Halloween Dinner Ideas with Menu Plan

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Make your Halloween night extra spooky this year by trying out some of our fun Halloween food ideas. From drinks to dinner to desserts, we’ve got you covered! Be sure to grab our complete menu plan for a spooky Halloween dinner along with our printable shopping list.

Halloween Dinner with spaghetti and eyeballs, spider Cesar salad, mummy garlic bread and shrunken head green punch.
Featured in this post
  1. Halloween Drinks
  2. Halloween Dinner Ideas
  3. Halloween Dessert Ideas for Adults
  4. Halloween Treats for Kids
  5. Spooky Halloween Dinner Menu
  6. Halloween Dinner Shopping List
  7. Shopping List to Download or Print
  8. Spooky Halloween Dinner Menu
  9. Halloween Dinner Ideas Recipe

Halloween food is so much more than candy! When it comes to feeding your little ghosts and goblins before heading out to trick-or-treat this October, fill their tummies with good food before they start in on sugar.

This post includes all the Halloween food ideas you need from drinks to dessert, plus a bonus sample meal plan and shopping list – all the work is done for you!

Halloween Drinks

Just like Halloween dinner ideas, the possibilities for Halloween drinks are endless. We’ve all taken the shortcut of throwing plastic eyeballs or gummy worms into a mix of juice and soda, and that works great, but the fall flavors in these drinks make them extra special. For Harry Potter themed Halloween parties, you try one of our specialty Harry Potter drinks. They are the perfect companion to any of our Halloween dinners. Click on any image below for the recipe.

Halloween Dinner Ideas

A hot, savory, and filling dinner was always on the menu for Halloween night during our childhood. It wasn’t until we were older that we figured out what Mom was doing. She wanted to fill our tummies with good, wholesome food before we ate a bunch of candy. It worked! I don’t remember any of us ever getting sick on Halloween. Now we all do the same for our kids. Try our dinner or soup cooked in the oven inside a pumpkin. The cooking pumpkin fills the house with delicious smells! Mix and match to create your ideal Halloween dinner. Click on any image below for the recipe.

Halloween Dessert Ideas for Adults

Oh, how we LOVE our Halloween desserts! For the adults who don’t want to settle for candy, any fall-inspired dessert with pumpkin is a great choice for Halloween. Make them extra for Halloween by adding black frosting spiders or garnish with candy corn pumpkins.

Halloween Treats for Kids

Just in case you aren’t getting enough sugar this Halloween while trick-or-treating, here are some ideas for some kid-friendly Halloween treats. These are perfect for class parties, potlucks, a witch’s night out, or trunk-or-treats. Pick up some candy eyeballs next time you go to a craft store. Those candy eyes come in handy for turning basic cookies, cupcakes, or even graham crackers into something spooky, like monsters!

Spooky Halloween Dinner Menu

Our Spooky Halloween Dinner menu includes all of the Halloween recipes you need for a frightfully easy Halloween dinner PLUS, we have a shopping list for you to download with all of the ingredients you will need to make each menu item. This what’s on the menu: Spaghetti and eyeballs, Caesar spider salad, mummy garlic bread, Halloween punch with shrunken heads, and spider cake for dessert.

Main Dish: Spaghetti with Eyeballs

  • Use your favorite canned spaghetti sauce, spaghetti pasta, store bought meatballs, cheese and olives. See the recipe below for more details.
  • To give the spaghetti the twirled “nest” look, just twist big scoops spaghetti with a fork in a ladle (my niece Kelsey taught me how to do this and I LOVE how it looks)!
  • Serve with a side of parmesan cheese for sprinkling.
Spaghetti with olives and meatballs shaped like eyeballs.


Side Dish: Caesar Spider Salad

  • For this simple side, just use a bagged Caesar salad kit and place plastic spiders over the top.
  • If you want to add eyeballs to this, slice grape tomatoes in half, slice off a circle of string cheese, and add an olive (much like the meatballs in the spaghetti). 
  • You can also add grilled chicken and serve this salad as more of a main course.
Bowl of Caesar spider salad with black olives shaped like spiders on croutons.

Bread: Mummy Cheesy Garlic Bread

  • To make this mummy bread, cut up some strips of mozzarella cheese (strips of string cheese work well too). 
  • Place them on a bakery garlic bread. 
  • Heat the bread in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes.
  • Finally, add a couple olive slices for “eyes”.
Baked mummy garlic bread on a board.

Halloween Punch: Shrunken (Apple) Head Punch

  • This is a fun way to get your kids involved in dinner preparation. Let them “carve” their own jack-o lanterns out of apples. They’ll get a kick out of seeing their apple “heads” floating in the punch!
  • Slice each apple in half and let the kids carve out faces. 
  • Bake the apple halves in the oven at 200-degrees for about 10 minutes and then put them in the fridge to cool. 
  • You can also use a cookie cutter to create fun shapes in the apples.
  • For the punch, use 2 liters of water, 2 liters ginger ale (chilled), 46 oz pineapple juice (chilled), and 4 Jolly Rancher Green Apple “On-The-Go” packets. Instead of putting ice in the punch bowl, you can put the ice in the individual glasses to prevent the juice from being watered down.
Punch bowl of Halloween drink with apple heads and green lime sherbet.

