Snack boards are my never-fail, super-easy appetizer—and a clever way to serve dinner on busy nights. Take this Halloween snack board, for example: It’s perfect for a party (when we’re not in a pandemic, of course), but doubles as a quick meal before trick-or-treating that will delight kids and adults alike. This year, since we’re not going to parties, a Halloween snack board will serve as an extra-special dinner to bring some holiday cheer.
For many years, we tried our hardest to get our kids to sit down to a bowl of chili or slow cooker soup between painting their faces and finding someone’s wand, but the excitement was distracting and they almost never ate. Thus, our Halloween snack board tradition was born. We use a combination of store-bought and homemade staples, adding in festive and fun treats alongside veggies, fruit, and more filling snacks. Here’s how you can build your very own snack board for Halloween dinner.
How to Build a Halloween Snack Board
Your snack board should be a good mix of easy homemade recipes, store-bought staples, and special treats. Be sure to include two or three more substantial snacks (like the mummy pigs in a blanket or English muffin pizzas) to ensure everyone fills their bellies ahead of all the candy.
Here are some of our favorite snack-board goodies.
Easy homemade snacks: mummy pigs in a blanket, English muffin pizzas (made with either pizza sauce or pesto), deviled eggs with snipped chives (to resemble pumpkins!), and puff pastry bats (use a bat cookie cutter).
Store-bought snacks: guacamole or hummus (just add candy eyes or olives), cheese sticks, celery sticks, carrot sticks, grapes, apple slices, clementines (stick a small piece of celery on top so that these look like pumpkins too!) roasted pumpkin seeds, and seasonal chips—like those cute ghost and bat shapes you can only find in October.
Special treats: candy corn, ghoulish pretzels, boo bark, pumpkin patch brownies.
Prepping Ahead
You can make the dipped pretzels, puff pastry bats, deviled eggs, and baked goods like brownies the evening before. On Halloween, bake the pigs in a blanket first, then turn on the broiler for the ghost pizzas. While these bake, chop veggies and slice fruit.
Building the Board
When it comes to building the snack board, you can use a rimmed baking sheet, large cutting board, large cheese board, or a large platter. I actually use our pizza steel for Halloween boards because its black color fits the mood and it’s bigger than a serving tray. Start your board by placing dip bowls on first, then add your larger snacks, followed by vegetables and fruit. Just before serving, add your dip to the empty bowls, and pop in a spoon for serving. At this point the board will be pretty full, so fill in any gaps with any special treats.
Halloween Snack Board
Serves 10 to 12
- 1 cup guacamole or hummus
- 1 recipe mummy pigs in a blanket
- 1/2 recipe cheese ghost mini pizzas (use either pizza sauce or pesto)
- 1 recipe deviled eggs
- 1 recipe puff pastry bats
- 1 recipe ghoulish pretzels
- 2 cups vegetables sticks, such as carrots, celery, and/or peppers
- 2 cups fruit, such as sliced apples and/or pear or grapes, optional
- 4 to 6 clementines
- 1 ounce candy eyes
- 1 cup candy corn or other small candies
Grab your largest cutting board or a large baking sheet. Place the bowl of hummus or guacamole on the board and add a small spoon. Arrange the pigs in a blanket, English muffin pizzas, deviled eggs, puff pastry bats, and ghoulish pretzels on the board. Add the vegetables and fruit to the board. For extra Halloween fun, add chives to the deviled eggs and a small piece of celery to the tops of the clementines so they resemble pumpkins.
Now your board will be pretty full, so you can scatter the candy eyes and candy corn here and there. Make sure you set out plates for everyone to build a plate or napkins for those who like to graze.
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