# Food to serve (light dinner)



## SunElaine (Sep 14, 2008)

My sister and her husband are hosting their 4th annual Halloween party this year. I normally don't have anything to do with the planning, but this year I will be 30 weeks pregnant for the party. Since I won't be able to FULLY enjoy the fun aspects of the party, I have put myself into the role of co-organizer. 

Normally the party just consists of A LOT of drinking, games like beer pong and asshole, and more drinking, some dancing... Food includes chips, pretzels, veggies with dip... Party usually starts at 10pm. I suggested they start the party earlier this year, like say, 6pm, and serve a light dinner and we play actual games (which I'm organizing) before the heavy drinking starts.

She liked the idea of serving a dinner and starting earlier, but now I'm wondering what kinds of food would be best for this kind of thing. You know? Because some people tend to get completely wasted as the night goes on and I don't want to serve anything that is going to lead to vomiting.

Any suggestions on what to serve? She mentioned making the meal "gross" like real food but with a Halloween spin.


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## Witch Hazel (Sep 6, 2008)

Lots of people suggest chili or some kind of stew or pumpkin soup. There are a few recipes for chili on this site. I start my party at 7:00 and only have finger foods. I usually do some type of sandwich, lots of chips, veggies and dips and last year we had chicken wings. I will probably do cocktail weiners or meatballs this year and give everything a spooky name (ie chicken wings-bat wings). Everybody is usually lit by 10:00 so I keep a lot of the non perishable food out to snack on. It has always worked well.


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

I think starting the party earlier is a good idea. The chili is a good idea too. We're having some chili this year; you could serve it with cornbread (help soak up some of the alcohol that's consumed) or chips. Also maybe: some dinner rolls with a tray of rolled meats and let people make themselves a little sandwich. 

Do you provide the alcohol? Maybe put it out in moderation, or make them "work for it". There's a great game on the forum (I'm sorry I can't remember who posted it) and it's basically "Free shots if you dare". The guest gets a shot of liquor, picks a dare, completes it, writes his/her name on the dare, then they all go into a drawing for some sort of prize.


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## SunElaine (Sep 14, 2008)

I was thinking about doing some kind of meatballs in gravy and those cocktail wieners. I know someone who used to cook cocktail wieners in barbecue sauce in a crockpot... I'm not sure which barbecue sauce to use. She made hers from scratch! Chili might work, and anything with bread will be good to soak up the alcohol that will be consumed later. I'd like to stick with warm or room temp. food items so I don't have to worry about things spoiling.

As far as alcohol goes, they provide one keg and then last year I brought about 200 jello shots that I made with a variey of flavored vodkas and rums. Anyone who wanted anything other than that was told to BYOB and that worked out as some of the guests only drink wine and others only drink rum or whatever... Someone brought a bottle of Jagermeister and at one point we were all crowded around the table doing shots of that. I think that was around midnight after we ran out of jello shots. Everyone who BYOBs it usually shares with anyone else who wants some so running out of alcohol hasn't been a problem yet.

We are going to play the "Tempt Your Fate" game (thanks to this forum for THAT idea!) so some of the alcohol will be doled out by playing a game. We're going to use the "Gangrene" recipe that was posted in that thread. I can't even imagine how awful that must taste...


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## HeatherEve1234 (Sep 5, 2008)

*Mummy Pizza*

Last year I did a bunch of different finger foods and appetizers, the heartiest of which were mini "mummy pizzas". 

Super easy to make, vegetarian friendly, and not as smelly as chili - or serve along with pasta or chili I suppose. Easy to add pepperoni under the cheese or other toppings. Be sure to pre-slice strips of mozzarella, this is the most time consuming part and really is what makes them look like mummies. 

1. Toast English Muffins (must do if you want a crisp crust)

2. Spoon & Spread tomato paste

3. top with 2 black olive eyes
with green pepper bits for pupils (or red)

4."wrap" the mummy with strips of mozarella cheese

5. Broil on 350 for just a few minutes until cheese melts 

Here's a pic from last year - the after is a little blurry, but the before gives you a clear look at how to make:
Mummy pizzas on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## SunElaine (Sep 14, 2008)

OMG - those mummy pizzas are adorable and I definitely want to make them for the party. Thanks for sharing!


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

SunElaine said:


> OMG - those mummy pizzas are adorable and I definitely want to make them for the party. Thanks for sharing!


I agree! Too bad I can't find english muffins here.
They have Jagermeister in Penn?? Wow!


