Finger Foods

• Serve finger foods for a hassle-free party with a casual feel. Everyone can grab whatever looks good to them, and you won't need to worry if some guests show up late or leave early. Make or purchase a cheese ball and coat it in crushed cheddar cheese crackers or finely grated cheddar cheese to look like a pumpkin. Fashion a jack-o'-lantern face with black olive pieces and a stem from a thick pretzel stick. Make fall fruit skewers by placing red, yellow and green apple pieces on sticks with pear pieces and grapes; sprinkle the fruit with lemon juice to prevent browning. Serve salted nuts with roasted pumpkin seeds, corn nuts, and orange and black M&Ms added to the mix. Bake small winter squashes, slice them in half and fill them with dip for chips and raw vegetable slices. For a Halloween-themed party, serve a dish of pimento-stuffed olives for eyeballs, and shape premade dough into bone-shaped rolls.
  
  

Beverages

• Serve hot apple cider, sweetened with honey and spiced with cinnamon sticks and cloves, for your October party. Make a simple punch with ice cream and ginger ale and serve it in a large, clean, hollowed out pumpkin for a dramatic touch. Make ice cubes with gummy worms frozen inside to serve in beverages at a children's party, or use food coloring to make green ice cubes to serve in orange or red punch.
  
  

Desserts

• Use leaf-, pumpkin- and apple-shaped cookie cutters to make October-themed sugar cookies. Decorate leaf-shaped cookies with orange, brown, yellow and red frosting. Use red frosting for the apples; use orange frosting for the pumpkins and create a face using small candies. Make miniature pumpkin pies by placing a small cookie in a foil cupcake wrapper and topping it with pumpkin pie filling. Place a few miniature marshmallows on top and bake. Serve frosted brownies decorated with candy corn. To make ghost strawberries, dip whole strawberries in melted white chocolate and allow to dry. Use decorative frosting to make scary, ghostlike faces on the strawberries.