Halloween Party Hosting & Bonus Recipes!

Last weekend, Austin and I hosted our first grown-up Halloween party! Note that this is distinctly different from college Halloween parties, and requires a totally different planning strategy. And speaking of, Austin and I first hung out at one of his Halloween parties in 2015! He was Peter Pan, and I showed up as a pirate. Coincidence, or fate?

Before we get started, let’s just agree that Bing is the cutest taco in the world, am I right?

Any who, I may have gone a little over-the-top for this get-together (especially since we were only planning on hosting four to six other friends), but I wanted to live out some of my holiday Pinterest dreams! Because let’s be honest, I am not creative enough to have came up with these scary treats on my own. For the buffet, I bought some Halloween-themed platters and bowls to display the food and drinks, as well as festive plates and napkins (all from Walmart). I draped a spooky white fabric over our dining room table and some cobwebs over our counter top to set the theme for the buffet. I sprinkled tiny plastic spiders over both surfaces, which really brought it all together! We topped it off with some skulls, a pile of spell and potion books, and a glowing lantern (again, all from Walmart).

For the the main course, we had a snake-shaped calzone (literally just Pillsbury pizza crust, store bought pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings rolled into a snake shape. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes). Our sides consisted of pumpkin-themed platters of spinach dip and chips, and veggies and ranch, as well as a trio crockpot of little smokies (just add equal parts BBQ sauce and grape jelly in with the sausage), queso (one block of Velveeta cheese and one can of Rotel), and cheesy scalloped potatoes (Betty Crocker box; follow directions on box but put in crockpot instead of oven): all three were cooked on high for about 2 hours, then switched to warm for the rest of the night.

The desserts, of course, were my favorite part! We got some store-bought frosted sugar cookies because Austin insists we have those for every type of holiday. I also made mummy brownies, which were the Milk Chocolate flavored Betty Crocker box—I have tried making brownies from scratch multiple times, but they never live up to the boxed kind! To turn them into mummies, I used a piping bag and white frosting to make the “wrap”, then white candy melts for the eyes, and a piping bag of black frosting for the pupils. Lastly, we had pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins (full recipe below). I swear by this recipe—I have used it for years, and it is always a hit!

And I can’t forget the alcohol! We mixed up a drink I found on Pinterest called “The Frankenstein”. It consisted of 1 part blue UV Vodka, 1 part citrus vodka, 1 part plain vodka, 3 parts orange soda, and 3 parts 7-up or Sprite. We dumped it all in a punch bowl and voila! Note that we had to add extra blue vodka until it was more of a green tint, and then more Sprite to offset the extra vodka...

As for the decorations, we got a “stone wall” plastic sheet and giant spiders (which I stuck to the wall using Command strips and printed my own Harry Potter themed “Follow the spiders” sign) from the Dollar Tree, black ceiling fabric and jack-o-lantern from Target, and fall flowers and “Happy Harvest” sign from Hobby Lobby.

Needless to say, the party was a success and the food was delicious! We watched some American Horror Story on Netflix before breaking out the board games: Master Debaters Smosh Edition and Clue. We wrapped the party up with a costume contest and called it a night (like the grown-ups we are) at about 10 p.m.!

Time to start Pinterest-ing our upcoming Christmas party… In the meantime, enjoy my classic pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe below!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread/Muffins

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups canola/vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups (12 oz bag) milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil
Combine both mixtures and add chocolate chips.
For bread, pour into two lightly greased loaf pans. For mini muffins, spoon into mini muffin pan. For muffins, spoon into muffin pan.
For bread, bake 60 minutes. For mini muffins, bake 8-10 minutes. For muffins, bake 15-20 minutes for muffins. Use toothpick to test if baked through: If toothpick comes out clean, it is done. Bake an extra 2 minutes if toothpick does not come out clean, then repeat toothpick test.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.