How to celebrate Halloween at home: Movie marathons, cocktail boxes and spooky food
27 October 2020, 15:26 | Updated: 29 October 2020, 16:32
Halloween is on a Saturday night this year... but it's 2020 so you need to celebrate it at home with up to five friends/members of your household only. But, it can still be fun!
Halloween 2020 really is the definition of being 'all dressed up with nowhere to go' - and it's not because you're unpopular, it's because we're caught up in a global pandemic.
If the last eleven months haven't been terrifying enough for you and you're still eager to do something special this October 31st, here are some ideas perfect for a ghoul's night in...
Share a cheese board
Yes we know cheese boards aren't traditional Halloween grub, but this is 2020 - nothing makes sense.
Homage2Fromage has created the UK's first Halloween cheese box, delivered to your door in time for all those 'rules of 6' ghostly gatherings and freaky family scarefests.
The box has 5 frightful cheeses including a black-as-the-night Charcoal Cheddar, a green Gouda with aromatic herbs, a chilli cheese and a smokey garlic Lancashire cheese shaped like a garlic bulb.
Trick or treat? Nah... this is truckle treat!
Where to buy: Prices start £30, Homage2Fromage
Read more: These Halloween cocktail recipes are frightfully fun to make at home
Bring the cocktail bar to you
Lucky Pineapple Cocktails have teamed up with the Queens of sweet treats, Sugar Tits London, to create the ultimate Halloween night in with their ‘GHOUL GANG’ DIY Cocktail Party Box.
This limited edition D.I.Y cocktail experience comes with everything needed to make Instagrammable cocktails for ‘Ghoul Gangs’ of 2, 4 or 6 people, as well as a specially curated playlist for Halloween party vibes, custom illustrated recipe cards, gold cocktail straws & coasters.
Where to buy: Available until the 29th October from Lucky Pineapple Bar, £50
Get a pizza
Some Papa John's drivers will be wearing special pumpkin-shaped helmets while out on deliveries in London, Leicester, Reading, Winchester and Plymouth.
And the popular fast food brand have also announced a new 'frightfully flavoursome' limited-edition Triple Garlic and Ghost Chilli dip, perfect for dunking crusts and garlic pizza bread (if you're brave enough!).
To order from Papa Johns, visit the website
Morrison's have launched a special Grim Reaper pizza that they claim is "so hot it’ll put your soul in grave danger".
The 14” pizza has a base of Carolina reaper hot sauce, blended with black garlic to pack a punch.
The Carolina Reaper is the world’s hottest chilli with a measure of over 2 million units on the Scoville heat scale, 440 times hotter than a jalapeno.
Victims who take a bite out of the ‘Grim Reapers’ slice may also be unexpectedly hit by concealed birds eye chillies, which measure between 50,000 -100,000 on the scale.
The pizza is also topped with hot nduja sausage, spicy chicken and finished with a generous helping of fiery cheese, all key components to terrify the taste buds.
It's priced £3.89 and available from in-store pizza counters until 1st November.
Asda have also announced a special pizza for spooky season - it's shaped like a pumpkin, with cheese triangles giving it a creepy Jack o'lantern grin.
Available from Asda’s pizza counter at only £3.50, it comes in a variety of flavours; Cheese Meltdown, Pepperoni Feast, The Sizzler, Veggie Supreme and Meat Feast.
If you are feeling more creative, why not try making your own pizza skulls?
With a skull-shaped baking tray (the one used in the below tutorial is from Nordicware), and some pre-made pizza dough, you can have some creepy pizzas in a matter of minutes!
Home made pizza skulls
They're so easy to make. After greasing the pan, roll out the dough and place it over one of the skull-shaped holes.
Fill with a tablespoon of pizza sauce, and a handful of cheese and any other toppings you fancy.
Push down the edges of the dough and seal with water, or egg wash.
After about 10 minutes in the oven, they'll be baked through and ready to go - and cutting one open to reveal the cheesy strings inside is definitely a treat you'll want to enjoy again and again!
Read more: How to make a pumpkin spice latte at home
Toast the Full Moon
Did you know this Halloween night will bear witness to a rare blue moon that will be visible to the entire globe? This is so rare that it last occurred on Halloween night back in 1944!
Celebrate with Hendricks' limited-release Lunar Gin - it's perfect served with tonic - and a sprig of lavender for extra aromatics.
Where to buy: Amazon, £35
Make a Halloween punch
Be the ghost or ghostess with the mostest by presenting your household or non tier-rule breaking pals with a bowl of creepy punch.
Try this recipe from Slingsby Gin for their Gooseberry Halloween Punch.
Ingredients:
1 Part Gooseberry Gin
1 Part Cloudy Apple Juice
½ Part Lime Juice
¼ Elderflower Cordial
Prosecco
Method:
Mix each serving individually, and garnish with mint leaves, sliced cucumber and white grapes.
Tuck in to spooky snacks
Aldi have got your Halloween nibbles sorted - from breaded chicken nuggets shaped like spiders (£1.79) to 'mummy dogs' - a sausage roll on a stick (£2.15).
They're available in store now.
Get a Greggs... delivered
From 26th October – 1st November, Just Eat will be delivering customers the Greggs Halloween range - with no minimum spend from almost 500 Greggs across the UK.
This year unleash your inner Dracula and sink your teeth into Bat Biscuits, Spooky Buns and everyone's favourite autumnal drink; the Pumpkin Spice Latte. All of these products are also available in-store.
More info, Greggs on Just Eat
Binge on classic horror
KIM NEWMAN’S NIGHTMARE NIGHT IN (2020) British Horror Classics
If you think there's nothing better than a good old fashioned horror film - think Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing's Hammer masterpieces - then journalist and author Kim Newman's Nightmare Night In will be your perfect Halloween event.
He has curated six hours of British horror classics, from the well known to forgotten gems, that are sure to thrill you and chill you all at once.
Available to stream for 13 days, you can make your Halloween fun stretch for nearly two weeks... or watch again and again.
Network on Air, £12 to stream, or £15 to buy.
Make pumpkin hummus with tortilla bats
If you're not putting your energy in to a creative costume, why not try a creative snack platter?
This vibrant hummus with cute bat dippers is definitely one way to impress guests - and the 'gram.
Ingredients:
400g pumpkin puree
400g chickpeas
60ml Vita Coco coconut milk
4 roasted garlic cloves, skin removed
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
Salt, to taste
Tortilla Bats
4 tortilla wraps
1 tbsp Vita Coco coconut oil, melted
1 tsp ground cumin
Bat cookie cutters
Method:
To make the tortilla bats, preheat the oven to 180c and line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Cut bat shapes out of the tortilla wraps, then toss together in a bowl with the coconut oil and cumin.
Once coated, place on the baking tray, and bake for 5-7 minutes, until golden and crisp.
To make the hummus, simply place all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt, to taste.
Serve the hummus in a bowl topped with pumpkin seeds and a dusting of cumin.
Place on a plate with the tortilla bats and enjoy.
