Easy Halloween Grazing Platter for Movie Nights and Parties

🕒 Reading Time: 6 minutes

The first time I made a Halloween grazing platter was during the Welsh firebreak lockdown in 2020.

There were no Halloween parties or trick-or-treating that year, so we were looking for small ways to make staying at home feel a bit more fun. For a Halloween movie marathon with my stepson Jackson, I filled a board with chocolate, fruit, popcorn, banana ghosts and Oreo spiders.

It was simple, slightly silly and ended up being one of the best parts of the evening.

A few years later, I made another version before heading out to celebrate Día de los Muertos with friends. This one was more grown up, with plenty of sweet treats and fruit, but no banana ghosts or Oreo spiders. Apparently, even spooky snacks have to mature eventually.

That is what I like most about a Halloween grazing platter. You can make it fun for children, style it for a party or put together a quick version for drinks with friends.

Most of the food on mine came straight from the supermarket. I only added a couple of homemade details, but those were enough to make the whole board feel properly Halloween themed.

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What I Put on My Halloween Grazing Platter

I think the best Halloween grazing boards mix different colours and textures with a few playful themed treats.

I tried to stick to a Halloween colour palette of orange, black, yellow, brown and green, using a combination of fruit, sweets, biscuits and chocolate.

Fruit

I added fruit to break up all the chocolate and bring a bit more colour to the platter.

My favourites include:

• Banana ghosts
• Tangerines
• Blueberries
• Black grapes

The tangerine pumpkins are probably the easiest Halloween food hack ever. Simply peel a tangerine and place a small piece of chocolate or a green sweet in the centre to create a pumpkin stalk.

Chocolate Treats

Chocolate was always going to take up a fair amount of space on mine.

I included:

• Oreo spiders
• Reeses peanut butter cups
• Chocolate coated biscuits
• Chocolate popcorn
• Chocolate buttons
• Chocolate M&Ms
• Toffifee Chocolates

I also scattered a few gummy eyeballs around the board because everything somehow becomes more Halloween themed when it looks like it’s watching you.

Savoury Snacks

I also added crisps and popcorn. Apart from giving everyone a break from the chocolate, they were useful for filling the smaller gaps and making the board look properly full.

For this board I used:

• Monster Munch
• Cheesy puffs
• Popcorn

Decorative Extras

Once all the main snacks were in place, I used a few smaller extras to fill the remaining gaps and make the Halloween theme more obvious.

Try adding:

• Edible eyes
• Halloween sprinkles
• Chocolate drizzle
• Autumn themed sweets

You don’t need to be precise. In fact, the more relaxed and overflowing a grazing board looks, the better.

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How to Make Banana Ghosts

Peel the bananas and cut each one in half. If you like, cut a small zigzag along the base to give each ghost a slightly ragged edge. Melt a little chocolate and use it to attach the edible eyes.

Bananas can brown quite quickly once they are cut, so I would make these as close to serving time as possible.

They’re quick, easy and were a big hit with Jackson.

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How to Make Oreo Spiders

Melt a small amount of chocolate to use as edible glue.

Melt a small amount of chocolate to use as edible glue. Break the Mikado sticks into shorter pieces and attach them to either side of each Oreo to create the legs. Add two edible eyes and leave the chocolate to set.

They’re gloriously silly, slightly creepy, and exactly the sort of thing that makes a Halloween grazing board fun.

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My Halloween Grazing Platter Tips

You do not need expensive or specialist ingredients to make the platter look effective.

A few simple tricks make a big difference:

Choose a Halloween Colour Scheme

I stuck mainly to orange, black, brown, yellow and green. Even ordinary supermarket sweets looked more Halloween themed once the colours worked together.

Mix Sweet and Savoury Snacks

It is very easy to get carried away with the chocolate, but popcorn and crisps give people a break from the sweeter treats. They are also brilliant for filling awkward gaps around the board.

Start with the Largest Treats

I placed the largest treats on the platter first, including the two cupcakes and the large round biscuit covered in chocolate drizzle and sprinkles. The cupcakes used the same sprinkles, so the three treats helped tie the platter together.

Next, I decided where to put the tangerines and banana ghosts. Once those larger pieces were in place, I filled the gaps with smaller groups of crisps, popcorn, chocolates and sweets such as Smarties, Toffifee and blueberries.

Rather than putting all the Smarties or blueberries in one area, I repeated smaller groups around the platter. This helped spread the colours throughout the board and made everything look more coordinated.

I added the Oreo spiders near the end and rested them on top of loose piles of snacks. This stopped their legs from breaking and helped them sit securely without looking as though they were floating above everything else.

The gummy eyeballs went on last, mainly because it is much easier to fill the final little gaps once everything else is in place.

Add One or Two Homemade Treats

Most of my platter came straight from the supermarket. Adding the banana ghosts and Oreo spiders was enough to make it feel homemade without giving me hours of extra work.

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Make It Part of a Halloween Movie Night

One of the reasons I keep coming back to this idea is that it works particularly well for a Halloween film night.

You can prepare most of the platter before the film starts, place it where everyone can reach and let people help themselves. There is no serving food halfway through or missing the best bit because someone wants another bowl of popcorn.

I would definitely make the banana ghosts and Oreo spiders again for a family movie night. For an adults only evening, I would keep the colour scheme and gummy eyeball sweets, but add more savoury snacks and leave the bananas in the fruit bowl.

If you’re planning a full movie marathon, you can also download my free Halloween movie list and review cards to keep track of what you watch and rate your favourites.

Either way, you do not need expensive ingredients or hours in the kitchen. Choose a few orange, black, green and chocolate coloured treats, add one homemade detail and fill every gap on the board.

The more crowded it looks, the better.

Happy Halloween / Calan Gaeaf Hapus 🎃✨