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## Barbarella (Oct 17, 2003)

Wow, those mummy pizzas sound like loads of fun to make, great for kids! I personally like to have one hearty warm dish as a main, like beef stew, chilli, or crockpot meatballs, and lots of finger foods. I love doing little pinwheel wraps, like mixing cream cheese, blue cheese, dried cranberries and green onions, spread the mix ont a tortilla and roll it up, then just cut the roll into smaller pieces. I know it's not so much in the 'spirit', but they're great to have when everyone's wandering around with a drink in hand.


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## runswithvampires (Aug 12, 2008)

i''ve had the same problem trying to figure out what to make as an actual meal. I have snacks , chips , cupcakes, candy , mummy dogs... But i was actually thinking about making some kind of casserole .. or some mac and cheese with 5 diffrent cheeses.. as something heavier. and some hairy witch fingers.


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## Whipped Scream (Aug 19, 2008)

For our party we are doing chilli served in a giant pumpkin. I clean the pumpkin out well, rub it with a little vegetable oil and and sprinkle kosher salt, you bake the pumpkin in the oven on 250 for about an hour then pour the chili in! Our guests love it. Also am going to do lots of finger foods, i love the mummy pizzas. Going to have to add that one to the list....


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## runswithvampires (Aug 12, 2008)

ohhh that sounds soo good whipped!


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## Whipped Scream (Aug 19, 2008)

Thanks! I also want to try the bat wings, barbecued chicken wings with a little black food coloring......


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## SunElaine (Sep 14, 2008)

I never thought of doing macaroni and cheese. That's something that just about everyone loves. I'll keep that in mind.

MsMeeple, I'm not sure what elese could be used in place of the English muffins for those mummy pizzas. Maybe regular hamburger rolls split in half...? And yep, we have Jagermeister in Pennsylvania!!  It's not my favorite drink, but when you're already pretty lit, and you're doing shots, it goes down pretty easily!


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## HeatherEve1234 (Sep 5, 2008)

Instead of english muffins you can use bagles, round buns (pizza burger style), or make pizza dough into minis. You could do it on a larger scale (full pizza) if you could get longer strips of mozarella, but the minis are more accessible and good finger food. 

I'm lax to do chili, soup, or anything needing bowls and silverware and hand eye coordination (I'd have chili all over my house after the first round was poured) just for the mess factor, and I'd like to mix things up from last year. Any ideas for themed sandwiches? Other really portable foods?


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

When guests arrive & have their drink in hand I like to wait a bit till everyone arrives so I have the table set up with just a few bits to munch on. If people come hungry sometimes they can chow down on to much pre-food & then they are full when the main food comes out.

Othertimes I just put everything out at once. I like to have items that are small so guests can try everything and not get loaded up on one item. We like to cook here so we try to offer a good variety of things. For us the sausage, ribs, cold shrimp platter & steak bites go the best also the eggrolls. For the chicken eaters we offer a deep fried wing or we cook chicken breast & cut them up & skewer them. 

I have 6 pages of food ideas for a party in my web site which you can access on the banner below. We are meat eaters here so we BBQ all the meats & chicken & then skewer them so its easy to eat or dip in a dip! We are working on that part of my web site cause some folks asked for more prep info so we are adding play by play pictures of prep along w/ the recipes.

Maybe there is something there you might see that you like! Good luck with your party plans & be sure to take lots of pictures of your food table for us to see!!

the Muffster


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## HeatherEve1234 (Sep 5, 2008)

AWESOME! Thanks Muffy!


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## serialc0d3 (Sep 8, 2008)

A big hit at our parties are these hotdog mummies:

Hot Dog Mummies - and More Great Family Fun Recipe Ideas










People usually shock me by how many they eat so I am standing in the kitchen for some of the night making more.


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## tkstrawn64 (Aug 1, 2008)

The Hot Dog mummies are so cute! So easy, and quick! I'm ready to make them tonight!


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## SunElaine (Sep 14, 2008)

serialc0d3 said:


> A big hit at our parties are these hotdog mummies:
> 
> Hot Dog Mummies - and More Great Family Fun Recipe Ideas
> 
> ...


Those are so cute! I'm thinking they would be great for the adult party but I'm also going to make them for the kids' party that we're having, too. Thanks for sharing!


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## Tish (Aug 5, 2008)

I love the hot dog mummies. I make those every year for Halloween night, not the party though. I've made them with cocktail weenies before but they don't look quite right. Still yummy though. 

I usually just do finger foods, like eggrolls or taquitos that I can throw into the oven throughout the night as we run out. Chili in a crockpot too. This year I'm switching to tortilla soup instead. Probably will try to stick with Mexican food since our theme is Dia de los Muertos. Oh, I saw a really cute recipe for Halloween Bruschetta using orange tomatoes and black olives. Halloween Bruschetta - Perfect Entertaining 
That site has lots of recipes.


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