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Spooky 7 layer dip: Halloween Food Decoration Ideas

This deconstructed Spooky 7 layer dip is perfect for a halloween themed appetizer!  No artistry required, it’s simple to make it spooky, creepy and as festive as you would like for your halloween Party Food!

4 variations of 7 layer dip for halloween

Today’s recipe is a Spooky  7 layer dip! Completely customizable and honestly the lowest effort for a party you will every have.  Well, that’s not totally true but next to just opening a jar of salsa and throwing a bag of chips next to it this recipe is super easy to make!

With the fall season coming it becomes party season in our house.  We’re not totally into dressing up in costumes as an adult but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to have some low effort halloween themed party ideas happening!

Tips to a successful Halloween Themed Cocktail Party:

Make it simple.

You can have a super successful party with easy, delicious recipes.  While 10-12 different halloween dishes may be  impressive you will be way to exhausted to enjoy the party yourself and thats no fun!

While I love a great cocktail or two, serve one signature cocktail and offer beer and wine which will require no additional work on your part.

Great Food and Drinks make for a GREAT Halloween Party.

Starting with food that is amazing and just adding a twist to it will get you more bang for your buck.  Serving a Spooky 7 layer dip with a spider web on it and a simple but tasty onion dip that has a few olive shaped bats give you the spirit of halloween without a lot of work!

Everyone will think you did a lot for being festive and all you have to do is make great halloween food decorations.

Cutting olives to look like bats
Olives cut to shapes of bats are the easiest of Halloween Themed treats!

Make some things ahead of time so you can just put them out.

Prep things ahead of time so when your guests arrive you don’t have to be in the kitchen the whole time.  I have a mummy cheese bread I’ll be sharing tomorrow that you can have already to pop into the oven when your guests arrive.

Todays recipe for 7 layer dip can be already to be baked if you want it warm or already decorated if you are serving it cold.

Pick a cocktail that you can make in batches.

This Pumpkin Apple Punch recipe can be made ahead of time then just iced and served when someone needs a cocktail!  (make it self serve if you want too!)  Even my recipe for the Purple People Eater can be made ahead in a 12 serving batch and have it shaken with ice once you’re ready to serve!   (Change the name to Purple People eater and you have a Halloween themed cocktail recipe!  )

Do a couple of Halloween Appetizers and mix them with regular appetizers.

Have 2-3 festive foods and mix them in with your other appetizers. You’ll still get the whole festive halloween party vibe but not have a ton of things to do!

Spider web with spider on top of dip!

More Ideas for Festive Halloween Appetizers:

Im showing 4 ideas you can incorporate in photos for you but don’t worry if you think you aren’t creative enough.  You can do super simple things too.

  • Olives cut to bats (pictured)
  • Ghost outline with two small black olives as eyes
  • Write words only:
    • BOO
    • RIP
    • SPOOKY
  • A Spider web with a creepy spider made out of olives (or buy a toy spider for even easier decorations) (pictured)
  • A cheesy Pumpkin shape (pictured)
  • Pipe a Skull (Pictured)
  • A witches hat is easily made from cheese or guacamole
  • A cemetery headstone is easily piped from sour cream
Simple pumpkin on top of bean dip...

How to make Fun Halloween Food Ideas:

How to make a pumpkin:

  1. Place Bean dip in your serving bowl.
  2. Mix sour cream in a bowl and add a little water to thin it out.
  3. Add to a piping bag or a zip lock bag you can use as a bag by just cutting a 1/4″ triangle from the corner to pipe the outline of a jack-o-lantern pumpkin.
  4. Use shredded cheese to fill the center
  5. Use guacamole to make the stem
  6. Olives cut into triangles for the eyes and nose
  7. Cut a strip of tomatoes to resemble teeth.
  8. You can sprinkle added toppings along the side of the dip for your guests to scoop up.
  9. Another option is to serve all the other toppings in side bowls.
  10. If you want to serve this warmed, pipe the sour cream border and place the cheese on.  Bake until dip is warmed and melted then add decorative face after baking.
bats on top of the spooky 7 layer dip

 

How to make bats as halloween food decorations:

  1. Cut an olive in half
  2. Then take one of the halves and cut those in half
  3. I used the pimento from green olives and cut them to small squares for eyes, but a tomato cut would work too.
  4. Arrange the half in the middle with the quarter olive on each side like wings on the each side.
  5. Place the eyes onto the bat.
  6. Place on your dip (pictured here on bean dip, you could also do this on a sour cream and onion dip or a top this party favorite Crack Dip!
7 layer dip spooky halloween theme food ideas


PIN THIS TO YOUR ENTERTAINING BOARD ON PINTEREST SO ITS EASY TO FIND WHEN YOU NEED INSPIRATION FOR YOUR NEXT GET TOGETHER! 


Need More Ideas for Halloween Food Ideas? We have lots of fun ideas! Check them all out here!


