How to make a Halloween menu for your bar or restaurant

Halloween in a bar or restaurant

Halloween is a big night in the US and has grown fast in the UK, especially with a young crowd and families with children. There’s no need to turn your place into a haunted house: a short special menu, a bit of decoration and a couple of named cocktails will do.

It also sits next to other dates with their own food. In the UK, Bonfire Night on 5 November brings toffee apples, parkin and bonfire toffee; in the US, Día de los Muertos on 1 and 2 November is a big moment for Mexican restaurants. Mixing Halloween with these traditions often works better than a generic party theme.

A short menu with clear names

The rule is simple: the name can be scary, the description can’t.

• Few dishes: five or six bites, four cocktails and three or four sweets. It’s a menu for one night, not a month.
• Themed name, literal description: “Monster eyes · Devilled eggs with black olive”. People laugh when they read it and know what they’re ordering.
• One star dish marked as recommended, the one you’ll show on social media.
• Alcohol-free options with the same fun as the cocktails, for under-18s and drivers.

If the night is family-friendly, an afternoon with a kids’ Halloween tea and your normal menu in the evening may work better than one menu for everyone.

What to put on the menu

1. Bites: pumpkin is king, as a soup or roasted. Add a couple of dishes that are easy to dress up: devilled eggs, puff pastry “mummy” sausages or chicken goujons.
2. Cocktails of the night: bold colours and potion names. Three with alcohol and one without are enough.
3. Sweets: toffee apples, pumpkin pie, a chocolate dessert and, if you’re in the UK, parkin for Bonfire Night.

Each dish with its price: including VAT in the UK; in the US, say if tax is added at the till. If the night has an entry fee with a drink, or a party with music, write it on the menu and on the poster on the door, with what’s included.

Allergens on the Halloween menu

The dishes of this night hide more allergens than you might think:

• Pumpkin pie: gluten in the pastry, eggs and milk in the filling.
• Toffee apples: milk if the toffee is made with butter, and peanuts or tree nuts if they’re rolled in nuts.
• Parkin: gluten from the oats and flour, and milk from the butter.
• Puff pastry and goujons: gluten and, with butter puff pastry or an egg wash, milk and eggs.
• Cocktails: cream liqueurs contain milk; egg-white sours contain eggs; wine or vermouth-based drinks, sulphites.
• Bought-in decorations and sweets: sugar eyes, jelly sweets or sprinkles. Check their labels, as they may carry cross-contact warnings.

Mark every dish even if it’s only on the menu for one night: the information duties are the same. There’s more in allergens on menus. In the US, the Teal Pumpkin Project from FARE encourages offering non-food treats so children with food allergies can join in; a teal pumpkin by your door tells families you do.

When to prepare it

Halloween is a light date: it doesn’t need the six weeks of New Year’s Eve.

• Early October: menu and prices finalised, decorations ordered.
• Mid-October: poster on the door and posts on social media.
• The week before: buy pumpkins, apples and sweets.

October is also when companies book their December parties. You’ll find the rest of the dates in the restaurant calendar.

Design and formats

A Halloween menu calls for a dark background. The Neon style, made for nights out, does the job without needing skulls. If your crowd is family-friendly, the Memphis style is more pop and cheerful; if you prefer red and black, try Constructivist. Formats that work:

• A4 or A5 on the tables, next to your usual menu.
• A3 poster on the door or in the window.
• Story and post to promote it on social media.
• Screen 16:9 if you have a TV behind the bar. We explain how in the digital menu board.

If you run a cocktail bar all year round, there are ideas in the cocktail menu.

Make it with MenuDesign

Open the Halloween template, change the dishes, names and prices, mark the allergens and download the PDF and the image for social media. There are more designs in the menu templates. Free, no sign-up.