If there’s one thing the ladies of in a nutshell enjoy, it’s a good celebration.
And if there’s anything we can appreciate, it’s a good costume.
So, it may come as no surprise that Halloween is one of our favourite holidays.
While the capital never disappoints with hosting a wide variety of haunted happenings, we believe there’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned house party for All Hallows Eve.
Deadly drinks, spooky snacks and one memorable get-up are all key components for any host with the most. Below, a compilation of suggestions to help you get your haunt on and make this year’s monster mash bash the best one yet.
CREEPY COCKTAILS
Any successful Halloween party must have creative and creepy libations on hand. Ours focus on sourcing as much local, Canadian product as possible, and even though these cocktails may be a little more complex than a party punch, we can assure you that party goers will be coming back for refills.
Spooky Sour
The Spooky Sour is a play on the Whiskey Sour, using many of the same -ingredients but with a fall flavour-inspired twist.
2 oz Hurricane Harry Spiced Rum
1 oz nutmeg cinnamon simple syrup
1/2 lemon
1/2 lime
2 oz Inniskillin Pinot Noir
Begin by squeezing lemon and lime into shaker. Add simple syrup and spiced rum. Shake well over ice. Strain into glass, THEN fill glass with ice. Using a spoon, gently float the pinot noir down the spoon onto the ice, creating a layering effect and colourful visual.
Poison Apple Martini
Sourcing our apples from the Orleans Fruit Farm and using Sortilege (a unique blend of Canadian Whisky and pure maple syrup), this “deadly” drink is a real (trick-or-)treat.
1 oz Green Apple Vodka
1/2 oz Sortilege
1/2 oz apple juice
1/2 honey crisp apple
1 round slice of honey crisp apple
1 tsp of crushed caramel
Muddle apple until juices are extracted. Add vodka and Sortilege, as well as apple juice. Shake over ice, then strain into a martini glass. Float round slice of honey crisp apple on top of liquid and sprinkle caramel onto apple slice.
Follow this recipe to make your own, homemade caramel…if you dare.
SPOOKY SNACKS
Type “Halloween” into your Pinterest search and you will be bombarded with a thousand cool creations to pine after. The problem? Some are impossible to replicate, as we’ve demonstrated in the past. That’s why in a nutshell’s kitchen exists purely for the purpose of testing all treats to garner a high level of success. Here are two of our favourite ‘frightening formulas’ for their simplicity. Both will give you the “it-looks-like-I-spent-a-long-time-on-this-but-it-was-actually-easy” result.
Witches’ Fingers
This twist on the classic “Lady Finger” cookie is sure to be a hit with your guests. We’ve given you the recipe for an original, but I’ve also included tips on how to make these cookies even creepier.
• Combine 1 cup of softened butter, 1 cup of sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of almond extract and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a mixing bowl.
• Beat together with an electric mixer, gradually adding 2 2/3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt.
• Add green food colouring to the dough (at your discretion).
• Refrigerate the mix for 20-30 minutes.
• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
• Place almonds (approx. 3/4 cups) in a bowl and drizzle red and yellow food colouring over the nuts. Stir almonds until they are evenly coloured orange.
• Place almonds on a paper-towel lined platter to dry.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop small dolops onto a cookie sheet, covered in wax paper.
• Roll each section into the rough shape & size of a finger. (You can do this with bare, freshly washed hands. Use the waxed paper to help if needed).
• Place one red almond at the tip of each cookie, to resemble a long finger nail.
• Squeeze the tip and middle of each cookie to form the finger tip and knuckle.
• Press into the cookie with the tips of a fork to create the appearance of knuckles.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bottoms turn golden brown.
• To make the fingers look even scarier, brush red food colouring onto the bottom ends, to give the appearance that they have been ripped out of their sockets! (EW!)
Spider Cupcakes
For these adorable and creepy creations you could use any of your favourite cupcake recipes. Whip up a batch, along with a tasty chocolate icing and you’re all set.
Simply pipe small icing florets onto each cupcake and then top them with candies for eyes and pieces of licorice for legs.
We bought our licorice at Bulk Barn and found these adorable edible eyes at Michael’s.
COSTUME CANONS
We here at in a nutshell take costuming very seriously as you can see here and here. However, this year we’re going to break it down for you very simply with a few get-up guidelines to live by.
1) D.I.Y.
No matter what, a handmade costume will be a store-bought one. Whether it’s because your Mom schooled the rest of the block with an annual display of epic craftsmanship, or that you simply were able to out-do all your friends with one witty idea, the accolades you will get from something you poured your blood (literally?), sweat and tears into will be far more rewarding. Don’t forget that you don’t HAVE to spend a lot of time or money on creating the perfect costume, all you need is some ingenuity and the sass to pull it off.
2) Pop Culture Costumes: tread with caution.
In recent years, pop culture references have become Halloween mainstays. It’s an annual battle to see who will cleverly interpret this year’s newsmakers and turn them into costume-gold. We applaud this mentality, already putting our stamp of approval on renditions of Grumpy Cat and Walter White for 2013’s monster balls. But, be careful. Know that if you’re going to do a couple costume as Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, you’re going to be in the company of at least a dozen other versions at the bar… And who likes Miley, anyway?
3) Own it.
As stated above, the key to any good costume is confidence. No matter what half-dead zombie or saucy kitten you become this year, make it a good one. We may or may not have won a costume contest as Little Bo Peep and her three sheep one year simply because we tore around the party with pride. Be bold and you can’t go wrong.
As always, stay safe out there all you ghosts and gouls, and from everyone at in a nutshell, we wish you a very Happy Halloween.
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