Halloween Party Food on a Budget: Easy Ideas to Serve at Your Party

As Halloween approaches, it's time to consider recipes that will both satiate your cravings and put you in a scary mood.

We've compiled a list of Halloween party food on a budget that is easy to make and is sure to serve up lots of tricks and treats!

Budget-friendly Halloween party food

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Try some of the unusual fall tastes this year if you're looking for adult fall party ideas. Think of creamy and rich butternut squash when it comes to one of your favorite comfort foods, mac & cheese.

When the weather starts to get colder, this dish is ideal since it will definitely make you feel warm from the inside out. 

A clever potluck option or a show-stopper for an adult Halloween dinner party is definitely butternut squash mac & cheese. Your guests are sure to go back for seconds.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Pumpkin Patch Brownies

Looking for an easy and budget-friendly party food idea, these brownies are long on flavor (and strong on the theme) but short on effort and cost. 

Simply whip up a batch of your favorite boxed brownies, drizzle with green icing to make vines, and top with candy corn pumpkins.

You can find out more easy Halloween dessert ideas in Barcodelive!

Pumpkin Patch Brownies

Marinated Mozzarella Eyeballs

For the ultimate creepy Halloween or horror snack, serve an appetizer with a mad scientist-inspired, Jekyll and Hyde-themed appetizer. Your guests will be astounded by how tasty and realistic these mozzarella balls taste. 

This delicious meal, made with fresh Italian herbs and spices like garlic and red pepper, will have your visitors begging for more.

Marinated Mozzarella Eyeballs

Peculiar Pizzas 

Although pizza is a year-round favorite, you'll fall head over heels for these white pizza flatbreads with an autumnal motif. This easy-to-make Halloween dish recipe will make your celebration unique. 

Provide a pizza-making station so that your guests may assemble their own flatbread pizzas.

They may add their own toppings to their pizza, such as hot sausage and butternut squash. Or add walnuts, apples, and cinnamon to the flatbread to make it more of a dessert. 

Peculiar Pizzas

Air-Fried Beet Chips

Specialty root chips can cost $5 to $6 per bag at the grocery store. Instead, make a few batches in your air fryer and save a lot of money.

The key to making crispy beet chips is to slice the beets extremely thin. If you're not a Top Chef, you can get wafer-thin slices by using a mandolin. To ensure that the chips are nice and crispy, don't overcrowd the basket.

Air-Fried Beet Chips

Candy Corn Cookies

Which candies are popular during Halloween? One classic Halloween treat that many people eagerly await each year is candy corn. To give this classic Halloween food a little more modern, try making candy corn cookies this year.

Before baking, stir the white chocolate chips and candy corn into the cookie dough until well combined. They'll turn up wonderful, sweet, and tender—ideal for a Halloween get-together.

Candy Corn Cookies

Jack O’ Lantern Quesadillas

Is there a dish that uses just two ingredients—cheese and tortillas—that is more economical? No matter the season, quesadillas always go well, but dressing them up like jack o' lanterns would look great.

Jack O’ Lantern Quesadillas

Cheese Tart

For an adult Halloween party dish, stuff a tart with flavorful fall flavors. Combine ricotta and parmesan cheeses to make the tart filling's base.

For a flavorful and substantial party dish, layer an abundance of fall veggies, such as sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, and mushrooms.

Even better, guests may customize their own tarts by adding their preferred autumn toppings. These bake up delightfully crispy and golden brown in about 30 minutes.

Cheese Tart

Black Magic Cocktail

The black magic cocktail appears to be a glass of sorcery swirling. It's among the greatest grownup Halloween meal ideas you can serve at a gathering.

For a spooky yet delectable potion cocktail, mix edible pearl dust, black vodka or clear vodka tinted black, lime juice, and simple syrup. Orange juice, maraschino cherry syrup, and real cherry juice can also be used.

Discover additional cocktail ideas in our guide to the “best Halloween cocktails”!

Black Magic Cocktail

Vegan Mini Pumpkin Spice Bites

These adorable little pumpkin spice bites are the perfect guilt-free, vegan snack to get you in the mood for autumn. 

Encased in a straightforward walnut-pecan-date crust, the silken tofu inside is the secret to this falltime delight. It is also the best-kept vegan dessert secret because it has a creamy smoothness without sacrificing flavor.

Vegan Mini Pumpkin Spice Bites

Spider Cookies

A terrifying Halloween treat idea that will cause your guests to hesitate before picking them up are spider cookies. Make your favorite cookies, like chocolate chips, peanut butter, or sugar.

When they're done, use a peanut butter cup or chocolate kiss to represent the spider's body. Next, draw the candy's legs onto the cookie's side using black icing. 

You may even get creative and use frosting or sprinkles to make spooky patterns on your spiders.

Spider Cookies

Spooky Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Turn delicious chocolate-dipped strawberries into a collection of spooky Halloween foods!

You may easily dip the strawberries in white or black chocolate and then use red icing or strawberry jam to make the effect of blood dripping down the sides.

This low-budget Halloween food for party makes not only a classic treat a little more spooky but also great Halloween gifts to give to friends and family.

Spooky Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Skeleton Crudite

Searching for a creative way to serve some vegetables? 

Make your crudité platter into the shape of a skeleton by arranging your lettuce, peppers, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, stuffed olives, broccoli, mushrooms, and any other raw veggies you'd like. 

Remember to serve it with some onion dip on the side!

Skeleton Crudite

Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

Another popular food to find in your trick-or-treating bag is popcorn and you can add some candy corn to this traditional snack to make it fit into the Halloween theme. 

Melt the marshmallows and use them to tie the popcorn and candy corn together to make a ball. Serve this Halloween treat once they've cooled down. This will be a hit at a Halloween gathering or as eerie, delectable gifts.

Related: What to do with leftover Halloween candy?

Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

Pumpkin Juice

Inspired by the magical realm of Harry Potter—more precisely, the enchanted dinner table—this simple recipe for pumpkin juice is perfect to make in bulk.

The sweet drink can even be prepared ahead of time and chilled, with the pumpkin juice remaining in the blender until it's time to serve. Just quickly combine to re-incorporate the ingredients to pour into goblets for your party.

Pumpkin Juice