As the nights draw in, it’s the season for wrapping up and enjoying cosy evenings inside. But in-between the relaxing weekends and movie nights, it’s the ideal time to gather your favourite people indoors to enjoy a hearty meal – and what better excuse for this occasion than Halloween? Follow our guide to hosting a Halloween dinner party full of treats.
What do you need to host a Halloween dinner party?
Location & Invites
The first aspect of any party planning is deciding on your location and inviting your guests. Dinner parties are perfect for hosting at home. Choose between a sit-down dinner and buffet style, and if the weather behaves and your guests are brave enough, a spooky garden party could also be an option.
A theme & Halloween decorations
The obvious theme for a Halloween dinner party is, of course, Halloween! And if your guests are keen on a challenge, adding a fancy dress code could be a fun addition. But if cobwebs, skeletons, and ghosts aren’t quite your style, subtle autumnal touches will add a stylish twist to your Halloween dinner party. We like to opt for pumpkins, flickering candles, and autumnal foliage for a cosy setting.
Halloween Menu: What food to serve at a Halloween dinner party
Autumn brings with it lots of delicious seasonal food, perfect for transforming into a hearty spread full of colour. Squash, pumpkins, apples, and pears are all in season this time of year, perfect for transforming into tarts, soups, and tasty side dishes alongside roasts. If you’re hosting a fancy dress dinner party, you can add a spooky twist to the food options – mozzarella eyeballs, ghost-shaped veggies, and oozing sauces – a fun twist, especially for children.
And don’t forget about drinks. Halloween-inspired cocktails and mocktails with spooky toppings, spiced hot toddies, and warm apple cider are perfect choices for a Halloween dinner party.
Halloween Tableware
You have your Halloween dinner party menu planned, now think about the crockery to serve your delicious feast out onto. Of course, your everyday white plates and bowls will suffice, but if you want to add an extra special touch to your autumnal hosting why not switch your tableware up for something a little more in touch with the season?
Cream and grey add a subtle warm feel to the table and can be dressed up for all seasons. Our Sophie Conran Arbor & Floret collection is perfect for transitioning your table styling from summer brights to muted cosy tones for autumn.
If you’re looking for something bolder, our Botanic Garden Harmony collection is the perfect autumnal dinner party companion, with a choice of plates and bowls, as well as roasting and baking dishes too. Its rich colours of amber, stone, moss, and forest green lend themselves perfectly to this time of year, adding a cosy yet stylish touch to your Halloween tablescape.
Halloween Entertainment
Even if you’re keeping your dinner party a sophisticated occasion, there is always a place for entertainment. Have a Halloween-inspired music playlist playing during dinner and arrange some simple games to play between courses, such as a spooky game of heads-up, a quiz, or charades. If you don’t mind something a little messier, apple bobbing is a fun, traditional Halloween game that all ages can get involved in.
How to style a Halloween tablescape
If, like us, you like to opt for a stylist twist to your Halloween dinner party tablescape that is more cosy than creepy, follow our 3 simple tips:
1. Add autumnal touches
Always taking inspiration from nature, we like to use natural elements to decorate our Halloween-inspired tablescape, making use of the different coloured pumpkins available this time of year, along with dried flowers and leaves. Effortlessly place them on your table, in between crockery, or make a statement centrepiece to add that all-important wow factor to your table.
2. Layer colour & texture
Create a cosy feel by layering colour and texture with mix-and-match dinner plates, linens, and placemats. The embossed detailing showcased on our Botanic Garden Harmony tableware adds an extra layer of texture, while the coloured glazes in amber, stone, and green add warmth to the setting. If the mix of all three colours feels too much, layer them between your white china for a pop of autumnal colour instead.
3. Cosy lighting
Twinkly fairy lights and flickering candles are what make autumn one of the best times of the year, don’t you agree? So they are a must when it comes to gathering friends and family around the dinner table. Candlesticks in shades of burnt orange, dusty pink, or forest green will go well with the autumnal accents you’ve chosen to decorate with. However, if candlesticks feel too formal, strewn dainty fairy lights or dot tea lights across the centre of the table for a laid-back feel.
If you’re new to tablescaping or would like a few more tips, take a look here for more inspiration.
Now you know what’s needed to host a Halloween-inspired dinner party, it’s time to get planning. However, if you don’t fancy a full blown dinner party you could always add some Halloween touches to cakes, desserts and pastries and take on a home bake off challenge.