Halloween seems to be instinctively tailored towards children. With an emphasis on cute costumes, sugar coated candy and the all-important trick-or-treat night-kids are definitely at the top of the Halloween agenda. However, this doesn’t mean that the adults don’t get a lot out of the holiday as well. Who doesn’t look forward to a great Halloween party where you have the chance to step out of your everyday clothes and into a costume just for fun for the night!
Once you decide to host a Halloween party, one of the most important rooms in your home to focus on will most definitely be the kitchen. Not only will this room be the centerpiece of social conversation and gathering, but it will also play host to the food and drinks. Instead of sticking to the usual beverage menu, why not kick up your Halloween style this year and give your kitchen an entire make over? The following are a few tips and tricks for turning your kitchen into a Halloween inspired bar that will keep your guests coming back for more!
Creating a webbed-atmosphere
You’ll want your Halloween kitchen bar to have a dark tint to it, but not too creepy to be off-putting. In this situation, it’s hard to go wrong with webbing! Take the time to really give your Halloween kitchen bar a webbed touch by going crazy when it comes to your kitchen countertops and barstools and chairs. You’ll want to focus on the areas that guests will be spending a lot of time in order to create a memorable atmosphere. If your home has black, or dark-toned granite kitchen countertops, white fake webbing will really stand out and when put in proximity to candle-light, will play off the natural stone colors in your granite as well! To add an extra Halloween touch, place a few plastic critters in the webbing and watch your kitchen bar transform from everyday to everybody’s Halloween dream.
Change up the lighting
As is true in any bar, lighting plays a big part in creating an atmospheric comfort level for your guests. Don’t hesitate to change out kitchen light bulbs for a night and trade in fluorescent for dark, tinted or even black lights. If you’re really feeling the Halloween spirit, there are light bulbs available on the market that cast eerie shadows such as the outlines of jack-0-lanterns or ghosts on the walls. Whatever you decide, make sure your Halloween kitchen bar is lit to please your guests.
Highlight Halloween snacks
Before your guests get to enjoying their festive drinks, make sure they can’t miss the Halloween-inspired snacks you’ve set out by giving their holding bowls a unique twist. Instead of a regular kitchen bowl, place bar snacks like pretzels, cherries and even candy corn in martini glasses instead! If you have the time, feel free to decorate these martini glasses by covering them in a small swatch of black lace to give a dark, yet sleek look to your bar. Additionally, martini glasses can be painted in Halloween colors to really highlight those bar-side delights.
Creative cocktails
Now that you have your Halloween kitchen bar set up aesthetically, it’s time to focus in on the holiday inspired cocktails your guests have been waiting for. When it comes to beverages made for Halloween, the creepy, ghoulish and ghastly possibilities are endless. If you want to keep it simple, but still give it a holiday touch; try adding green decorating gel to the side of a margarita glass. Create the margarita like normal, but drip a little green or red decorating gel down the side to make it appear the margarita has taken a bloody turn. If you feel like going the extra miles, try putting your margaritas on a silver tray and using some scissors, thread and tweezers as accent pieces. This gives the display a morbid feel and it wouldn’t hurt if you let your guests know it’s called the Morgue-A-Rita!
Fruit with a side of syringe
Available at any generic party store, those little plastic syringes can sure come in handy when it comes to creating a creepy version of any Halloween cocktail. If your plan is to serve up mostly fruit-based cocktails that are lighter in color, add a drip or two of raspberry syrup to the mix to give a bloody-tint to your delicious creation. Stop guests in their tracks by adding a plastic syringe instead of a stir stick to complete the Halloween vision you’ve worked so hard to make.
Nothing says Halloween like a little black sugar
Any martini glass can be adorned with sugar or salt, but why not give the martini’s at your Halloween party the theme-based changes your guests deserve? Try using dark rum to give your martini a red-tint. Then add a black olive garnish and dip the lip in orange or black sugar to give your guests a dark and daring drink that will keep them coming back for more