Q: This season I am thinking of putting together a Halloween "passerby" BBQ for trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. I live in Boston and have a nice sized corner lot (which is unusual in this city) and would like to have food, drinks, and games for children and families passing through.
Aside from hot dogs and corn, what would be an affordable and practical approach to feeding lots of people on the go?
This may seem a bit early to be asking questions about Halloween, but I can not stop thinking about it with these cool temperatures in New England. All suggestions and tips are greatly appreciated!
Sent by Catherine (Alllebasii)
Editor: Catherine, how fun! We'll give you a couple of links from our archives, but really we think that the readers will have fun with this one!
• The Ultimate Halloween Party Roundup: Menus, Party Ideas, and Inspiration from Around the Web
• Five (Classy) Halloween Treats from Martha Stewart
Readers, what would you suggest for Catherine's neighborhood Halloween BBQ?
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Cornbread or pumpkin bread muffins (cheap, easy, and potable), popcorn (wrap cones from the leaves from corn if you want something biodegradable), apples, grilled turkey legs.
Vegetarian Times has a couple of really cute articles w/recipes for fun Halloween foods ... they're sort of designed to look like scary things to appeal to kids. I believe that one of these articles is in the most recent issue, so you ought to check it out, or do a search on their website for more recipes!
Popcorn is a great idea. Cheap, easy, portable.
With parents still convinced the world is out to poison their children on Halloween, I'd stick to prepackaged snacks & candy for little ones.
if you know your neighbors and they will trust your food (see trenchant comment from Queen of the Fall) make a giant pot of chili or corn chowder. You could also do pulled pork sliders -- roast a pork butt forever till it falls apart and douse it with homemade BBQ sauce. Corn bread would be good, or biscuits, or potato rolls for the pulled pork. Hot apple cider if you can manage it with all the burners and what not. Caramel apples if you have the time.
As for games...Many years ago I lived in a group house and we threw a fake funeral in our backyard. One of us played dead -- lying on a table under a mosquito net tent -- with the candy in a bowl on the dead person's stomach. Kids were invited into the funeral, a brief eulogy was delivered and the children were told that the dead person's last wish was to give out the candy. So they were invited to reach inside the tent and pick some candy out of the bowl. On the second or third kid, the dead person came alive and grabbed their hands. All the kids lost their marbles and their parents -- sadistic in a humorous way -- laughed their heads off. It was fantastic and I've always wanted to do it again.
pam h
howtorunyourlife.blogspot.com
If you can find them, lady apples (about the size of a golf ball) make super cute caramel apples. Pumpkin cookies would be good, too. (I'm operating on the assumption that your neighbors would trust your food).
I'm kind of blanking on main dishes, sorry!
You could do hot spiced cider in a thermos & dixie cups. Martha Stewart had a feature once with shrunken apple heads floating in a vat of hot cider (possibly at the link above) - I did that once and they looked really good. I also did her severed finger cookies, but they were too time consuming for a big crowd.
Baggies or paper cups of GORP type munchies with Halloween colored M&Ms.
I love the chili/chowder ideas. BBQ pork sounds good except that it could be messy when people are trying to keep their costumes tidy.
Hot pretzels with cheese sauce (crock pot) sounds so good but I'm probably veering into the impractical.
I agree with QueenoftheFall. Unless it's a family for friends, stick to the pre-packed foods. We don't want people complaining of anything after they ate of the goodies.
Enjoy! It'll be fun!
Thanks for the tips everyone! I was concerned about "contaminating" people as some of you mentioned... it is a shame a few creeps messed it up for the people who want to do good things!