Alright, so I decided to throw a Halloween get-together this year. Fun idea, right? Until I looked at my bank account. Yeah, throwing parties ain’t cheap, especially the food part. Couldn’t just splash out on loads of pre-made spooky stuff or order a mountain of takeout. So, I had to figure out how to do Halloween party food on a budget. This is basically what I did.
First up, I sat down and really thought about what’s cheap but can be made to look Halloween-y. Forget fancy ingredients. I went through my pantry and fridge first, see what I already had. Found some basics like flour, sugar, some old hot dogs lurking in the freezer. Okay, gotta use those up.
Then, shopping time. I skipped the posh supermarket, went straight to the budget place. My goal was maximum spook for minimum bucks. What did I grab?
More hot dogs (seriously, they’re cheap protein), a couple of tubes of that refrigerated crescent roll dough, a bag of carrots, cream cheese, black olives were on sale, a box of cheap chocolate cake mix, some oranges, and maybe some pretzel sticks. Pretty basic stuff, nothing that screamed “gourmet”. Kept the bill low, which was the main point.
Making the Savory Bits
Okay, onto the actual making. For savory, I started with the classic Mummy Dogs. Super simple. Popped open those crescent roll tubes. Used a pizza cutter – or just a knife works – to slice the dough into thin strips. Then I took each hot dog and just kinda wrapped the dough strips around it, leaving a little space near one end. Didn’t need to be perfect, messy is fine for mummies. Whacked them in the oven following the instructions on the dough package. Once they were baked and cooled down just a touch, I used mustard to dot on two little eyes in the space I left. Done. Looked decent, tasted good, cost next to nothing.
Next, I needed some veggies, try to be a bit healthy, right? So I washed and chopped up those carrots into sticks. Had some celery too, chopped that up. Called them something like Witch’s Fingers and Goblin Bones. The key was the dip. I just softened the cream cheese, mixed in a bit of garlic powder and salt I had lying around. To make it spooky, I sliced some black olives into rings and arranged them on top of the dip to look like little eyeballs. Easy trick, made plain dip look way better for the theme.
Hitting the Sweet Spot (Cheaply)
For the sweet stuff, I relied heavily on that cheap cake mix. Made the chocolate cake as per the box. Let it cool completely. Then, I just crumbled the whole thing up. This became the “dirt” for my Graveyard Pudding Cups. Got some cheap plastic cups. Whipped up some instant chocolate pudding – again, the cheap kind. Layered the pudding and cake crumbles in the cups. For tombstones, I used some plain rectangular biscuits I found (like shortbread or digestives, whatever’s cheapest). Used a little tube of icing I had leftover from Christmas (check your dates!) to write “RIP” on them and stuck one in each cup. Looked pretty effective, actually.
And the absolute easiest thing? Pumpkin Oranges. I just peeled a bunch of oranges. Took small pieces of celery stick, maybe about an inch long, and poked one into the top center of each peeled orange where the stem would be. That’s it. Instant mini pumpkins. Super cheap, kinda healthy, and looked cute on the table.
Bringing it All Together
Didn’t do much else fancy. Threw a cheap black plastic tablecloth over the table. Scattered some plastic spiders I’ve had for years. Dimmed the lights a bit. Honestly, the presentation was mostly about naming things spookily and adding a few cheap props. The food itself was basic, but dressing it up made it feel like a real Halloween spread.
End result? The party went great. People ate the food, nobody complained it wasn’t fancy. And the best part? I didn’t spend a fortune. Just used simple stuff, got a bit creative with making it look spooky. Proves you don’t need big money to have a good time or put out a fun party spread. Just gotta roll up your sleeves and maybe wrap some dough around a hot dog.