For this ghoul fest our team went with a black and white dinner party theme. It is a little known secret in party planning to keep colors simple (and white is the most affordable color to use for decoration) Hey, even celebrities like to save money.
For the tablecloth you can use a basic white cloth. Top it with a 10' spider web as an overlay. We found this one online at Grandin Road. Use black string or ribbon and tie tiny plastic spiders from web that drape down at various heights on the sides.
For our centerpiece we have either a bubbly skull or a witches brew cauldron. To make your own haze freeze ice in a bowl and pour with boiling water over it right before guests arrive. Dry ice also works.
This is a great time to break out those silver candlesticks, trays and vases that have gone unpolished! Add a ton of mix matched black candles to the table. We found these at Michaels. Lighting is a key element to create a spooky environment. Party tip trick-- Just make sure the candle sticks are no higher than you elbow to fist ratio, so you can still chat with guests across the table.
If you have white plates those are great. Find black chargers or spidery black placemats work to place under the plates.
I love these Martha Stewart crows with LED eyes. Super spooky.
Serve water out of goblet glasses and stuff them with white napkins adorned with googley eyes. Use martini glasses to serve your wickedly fun cocktails that are orange and black. Garnishes are key. Eyeballs from Lychee nuts and fingers from the grave are what we have here.
Serve a devilish first course which also doubles as decor...
We have carved out white ghost pumpkins into soup tureens. I love the jack o ripper scraper. It makes cleaning pumpkins easy. You can use any soup; we are serving a butternut squash.
Choose an 8-inch pumpkin
Carve pumpkins
Bake for half an hour
Heat ready-made soup, pour into pumpkin. Garnish with a spider or corn syrup blood droplets.
The famed NYC restaurant, The Four Seasons, made this dish popular and every celebrity from Martha Stewart, George Clooney and Halloween temptress Heidi Klum has been transported by their
seasonal food.
Maybe dessert is a dish best served cold, but I suggest serve it on a spider web... This funky cake plate from Sur La Table holds devilish cupcakes Sweet Revenge.
Use tons of fake spider webs to add to the decor. This is the one time you almost can't go overboard in the creepy decor department!
My favorite touch on the decor is the R.I.P or V.I.P name card tombstone for the back of your chairs. My neighbor, who is a professor at FIT in NYC, had her students add an extra cool factor to this spooky idea. It is one piece of silver grey fabric, which I measured on the chairs, cut into a tombstone shape, then sewed up the sides. Add felt letters and fabulous skulls to complete the chair cover.