Every year on October 31st we have a special, spooky family Halloween dinner. It’s nothing complicated or fancy, but a little effort goes a long way. Here are a few family friendly Halloween dinner ideas you can adopt for your family this year!
I like Halloween, but I’m not a crazy Halloween fanatic. Some years I make costumes for my kids, sometimes I buy them the day before Halloween on major sale and call it a day.
But on Halloween night one thing I’ve consistently done for years is a fun family Halloween dinner. I’ve seen a bunch of Halloween dinner ideas on pinterest, and there are so many that are just plain gruesome, with food that looks like bleeding amputated fingers or peeling dead skin. Vomit.
Skip the gruesome, and go for family friendly
We try to keep things pretty tame and appetizing, while still being funny and a little spooky. So I thought I’d share a few of our favorite Halloween dinner ideas so you can prep for your own spooky dinner for Halloween night.
MAIN DISH FAMILY HALLOWEEN DINNER IDEAS
TENTACLE POT PIES. We did these two years ago for Halloween based onthis idea, and I loved how they turned out. So cute, and very easy. Just make sure you make the tentacles thick enough, because ours broke while they cooked (I took a picture of the only one who stayed completely intact).
This is our favorite CHICKEN POT PIE RECIPE, and I love this PIE CRUST.
MEATBALL EYEBALLS.If you’re short on time, or just hate cooking, meatball eyeballs are a great option that we made a few years ago.
Just heat frozen meatballs, then stick and sliced olive on top to serve. If you really want to complete the eyeball, stick a little dollop of sour cream or a round slice of cheese under the olive. Creepy!
*You could also do meatball subs with eyeballs!
More good Halloween Dinner main dish ideas HERE!
HALLOWEEN SIDE DISH IDEAS
JELL-O JIGGLER HAND. Okay, I know I said we don’t do anything gross. Maybe this is gross. But this has been a tradition in our family foryears, since I was a little girl. So I carry it on, even though I personally don’t even love JELL-O.
To make it buy non-latex rubber gloves, follow the directions on the JELL-O package to make the jigglers, and then fill the glove up with the JELL-O liquid. Let it sit in the fridge and solidify for at least 6-7 hours.
Getting the glove off is always the tricky part, but usually we just slice it off with scissors piece by piece. And almost always a finger or two is detached in the process, but it still looks cool and creepy sitting on the serving platter.
FINGERLING POTATOES. This is an easy and delicious one, and we don’t bother to make them look like actual fingers (gross). We just roast them in the oven with spices and call it good.
PUMPKIN DEVILED EGGS.I love this idea – so cute and easy. The yokes are mixed with roasted red peppers, which makes the deviled egg filling orange and also probably really delicious. I want to try this one this year!
Find the recipe for this one RIGHT HERE.
BREADSTICK BONES. We’ve made these a few years in a row — it’s as easy as buying pre-made breadstick dough (we usually do Pilsbury), stretching them out on the baking sheet, and knotting each end. As they bake, the turn in to fluffy little bones!Serve with marinara sauce.
MARSHMALLOW AND APPLE TEETH. My friend made these apple and marshmallow teeth for one of our friend Halloween parties a few years ago and they fall in the spooky but not too gruesome category for me. It’s just apple slices smothered with peanut butter, and then marshmallows wedged in between the slices to look like teeth. Easy and cute!
I pinned a few other great Halloween dinner ideas to my Halloween Pinterest board HERE!
A FEW FINAL TOUCHES FOR YOUR HALLOWEEN DINNER
DRY ICE FOR YOUR DRINKS.We always do a big pot or cauldron of root beer, and then add a few chunks of dry ice for a fun effect.
DECORATIONS.I’ve collected some cool Halloween decorations over the years with the Halloween parties I’ve thrown with my friends, so I usually use a combo of those for our family halloween dinner.
You can see our pink and orange Halloween party HERE
and our Spooktacular Soiree HERE
But really all you need is a tablecloth or table runner, and then add some pumpkins and candles to the table!
My flower pumpkin vase is a DIY I did right HERE, and the bats are just faux leather cut out and taped to the wall. The “FRIGHTENING” sign is from Minted a few years ago, and was used in the Spooktacular Soiree party.
MUSIC.Don’t forget the music! We’ve used Pandora’s Halloween station in the past, but I’m sure there are tons of good playlists you can find on YouTube or Spotify. A little spooky mood music makes the party extra fun.
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We always try to have this family dinner early in the evening so we’re done by the time trick or treaters start showing up, and we have time to get our costumes on and head out for trick or treating.
Check out a bunch of fun Halloween tablescape ideas below and even more on my Halloween Pinterest board!
