Easy Halloween Party Food

I married a Halloween guy, and then we brought our first baby boy home from the hospital on halloween day, so for years we were doing Halloween themed birthday parties and I needed lots of fun (and EASY) food! I wanted to collect all of these in one place here so that when you’re planning a party you won’t have to search far! If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you can turn any food into a Halloween food with the addition of a) eyes or b) plastic spiders. Seriously. But here are some of my favorite things that make appearances at our house around this holiday. Some of these have recipe links, and others are simply easy ideas you can pull off without a recipe. Enjoy!

Crypt Kreeper Crescents

Bananas and Nutella (or cookie butter) are wrapped up in crescent dough and baked. These are super duper easy, and a great make-ahead treat. Recipe here!

crescent rolls with mummy decor

Monster Munch

Perfect for a party, or great in individual party bags or container for favors! Click Here for the recipe.

Halloween Popcorn Mix in a Bowl

Ghosts in the Graveyard

These cute pudding cups are the perfect combo of sweet creamy pudding and crumbled Oreos. So simple to make! Get the recipe here.

A dessert cup filled with pudding, a cookie headstone, and a whipped cream ghost.

Easy Crescent With Hats

Store bought crescent dough is already in the shape of a witch hat so these are super easy! Take a bit of string cheese and place it at the bottom and roll up, then use cookie cutters to cut pepperoni to decorate. Bake on package directions, knowing that a flat crescent will only take minutes to bake!

Caramel toffee dip in a Pumpkin

A quick makeover for one of our favorite fall recipes. Get the recipe, here!

toffee dip in a bowl

Mummy Dogs

This is a childhood favorite and always the most popular of our Halloween spreads! Cut crescent roll dough into thin strips and wrap around hot dogs. Bake according to crescent package directions and use ketchup or mustard for eyes. I cut my hot dogs in half to make them bite-sized.

Mummy dogs on a plate

Yeti Cupcakes

These easy cupcakes can be adapted to lots of them, they’d be adorable for a monster-themed party.

Super-Easy Yeti Cupcakes from Our Best Bites

Monster Jaws

Quarter apples and take a wedge out of the center of each quarter. Dunk them in water with a little lemon juice to prevent browning. Use slivered almonds for teeth (I toasted mine for color and taste!) Eyes are optional. I stuck pretzel rods in and attached candy eyes with peanut butter.

Apple Jaws from Our Best Bites

Bones and Blood

Use breadstick dough (store bought or homemade) and cut into strips. Use scissors to snip the ends into 2 pieces and roll them down to make the bone shape. Dip in “bloody” marinara! For extra flavor sprinkle with garlic and Parmesan or this seasoning.

Bones n' Blood from Our Best Bites

Candycorn Pizza

Easy peasy! Plain cheese pizza, just make a ring of cheddar around the outside edge and mozzarella in the center. Cut into wedges to make the candy corns.

Candy Corn Pizza from Our Best Bites

Cheesy Fingers

Super kid friendly- who doesn’t love string cheese?? Again, I cut them in half to make them kid-sized. Use the flat side of a knife to make the knuckle marks and attach slivered almonds with a dab of cream cheese for the nails. I also used a knife to shave off just a bit of the cheese at an angle before attaching the almond.

String Cheese Fingers from Our Best Bites

Chocolate Cherry Mice

You’ll need maraschino cherries for this one. Make sure you buy ones with stems. Drain them and dry them well with paper towels. Dip in almond bark, or chocolate bark. When they are semi dry, attach a chocolate chip for a nose, slivered almonds for ears, and little candies or sprinkles for eyes.

Strawberry Mice from Our Best Bites

Dirt and Worms

Another classic. Use chocolate pudding for your mud and put some crushed Oreos on top for dirt. Hide those gummy worms in there for eeek factor!

Cup of Worms from Our Best Bites

Pumpkin Sammies

This is a great staple for a Halloween party spread because it pleases both kids and adults, and is something with substance! Use Halloween cookie cutters to cut your bread. I like to fill some with peanut butter or cream cheese and orange-colored jam (like peach or apricot) for the kiddos, and something more sophisticated like Teriyaki Chicken Salad for the grown ups!

pumpkin shaped sandwich

Nutter Butter Ghosts

Nutter Butters are naturally ghost shaped, which make them perfect for dipping! Give them a bath in some almond bark and put on a couple of mini chocolate chips for eyes. And might I add that white chocolate covered Nutter Butters taste really good!

Nutty Ghosts from Our Best Bites

Witches Wands

Dipped Pretzel Rods are instantly transformed into “Witches Wands” with a little Halloween pizzazz! I sometimes have a hard time finding them in stores, so you can get them here if you find yourself in the same boat. Put them in containers with candy corns to hold them up.

Halloween Pretzel Rods from Our Best Bites

Spider Cookies

Red Hots and licorice turn Oreos into creepy (but kinda cute) spiders. Shoestring licorice is hard to find these days, but I did find some here. If you don’t want to order online, Twizzlers makes “Pull-Apart” candy that works perfectly.

Spider Cookies from Our Best Bites

Spider Web Dip

This trick works for pretty much any dip that you could pipe sour cream on top of! I always do a basic 7-Layer taco dip. Put some sour cream in a plastic baggie with the end snipped off and use it to draw a web pattern. Throw on a fake spider or two and your favorite party dip is instantly creepy!

