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Halloween party menus that send a shiver down the spine and still leave guests hungry for more

At every Halloween party there’s someone who turns up in a vampire cape and plastic fangs, but this year the snack table could easily steal the show. A severed finger on the platter, an eyeball bobbing in the dessert bowl and a cold hand floating in the punch will get a scream out of anyone, and the same guests will be back for seconds before long. Our editorial desk has dug up a handful of bloody good treats that need very little effort and a fair bit of mischief.

Pumpkin Pot:

Halloween without a pumpkin feels incomplete, so cut a lid off the top, scoop the inside clean with a big spoon and pour in hot soup or pumpkin halwa. Carve a face on it while you’re at it, and the centrepiece is sorted.

Graveyard Cups:

A dessert and a tiny cemetery in one. Chocolate mousse fills small glasses under crushed chocolate biscuit mud, a biscuit tombstone reads R.I.P. in melted chocolate, and kids go straight for the half-buried gummy worm.

Severed Fingers:

Cut paneer into finger-length strips, or use sausages for the non-vegetarians, and roll them in thin pastry. An almond sliver pressed on one end makes the nail. Bake till golden and smear a bit of ketchup on the cut end before serving.

Mini Mummies:

Kids will fight over these. Cocktail sausages get wrapped in pastry strips like bandages, with a tiny gap left for the face. Once they’re out of the oven, two dots of mustard go in and the mummy stares right back.

Eyeball Rasgullas:

Pick up a tin of rasgullas from the neighbourhood sweet shop, squeeze out some of the syrup and push a blueberry into the middle of each one. Stir a few drops of red food colour into the rose syrup and float them back in. A chocolate chip does the trick if blueberries are hard to find.