veggie all in one, so you don’t really need a salad to round it out. You can fill it with a ground turkey mixture, a vegetarian quinoa mix, or go a bit heartier with beef. Here are 3 of each so you can customize your fillings.
If you need something quickly, Costco also offers pretty peppers that are already stuffed; all they need is baking. Tip: they usually come in a trio of red, orange and yellow, so you’ll need to purchase the orange peppers separately.
Simply cut off the top about an inch down from the stem, scoop out the innards and take a paring knife to make the jack-o-latern cut-outs before adding your filling.
Jack-o-lantern cut-outs make stuffed peppers a great main dish, and couldn’t be more perfect for an adult Halloween dinner
The side dish
I have to admit that these finger bread sticks look super creepy, but I loved how they turned out! I used pre-made Pillsbury pizza dough from the refrigerated section, although any pre-made dough will work.
You can make these in a snap. Here’s how:
- Simply roll out the dough and shape into thin fingers.
- Add the knuckle lines for added detail by using the dull side of a knife and pressing down gently.
- Use a small dab of tomato paste on each finger tip and place a slivered almond in the center for the dirty fingernail.
- Place on a greased baking sheet and bake. Remove when they start to lightly brown. (Mine cooked faster than the directions said, so keep on eye on your fingers 🙂
Marinara sauce makes a bloody good dip for these. So gross, but so perfect!
Palmer’s not sure what to think about these fingers… but I think they look frighteningly fabulous!
Finally, dessert
Ok, so if you’ve followed my blog for a little while, you know that I don’t bake. I’m just not very good at it, which is why I find usually desserts that don’t require baking. Chocolate-dipped Oreos are the perfect ending to this festive feast.
Full disclosure: they’re not hard to do, but they are a little time consuming and a bit messy. However, they’re delicious and look so impressive once arranged on a dessert platter, they’re worth the trouble. I used a combo of white and milk chocolate for contrast with the beautiful spider web design.
Get the recipe and directions for these Oreo Spiderwebs here.
These amazing (and easy!) cookies are the brainchild of Naomi Robinson! Photo courtesy of her also.
Happy Halloween, and happy entertaining! Hope you’ve found some good inspiration here for your adult Halloween party. Muahahaha . . .!
