Halloween drinks with alcohol: easy ideas by spirit

Start with the look

Halloween drinks are about colour before flavour. Three simple tricks work with almost any spirit:

• Blood red: cranberry, pomegranate, raspberry or blood-orange juice, or a float of dark red wine poured over the back of a spoon.
• Murky green: a melon liqueur or a splash of blue curaçao mixed with orange or pineapple juice, for a witchy shade.
• Black and purple: blackberries, blackcurrant, or a few drops of food-safe colouring.

For garnish, use only things people can eat: a dried orange wheel, a few blackberries on a pick, a rosemary "broomstick" or a rim of dark sugar.

Halloween drinks with vodka

Vodka is the easiest spirit for a party, because it takes on any colour and flavour.

• Blood orange and vodka: 50 ml vodka, 100 ml blood-orange juice and a splash of soda over ice. Garnish with an orange wheel.
• Vampire's kiss: 50 ml vodka, 75 ml cranberry juice, 15 ml lime juice, shaken and strained over ice. Top with a little sparkling wine.
• Spooky pumpkin martini: a creamy, spiced martini with pumpkin purée and cinnamon. Our Spooky Pumpkin Martini is a dessert-style cocktail that suits the season.

Browse more vodka recipes when you want to go beyond the quick mixes.

Halloween drinks with rum

Dark rum brings molasses, spice and a hint of smoke, which suits a candlelit party.

• Spiced rum and cider: 50 ml spiced rum over ice, topped with cloudy apple cider. Add a cinnamon stick.
• Dark and stormy, spooky style: 50 ml dark rum, lime juice and ginger beer over ice, garnished with a lime wheel.
• Big-batch rum punch: our Jack-o'-Lantern Punch is a spiced rum and apple punch for a whole party. For a tiki classic, try the Zombie, which layers three rums with lime and spice, and the coconut-and-pineapple Spooky Colada.

See more in our rum category, and our guide to Halloween punch ideas for batch drinks.

Halloween drinks with tequila

Tequila works well with berries and dark fruit, and with red wine for a dramatic float.

• Black widow style: 50 ml tequila, a few muddled blackberries and basil, lime juice and a touch of syrup, shaken and strained. Our Black Widow follows this idea.
• Devil's margarita: a classic margarita with a float of dark red wine on top, as in our Devil's Margarita. Pour the wine slowly over the back of a spoon to keep the two layers apart.
• Tequila and blood orange: tequila, blood-orange juice, lime and soda, with a chilli-salt rim for a spooky kick.

More ideas are in the tequila category.

Halloween drinks with whisky

Whisky and whiskey drinks look dark and moody with almost no effort.

• Pumpkin old fashioned: whiskey, pumpkin syrup and aromatic bitters over a large ice cube, as in our Pumpkin Old Fashioned.
• Smoky Scotch sour: a peaty Scotch with lemon and a beet-red colour, like the Witches' Brew.
• Berry whiskey highball: whiskey, blackberry syrup, lemon and soda, as in The Apparition.

Find the full list in our whisky category.

Halloween martinis

Themed martinis suit a seated dinner or a smaller party, because they are served in a stemmed glass and look elegant. Keep them simple: a vodka or gin martini with a black-olive "eyeball" garnish, a pumpkin martini with a cinnamon rim, or a berry martini coloured with blackcurrant. Chill the glasses in the freezer for the best result.

How strong are these drinks?

Most of the mixes above contain one measure of spirit, 50 ml, with plenty of juice or soda, so they land at roughly 5 to 10 percent alcohol by volume, closer to a strong beer than to a neat spirit. Stirred and shaken drinks with no mixer, such as martinis and old fashioneds, are much stronger, often 25 to 30 percent. That difference matters at a party, because a guest who has three martinis has had far more alcohol than one who has three highballs.

The World Health Organization's fact sheet on alcohol explains how alcohol affects health and why the amount you drink matters. Keep it in mind when you plan the menu: put a few lower-strength drinks on it, and keep the stronger ones for smaller glasses.

What to serve with them

Salty, starchy and fatty food slows the effect of alcohol and keeps a party cheerful. Roasted pumpkin seeds, cheese and cured meats on a board, mini pizzas and baked potatoes all go well with dark spirits. Sweet pumpkin drinks pair with something salty, and sharp, citrus-heavy drinks suit richer food.

Making the party safer

• Use a jigger and measure, instead of free-pouring. Parties go wrong when the drinks drift stronger every round.
• Serve food, and keep water within reach.
• Always offer a good alcohol-free drink: see our guide to non-alcoholic Halloween punch.
• Make sure no one drives after drinking, and never serve alcohol to anyone under the legal age.

More Halloween drinks

If you are planning the whole menu, our collection of Halloween cocktails has 15 spooky recipes with vodka, rum, tequila, whisky, gin and brandy, and our guide to Halloween drink shots covers party shots. Need a name for your menu? See our list of Halloween cocktail names.