During October, the anticipation for Halloween is high for kids and grown ups alike! As a child, nothing is more fun than planning out your costume, playing spooky tricks on your friends, and planning for that large amount of candy you plan on consuming (wait, or is that last part us?). To kick off the fun festivities for the big night, why not host a spooktacular Halloween dinner filled with tons of spooky eats and playful crafts to celebrate. Here are some of our tips to help host a perfectly spooktacular dinner for kids this Halloween.
A creepy crawly table setting
Get your tiny guests in the Halloween spirit with a few fun decor touches and by setting a table that is sure to scare even the wildest hair. Our children are on the younger side, so we kept the decor to traditional Halloween colors and created an atmosphere filled with fun things they could also put their hands on — creepy crawly bugs, sparkly spiders, black bats, and pumpkins galore! If you have older children, you can opt to amp up the scare factor by including scary skeletons or menacing monsters.
Create fun details with inexpensive decor and Halloween items that can be used in multiple ways. These spider rings doubled as our napkin holders and packed the perfect little punch to an otherwise boring orange napkin, and the children loved to play with them as the night went on.
Get witch-crafty
With the anticipation of the fun filled night ahead (and sometimes combine that with a possible pre-dinner candy taste test), children tend to be wildly overstimulated on Halloween. While you are making their spooky dinner, have a few things at the table ready for them to play or do, so that you can bring a sense of order to the dinner and can reserve some of that energy for trick-or-treating later on.
We decided to make the table work for us and had the children create their own place mat. We set each place with a piece of black construction paper, and then we had staged on the table some chalk and stickers for them to use as decoration. This was a super easy activity and a great way for them to show off their creativity to one another.
Other great ideas are to set the table with fun Halloween themed coloring pages, word searches or Mad Libs. Anything to keep those little hands and minds busy, but in their seats!
Spooky eats
The best part about hosting the spooktacular Halloween dinner is creating fun festive food for the kids! We like to keep the options simple and easy, especially on such a busy night. Putting a spooky twist on the simple foods they typically eat makes for lots of giggles when those plates arrive.
Mummy Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs, handmade or pre-cooked. (Be sure to account for three meatballs per mummy)
Pizza dough or crescent roll dough
1 Package spaghetti noodles
1 Jar pizza sauce
Wilton Candy Eyes
Instructions
1. Cook the meatballs accordingly. Then let cool.
2. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Use uncooked spaghetti noodles and place through the center of a meatball. Add two more meatballs to the same noodle.
4. Use strip of dough and wrap around the meatball for the “mummy wrap.” Use as much as desired, and place on greased pan. Remove spaghetti noodle gently.
5. Cook meatballs for 10 minutes or until dough is golden light brown.
6. Remove and add candy eyes.
7. Serve with small cup of pizza sauce.
Ghost Pizza
Ingredients
1 Package pizza dough
1 Jar pizza sauce
1 Package shredded mozzarella cheese
Large Wilton candy eyes
Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sprinkle bottom of pan with flour, or use a pizza baking stone.
3. Place rolled dough on pan, and top with sauce and mozzarella cheese.
4. Cook for approximately 20-25 minutes or until cheese is bubbled and crust is light golden brown.
5.Let cool for a few moments.
6. With a pizza cutter, create a ghost shape by cutting in half moon shape on each side. (You can can cut and set aside these pieces to use later since in the end the ghost pizza itself will also be divided and served.)
7. Add candy eyes.
Tricky treats
A spooktacular dinner wouldn’t be complete with out a treat or two! Letting kids get involved in the dessert portion of the dinner adds to the fun of the evening and lets them put those creative skills to use again.
For this dinner, we decided to let them decorate their own spooky cakes. We used the Duncan Hines Perfect Size Cakes for this task and for lack of a better term… they were perfect! Their smaller portions were just the right size for each child to decorate their own (and then share with their parents later, hopefully!) or create as a joint effort with someone else.
The Duncan Hines Perfect Size cake mixes come complete with their own frosting and individual pan, which makes for a quick and easy clean up. With six flavors to choose from, we were able to allow everyone to pick their favorite flavor and decorate as desired. Needless to say this is a huge hit amongst all guests, both young and old!
With the spooky dinner complete, and the mood fully set to be in the spirit of all things trick and/or treaty, your Halloween is sure to be a spooktacular one!
Be sure to check out our Halloween Pinterest board for other great ideas to host your own spooktacular dinner.
Comments
Can these be made a day ahead and re-heated or assembled a day ahead to bake the next day?
I just email you but failed to mention I am referring to the Mummy Meatballs. Can they be either assembled the day before to bake the next day or baked a day ahead and re-heated the next day?
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