Spidey Dip from Our Best Bites

Slimy Worms on a Bun

My son seriously thought these looked too gross to eat-he wouldn’t even touch it! Just slice hot dogs and drop them into boiling water for just a minute or two and they’ll curl a bit. Dunk them in some BBQ sauce and you have slimy worms 

Worm Sammy from Our Best Bites

Witch Hats

One of the easiest Halloween tricks (and treats!). Place a Hershey’s Kiss on top of a Keebler Fudge Strip Cookie (in case you need a mental image of the cookies I’m talking about, here you go) and you have a little hat. Use the little tubes of frosting you can buy in the grocery store baking isle. Pipe a ring around the outside of the bottom of the kiss and press onto the cookie. It will squeeze out and make the ring around the kiss. Then pipe on the bow.

easy witches hats for halloween

Candy Corn Cookies

These sweet cookies are so super easy!  No rolling or cutting with cookie cutters, just slice and bake.  Click here for the recipe.

Witch Brooms

A witch with a cute hat needs a broom to match! Use cookie dough to form a broom shape around the end of a large pretzel rod. Use a tooth pick to make indentations in the cookies if you want. If your cookies spread too much during baking just use a knife to trim the edges when they come out of the oven and are still warm. Then decorate as desired. I just used a packaged PB cookie mix to make it easy, but I added a bit of flour to make the cookies hold their shape better. You could also use this PB cookie dough or this sugar cookie dough.

Skeleton Cookies

Who says gingerbread men are just for Christmas??  These little cuties get a spooky, chocolaty makeover for Halloween!  Easy piping with a chocolate cut-out cookie recipe.  Also included in that post is an even easier, and quicker, mummy cookie!  Find the tutorial here.

Skeleton Cookies from Our Best Bites

Shrunken Apple Heads

These will WOW! Shrunken heads are actually really easy to make with apples! Get the tutorial here.

Halloween Cookie Pops

Here’s a great sugar cookie recipe and a tutorial on both glace icing and cookie pops. Make some spooky shapes and let people pick up some yum on a stick! Click here for a tutorial on making the spider web designs.

Spider Web Cookies

Candy Corn Cupcakes

We started a trend with these adorable candy corn themed cupcakes. Click here for the recipe, and also a how-to on making those pretty swirly tops!

Autumn Pretzel Turtles

These quick and easy bites get a quick fall makeover by using Reeses Pieces in the centers, or drizzling colored candy melts over traditional nut centered ones. Click here for the recipe.

Stovetop Kettle Corn

You don’t need a fancy machine for this classic fall treat. Just a pot on the stove top and our tutorial and you’ll be snacking in no time. Click here for the recipe.

Caramel Apples

What’s a fall party without caramel apples?? Get the for our gourmet style caramel apple recipe here.

Honey Caramel Apple

Speaking of caramel apples, here’s a great honey version. This homemade caramel only requires 2 main ingredients! Click here for the recipe.

Caramel Apple Cider

Need a drink to serve with all these goodies? Look no further than this delicious Caramel Apple Cider. Click here for the recipe.

Mason Jar Lanterns

These easy-to-make mason jar lanterns instantly add festiveness to your party!
Click here for the tutorial.

woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. WOW, what great ideas. I am going to use some of them for my son's birthday party that is on Halloween.

  2. What fantastic ideas!!!

    My family likes to slice up raw veggies and arrange them into a skeleton. Then we use a hallowed out pepper filled with dip for the skull.

    We also make fingers using breadsticks and pistachio shells.

  3. LOVE so many of these ideas! Thanks for sharing. I'm linking this post to my blog so I can try some of them out. 🙂

  4. Wow! What a creepy combination of fun snacks and treats. Thanks for compiling all of these great ideas and posting them on your site!
    I will definitely try some of them out!

  5. I can't wait to try out some of these recipes for my family's Halloween party. Thanks for the wonderful ideas.

  6. This was the most darling post ever! So many wonderful Halloween ideas. Thanks so much for sharing these treasures!

  7. What an amazing post! Loved looking at all the pics and am feeling a little inspired to maybe try some myself. Maybe.

  8. Holy flippin' somersaults! Toooo cute! Love, love, LOVE 'EM! I am not a Halloween lover but all your darling ideas just might have me changin' my tune. La, la, la, LAAA!

  9. Wow!! What a great selection and soooo many ideas. I think you covered all of them. Thanks for the great collection of fun halloween foods!

  10. This is the BEST list of creepy foods I've ever seen! Thanks so much for sharing. Now I need to plan a party. 🙂

  11. I think I'm with your son on the "worm" sandwiches. They do look pretty creepy! But it's a great idea!

  12. So fun, makes me want to have a Halloween party. Love your orange plate with black polka dots!

  13. Love.Love.love all the ideas. Unbelievable. It all looks great. Thanks for the ideas.

  14. Those worms are seriously nasty but I guess that's the point!

    You're amazing Sara! Amazing!

  15. These are all so dang cute. I especially like the witches hats and the spiders. Maybe its because they have chocolate. Who knows? Oh and the pretzel rods are so pretty looking. Again…chocolate. What can I say, I'm addicted.

    The slimy worms on a bun is just too real looking to eat though. I totally agree with your son.

  16. Omigoodness these are so cute!! What great ideas! I nearly splurted out my coffee laughing when I saw the mummy hot dogs. 🙂 Great stuff!

  17. Wow, so many great ideas! You asked for more ideas?! What could I possibly add 🙂 Everything looks so fun, it's making me like Halloween even more too!

  18. Your ideas are amazing and endless! You've been busy. Thanks for sharing these creepy/tasty treats.

  19. Geez Sara! You've been busy!! You are right though, some of these will work great for the party!!
    Thanks!

  20. Wow, these are all so great! And I agree with Nat, wonderful pictures! I used some of these ideas last year at Hailey's party and they were a hit! Thanks for the ideas (in advance, courtesy of Tyler's 2nd B-day party 🙂