Dessert: Giant Spider Cake

This might be my favorite thing on the whole menu (and my favorite Halloween dinner idea overall!). This is so fun to make and the finished product looks SO COOL. 

See our full recipe post for Spider Cake for the ingredients and instructions.

Close up of Spider Cake face.

Halloween Dinner Shopping List

To make things nice and easy for you, we have put together a shopping list for this particular meal plan. Here’s what you need for this easy Halloween dinner meal plan. The dinner feeds 4-6, the dessert feeds 12-15. You can download this list to your phone or to print below:

Shopping List to Download or Print

Spooky Halloween Dinner Menu

Halloween Dinner with spaghetti and eyeballs, spider Cesar salad, mummy garlic bread and shrunken head green punch.

Halloween Dinner Ideas

4.95 from 18 votes
Make your Halloween night extra spooky with Spaghetti with Eyeballs, Caesar "Spider" Salad, Shrunken Apple Head Punch, and Spider Cake. BONUS: See the recipe notes for Halloween appetizer ideas.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Video

Ingredients

Spaghetti and Eyeballs

  • 16 ounces spaghetti noodles (prepared according to packagedirections)
  • 24 ounces jar spaghetti sauce (heated according to package directions)
  • 24 ounces pre-cooked frozen meatballs (or make your own with this recipe)
  • 2-3 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • sliced black olives (to taste)
  • pimento-stuffed green olives (to taste)

Caesar "Spider" Salad

  • 1 Caesar Salad Kit
  • 3-4 Large black olives (or plastic spiders)

Mummy Cheesy Garlic Bread

  • 1 loaf prepared garlic bread
  • 1 pound Mozzarella cheese
  • 2 olive slices

Shrunken Apple Head Punch

  • 2 liters cold water
  • 2 liters ginger ale chilled
  • 46 ounces pineapple juice chilled
  • 4 Jolly Rancher Green Apple "On-The-Go" packets
  • 4-6 Granny Smith apples, small

Instructions

Spaghetti and Eyeballs

  • Prepare spaghetti noodles, sauce, and meatballs according to package directions. Form “nests” of noodles by twirling noodles in a serving ladle with a fork and then placing in a serving bowl. After meatballs have cooled slightly, cut out circles of mozzarella cheese and place one circle on each meatball, creating the start of an eyeball. Place one black olive slice over the cheese circle, completing the eye. Gently place meatballs randomly over the spaghetti. Add green olives over the top, to taste. For more detailed directions, and to make your own meatballs, see our Spaghetti and Eyeballs post.
    Bowl of Spaghetti and Eyeball Meatballs with green olives.

Caesar "Spider" Salad

  • Use a large black olive to look like a spider by cutting the olive in half. Cut a second olive in half then cut each half into four "legs" totally eight legs.
    Cutting board with cut olives for spiders.
  • Spread cream cheese on a crouton. Place the four olive legs on each side and place an olive half in the center creating a black olive spider.
    Croutons with steps to spread cream cheese, place olives to look like legs and half olive on top.
  • Combine salad mix in a bowl.
    Bowl of mixed Cesar salad with forks.
  • Top with spider croutons on top.
    Bowl of Caesar spider salad with black olives shaped like spiders on croutons.

Mummy Cheesy Garlic Bread

  • Bake garlic bread according to package directions. Remove from bag place halves onto baking sheet.
    Baked Garlic Bread in a pouch.
  • Cut up some strips of mozzarella cheese (strips of string cheese work well too). 
    Cutting board with strips of mozzarella cheese sliced.
  • Strategically place the strips on one half of the garlic bread to look like mummy wrap. Add olive slices for eyes.
    Baking sheet lined with parchment paper, garlic bread and strips of mozzarella cheese and olive slices for eyes.
  • Bake at 375℉ for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese starts to melt.
    Baked mummy garlic bread on a board.

Shrunken Apple Head Punch

  • Make cake according to directions on Halloween Punch recipe.
    Punch bowl of Halloween drink with apple heads and green lime sherbet.

Spider Cake (click for recipe instructions)

  • Make cake according to directions on Spider Cake recipe.
    Spider Cake on a Cake stand with fang smile and Red Hot eyes.

Notes

Halloween Appetizer Ideas:

If you want to include an appetizer with your Halloween Dinner, please choose one or more from the following list. Click on the appetizer name to get the recipe:
 

Nutrition Information

Calories: 634kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 33gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 87mgSodium: 723mgPotassium: 878mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 547IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 115mgIron: 3mg

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About the author

Erica Walker

Erica lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband, Jared, an attorney, and her three beautiful girls. Beyond the world of recipes, she loves adventuring with everything from kayaking, to cruising, to snowboarding and taking the family along for the thrill ride.

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4.95 from 18 votes (11 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Thank you Erica! Having a sleepover with my Granddaughters next weekend and Spaghetti and meatballs is their favorite. I am definetly going to make this supper, soooo adorable! They will love it. Maybe turn it into a little party with a couple of their cousins. Thank you so much for sharing.

  2. 5 stars
    Oh wow – so many great ideas to save! My favorite would probably be spaghetti with meatball eyes – so spooky! 😉

  3. 5 stars
    All these ideas look amazing and perfect for a Halloween theme! Looking forward to making that bundt cake 🙂