How to set a colorful and fun Halloween party table

Halloween can be such a fun holiday to celebrate. Costumes and themes, candy and creepy foods. I live in Orlando, home of the theme parks that celebrate Halloween with Howl O’Scream and Halloween Horror Nights, things I DO NOT participate in. That does not mean I don’t love putting on a costume and decorating my house, inviting friends to celebrate Halloween! This was a fun evening of putting together a fun Halloween themed spread for a gathering of friends!

I am joining a group of bloggers today to bring you ideas for Halloween and Fall! After checking out my party table, check out the links at the bottom of this post and visit their pages and see what they have to share!

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Party backdrop:

A spooky scene is so easy to set with just a few elements. My favorite backdrop solution is to get a themed shower curtain from Amazon. For just $18.99 you can buy a themed backdrop for any holiday. The best things about these backdrops are that you can fold them up with any of your other seasonal decorations and bring them out year after year. Simply hang your shower curtain up with these small Command hooks and you can position it wherever you would like. These make great spots for Instagram shots!

Set the table:

Start out setting your table by draping with a tablecloth or combination of tablecloths or other fabric that covers it to the floor. If you don’t have a tablecloth that will cover it to the floor, consider using a combination of tablecloths. I used two 90″ round cloths to cover the table below.

Tablecloth alternatives:

• sheets
• drapery
• blankets
• bedspreads
• fabric remnants

With your themed backdrop hanging behind your table, You will want something as a focal point in the middle of your backdrop. I chose my light up Halloween Cauldron. You can see all of the details and directions for making your own at that link! I like to add fresh flowers when I am hosting a party. These black urns seemed like the perfect vases for a Halloween table, you may want to look for something similar. These will add height to the back of your table.

Grocery store blooms in the colors of the cauldron bubble carried through the orange, purple and green color scheme. Magnolia leaves from my yard made for bargain greenery filler. Branches picked up from my yard and strung with faux spider webs completed the arrangements.

Add the food = add the fun!

Halloween is the time to get fun and creative with your food. The first thing I made was this 30 cups of this fun sweet and salty Halloween Party Mix. For the recipe, click here! Not only is this delicious, but it is colorful and fun! Fill a large clear glass container with this mix, making sure that plenty of those little chocolate pretzel guys with the candy eyes are peeking out all around the container. Refill as needed!

Charcuterie or “grazing boards” are all the rage right now. With other food offerings, I went with a more traditional charcuterie and cheese board. I had previously used this Ikea frame for a Halloween mantel. I painted with gray chalky spray paint. As I was planning this party, I kept seeing this hanging on the wall. Finally it came to me. This would be a great frame for my charcuterie. Way, better than just a board! I used a piece of foam core, covered in aluminum foil inside the frame and then arranged my food on top of it.

Add whatever you or your guests would enjoy to your board, but make sure you add something Halloween themed! For me, that meant using cookie cutters to cut out the word, S-P-O-O-K-Y, to from sharp cheddar cheese.

Mini containers of shrimp cocktail were offered, along with blue corn chips (which vaguely resemble bat wings) were offered with salsa and guacamole served up in Dollar Tree stemless wine glasses with purple and orange skeleton hands grabbing the glasses.

A spider made from frozen dough holds a dish of pizza sauce and is surrounded by hairy spider leg breadsticks for dipping.

I found a pair of these metal urn containers I wanted to use on my table. I did not know if these were food safe. If you do not know if a container is food safe, don’t take a chance. The yellow arrow shows you the glass bowl I set down in the container to hold mixed nuts. I served up Brach’s Harvest mix in the second one.

This was one of my favorite projects, and something you can easily do yourself! Buy four plastic skulls from Dollar Tree. Spray paint them with Krylon Lucky Green Glitter Blast. I picked up a black tray for $3.99 from Party City and use hot glue to attach the skulls to the bottom of the tray to make it a raised tray. You want to make sure that you display your food offerings at different heights when presenting your party table.

On the other side of the table, instead of doing the same thing, I picked up four of these “spell book” cardboard boxes from Dollar Tree and stood them on end and put a Dollar Tree plastic tray on top of them with my desserts on top.

It doesn’t matter what you serve for dessert, but make it fun and Halloween themed! I served up white Jelly Belly beans (spider eggs!) and made some spiders out of malted milk balls and licorice threads and some candy eyes.

Brownies baked in mini cupcake pans, frosted with some orange frosting and topped with candy eyeballs and some of my family’s favorite cut out cookies!

Of course, when it comes to Halloween, there can never be too much candy, can there? Make sure you offer up some traditional trick or treat candies.

I hope you are inspired to have a gathering of friends for Halloween! It is easy to set the mood and scene and I know your guests will appreciate the effort! Turn down the lights, add plenty of skeleton hands, plastic snakes and spider webs for your Halloween table decorations and everyone will be in the Halloween spirit!

Visit my blogging friends now!

Easy Halloween Dog Toys with your Cricut from Betsy at Happily Ever After Etc.

20 Amazing and Easy Dollar Tree Halloween Crafts from Chas’ Crazy Creations

Making Halloween Cupcakes is Like Riding a Broomstick from Life at Bella Terra

What is a DIY Jack O’lantern lantern? Try this easy porch decoration from Design Morsels

A Quick and Simple Fall Patio from A Life Unfolding