5 Appetizers to Serve at Your Halloween Party

The spookiest time of the year is nigh. These smart Halloween appetizers will satiate any cook or crafting obsessive’s need for treats that are delicious and terrifying to behold. There’s a blood-curdling punch and a simple, killer dessert, too. All you need are hungry guests who love (and fear) the holiday.

1. Bacon-Wrapped Dates

Even those who are ho-hum about Halloween go bananas for bacon-wrapped dates. Sweet and salty at once, with a little Marcona almond snug inside for crunch, these are just a delight. All you need are skull toothpicks, widely available online, to make them Halloweeny.

2. Spider Deviled Eggs

Creepy-crawly pitted black olives are the key design feature of these leggy little numbers. Classic deviled eggs get a filling of Dijon, mayonnaise, shallots, and capers. (Most kids will happily brave the spider that sat down beside them… if it’s edible.)

3. Orange and Black Cheeseball

This pumpkin-esque cheese ball is charming as can be. Cheddar cheese spiked with paprika, garlic and onion powders and spun with cream cheese and mayonnaise gets a roll in black poppyseeds. The result is so photogenic your guests will be hard-pressed not to break out their phones.

4. Blood Orange Punch

Be sure to have a virgin punch for little ones, or you’ll see tiny mitts wrapped around mugs of this tempting blood-orange punch. It’s a three-ingredient potable, the best kind: sparkling wine, one blood orange, and our yummy satsuma-citrus cocktail mixer. Make one big batch in a punch bowl and let guests serve themselves, preferably in deadly glassware.

5. Creepy Spider Sliders

Attention, ambitious bakers: This project is right up your alley. Homemade buns draped with shivery critters contain burgers and Sriracha mayo. Feel free to tuck in your own favorite style of burger, and prepare yourself. Kids tend to completely flip when they see these.

And Dessert!

Let there be (creepy) cake! A spiderweb cake is one of the easiest to pull off, with a simple technique we elaborate upon over here. However you trick or treat at the end of the evening, just be sure it’s scary.