Making a Skull for Halloween Themed food Appetizer toppings:

  1. Place the base of what you will be decorating into its serving bowl (pictured here as bean dip)
  2. Mix sour cream in a bowl and add a little water to thin it out.
  3. Add to a piping bag or a zip lock bag you can use as a bag by just cutting a 1/4″ triangle from the corner to pipe the outline of a skull.
  4. Cut an olive into 1/4″ slices and use two of them for the eyes
  5. Use a tomato for the nose (I did a shape of triangle)
  6. Using cheese make a line for the teeth/mouth
  7. Put added toppings, tomatoes, guacamole/avocado salsa, sour cream, olives and cheese around the dip for scooping
creating a simple spider web
Piping the circles for the spider web

Making a Spider Web for Creepy Halloween Snacks

  1. Place the bean dip in its ultimate serving dish.
  2. Mix sour cream in a bowl and add a little water to thin it out.
  3. Add it to a piping bag or a zip lock bag you can use as a bag by just cutting a 1/4″ triangle from the corner to pipe the spider web.  Start at the center and pipe one continuous circle going all the way to 1/4 inch from the edge of your bean dip.  Alternatively, if you are comfortable piping, pipe a dot in the center then pipe one circle around that dot. Then another circle around that circle until you have circles all the way to the edge of the dip.
  4. Using a toothpick, drag from the center of the dip to the edge of the dip to create the web.  Repeat at equal intervals.
  5. Decorate with store-bought spider or spider cut from olives as pictured.
  6. Place additional toppings and chips all around for serving.
drawing the web out with a toothpick for halloween food
DRAGGING THE TOOTHPICK FROM THE CENTER TO CREATE A SPIDER WEB
  • Place additional toppings and chips all around for serving.
  • Final web on top of the 7 layer dip
    SPIDER WEB

    PIN THIS TO YOUR ENTERTAINING BOARD ON PINTEREST SO ITS EASY TO FIND WHEN YOU NEED INSPIRATION FOR YOUR NEXT GET TOGETHER! 



    Close up of Spider on a web for halloween party food ideas

     

    More Halloween Food Ideas:

    Mummy Cheese Bread Halloween Food Ideas
    MUMMY CHEESE BREAD!
    diagram of scream brownies
    Bloodshot Meatball Eyeballs!

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    Easy no fail pumpkin ideas for dip toppings

    Spiders and bats for halloween food ideas

    Yield: 12 appetizer dip

    Spooky 7 Layer Dip: Halloween Party Food

    collage of halloween dip ideas

    This deconstructed Spooky 7 layer dip is perfect for a Halloween themed appetizer!  No artistry required, it's simple to make it spooky, creepy and as festive as you would like for your Halloween Party Food!

    Prep Time 30 minutes
    Cook Time 10 minutes
    Total Time 40 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 2 cans pinto beans, 14.5 oz cans
    • 1 can rotel tomatoes and green chilis
    • salt to taste
    • 1 large tomato
    • 1/2 cup sour cream
    • 1 cup guacamole or avocado
    • 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded, (use a couple of different colors for more variety)
    • 1/2 cup black olives, sliced or cut to shapes in post
    • 1/2 cup green olives, sliced or cut to shapes in post
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1/2 cup salsa

    Instructions

    1. Strain beans, reserving the liquids for possible use later.
    2. Place beans, cumin and the entire can of rotel tomatoes and green chilis (with the liquid of the tomatoes and chilis0 into a food processor.  Blend until smooth, about 3 minutes.
    3. If the bean dip seems too thick add a the reserved liquids from the beans a tablespoon at time until the desired thickness.  I usually thin it to pancake batter constancy.
    4. Taste the beans.  Add salt as desired.
    5. Dice the tomatoes to 1/4 " cubes.
    6. Shred cheese.  NOTE.. preshredded cheese has non binders added for anti clumping and it will not melt well.  Take the time to shred your own, its worth it! 
    7. Slice olives to 1/4" slices.  If you are using black and green olives cut one color olives to slices, and the other to a 1/4" dice for a varied presentation.
    8. If using avocado you can mash it or dice it.  Alternatively you can use guacamole as it is made.
    9. Place the beans into a serving bowl.  If you want warmed dip, place it into a serving bowl you can bake in.  Top with cheese. Bake at 350°  for 15 minutes until warmed through and cheese is melted.
    10. Serve the toppings along the outer edges of the dip if you are putting the cheese into shapes or have decorative outlines on top. (see skull pic). If you are serving this as a normal dip... sprinkle all of the toppings evenly over the entire top of the dip and serve immediately.
    11. Serve with tortilla chips.

    Notes

    This recipe is for the 7 layer dip alone.  Please see all the information in the post about decorating for a halloween themed party@ 

    Nutrition Information:

    Yield:

    12

    Serving Size:

    12 appetizer dip

    Amount Per Serving: Calories: 102Saturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 322mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g

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    Kathy

    Wednesday 12th of September 2018

    How fun! Love these ideas and tutorials. You make it all look so easy and effortlessly!

    Michele

    Thursday 13th of September 2018

    Trust me Im no artist and I can do it so anyone can create festive decorations for Halloween! ~m

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