Ultimate Tricks And Treats For Halloween Happiness

As the leaves turn from green to golden and the air whispers of pumpkin spice and spooky tales, it can only mean one thing—Halloween is creeping around the corner in all its ghoulish glory.

BOO, it yourself and transform your home into an eerie haunted house oasis that will leave the Disneyland version quaking at its foundations. DIY decorations don’t need to break the bank and are a heck of a lot of fun to make.

Channel your inner Spiderman and throw cobwebs around the house with stellar skills, ready to catch unsuspecting prey. Or what about some Voodoo candle vibes? Drip blood-red wax over white candles and stick them with nails to create deathly shadows.

Or is a garden graveyard more your game? Fashion some cardboard tombstones around the lawn (RIP Mrs. Black Widow), and add the finishing touch of a limb or two clawing its way from the earth—desperate to join your Halloween fiesta.

Or is spookily cute more your style? If so, mummify those mason jars with bandages and googley eyes instead. Or grab empty bottles of all shapes and sizes, paint them white, and add some ghosty funny faces to watch you while you eat. Can can also illuminate your little friends and add some tea light candles to make them glow whilst they gleam at you.

Instead of stalking eyes, drive your household batty and turn your toilet rolls into these winged cave-dwelling creatures of the night with a splash of black paint, red eyes and cardboard wings. Keep the bat theme rolling with a creepy centerpiece for your dining table. Grab a red jar, beatify a bunch of twigs with black spray paint and stick your cardboard bats amongst the tiny branches. You won’t have to worry about watering that flower arrangement—the more dead, the better!

These are just the tip of the scary ice cube of DIY decorations. There is so much Halloween inspiration to find around the house.

Add a chill to the spine to match the crisp Fall air with some classic scary screen time. Host a Halloween movie night by the fireplace or under the stars.

While we are on the topic of hosting, get into the spirit with some spooky spirits! Put the BOO in boozy with these devilishly decadent drink ideas: Blood-orange Margaritas, A Jekyll & Gin, Pumpkin Pie punch, or a Spiced Bloody Mary will get your friends in the macabre mood. Go all out and decorate them with gummy worms, plastic spiders, fairy floss webs and floating eyeballs for extra creepiness.

20ml rasberry liqueur
25 ml vodka
Ice
Handful frozen raspberries
Red sugar to garnish (optional)
Champagne, to top up.

Chill a martini or cocktail glass. Pour the raspberry liqueur and vodka into a shaker and add a handful of ice and the raspberries.

Mix until the shaker feels very cold. Dip the rim of the chilled glasses into cold water, then into the colored sugar (if using).

Any gathering needs great food, and a Halloween menu calls for the fun and the freaky–yet it can still be fancy.
Supernatural and sophisticated snacks such as Breadstick Rattlers will make your guests salivate and squeal. Twist your dough into snakey bodies, scatter poppyseeds for scales, add a sundried or chili “tongue,” and bake till golden.

Pumpkin needs an appearance, of course! Try Smokey Pumpkin Deviled Eggs or Mimi Mummy Pumpkin and Feta Tarts. For some magical mains, think Monster Meatball Sliders, Herbed Rice and Chorizo Jack’O Lantern Peppers, and Evil Eye Pasta (beware, those mozzarella eyeballs will be watching you).

And those darkly deathly delicious desserts are endless—Meringue Ghost Tartlets, Dead Velvet Cake, and Poison Apple Pie are just the beginning.

Aside from spooky sweets, ghoulishly good treats are a must. It’s the one time of year that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating candy!

Chocolate spiders with red licorice legs and white Chocolate-Dipped Ghost Pretzels are quick, easy and delicious. Marshmallow Heads on sticks (with smiling vampires, mummies, and Frankensteins) will make your trick-or-treaters giggle with glee.

Halloween can be a sugar overload, so try these ghoulishly guilt-free treats if you are after a healthier Halloween. Banana Mummy Pops with sugar-free chocolate bandages and blueberry eyeballs.

Spread some spooky love this season and go for a Halloween heart-warming gesture instead. Reverse trick-or-treating, and visit your friends and neighbors with Halloween-inspired gifts and goodies. You’ll be like the little red-riding hood of the street, with a basket full of black kitten cupcakes, witch’s finger cookies, and zombie pops.

As we are still in party mode, end the evening with a Halloween-themed karaoke session. Someone will definitely bust out “Thriller” (along with the dance, hopefully) and the “Moster Mash” or “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC.

After dinner, gather your friends and family, and Facetime, Zoom, or snuggle on the couch for spooky Storytime. Make them up, share urban legends, and see how many people you can make squirm in their seats. Make sure you turn off the light and do it right with candles, torches, and the odd planned bump in the night.

Halloween is the season for games! If you have a dusty box of Cluedo lying around, now is the time to find out who killed, with what and where!

For those sweet tooths, have some mischievous munching madness with Ghost Marshmallows On A String. Draw spooky faces on your squishy treats and hang them from a broom; players must eat them with their hands behind their backs. The first to devour their ghosty treat wins!

Or just get plain crazy and divide into teams and wrap a buddy up in toilet paper and make them bolt like zombies to the finish line.

And this, my friends, is what this scary season is all about! A great Halloween begins with an awesome costume. From the cute to the crazy and the weird and wicked, your outfit is crucial.

So, if you haven’t had the time to go shopping, here are some quick and easy DIY costumes to get you in the monster mood. Grab a watermelon, throw on some denim shorts, and channel in your “Baby’ vibes from Dirty Dancing. Curled green and blue balloons and rubber snakes make a magnificent Medusa wig.

Halloween is the perfect time for spooky literature, and Fall calls for coziness. You could form a spontaneous Halloween Book club or solo snuggle under the covers and creep into other worlds with classics like Carrie and Pet Cemetery by Stephen King.

Halloween and Fall are synonymous with Pumpkins! Not only are they bestowed with the golden colors of Autumn and marry perfectly with spice, but they are the quintessential stars of the season.

The humble pumpkin provides a festive canvas for fun. So why not try some unique carvings this year?

Halloween is a time of family, friends and fun. Set up a DIY photo booth with accessories and props. Polaroid and disposable cameras will work a treat and do the trick nicely here. You can leave the pop-up booth in the hall for when people visit, or hang out in the front yard and call your neighbors in as they go for their evening stroll (their cute little pet may want to star in a snap, too!)

We can’t forget the music that sets the Halloween tone, you can save and curate the ultimate Halloween playlist for your home and for trick-or-treaters who may stop by to visit in order to set the mood for all that cross your path this spooky season.

With a splash of creepy creativity and a dash of DIY magic, your Halloween will be a happy and spooktacular celebration that will leave your family and friends echoing the chilling words of Morticia Addams…

“Last night, you were unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me. It was great! Do it again, pleaseeeeeee!”