By Christina Collins

Planning a monster bash at your house? Here are some great Halloween drinks and tips to get your party started.

WITCH’S BREW

2 oz yellow chartreuse
1.5 oz blue curacao
.5 oz brandy, spiced
.25 tsp ground cloves
1 dash nutmeg
1 dash allspice

Shake all the ingredients together and serve in a chilled glass.

VAMPIRE’S BITE

2 oz vodka
.5 oz dry gin
.5 oz dry vermouth
1 tbsp tequila
1 pinch salt
2 oz tomato juice

Shake with ice. Strain over ice in an old fashioned glass.

GLOWING GHOUL (yup, it really does glow in the dark)

1 package lemon-lime Kool-Aid mix
20 oz vodka
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 cup sugar (or more to taste)

Mix all ingredients in a punch bowl, then top off with 2 quarts of water and some ice cubes (floating a few plastic spiders in it isn’t a bad idea, either).

BLOODY EYEBALL MARTINI

2 oz gin or vodka
.5 oz dry vermouth
1 olive “eyeball” (see preparation below)
Place gin and vermouth in a cocktail shaker with ice. Gently shake and pour, straining the ice, into a martini glass. Garnish with an olive eyeball.
Preparing ice “eyeballs” (which should be prepared a day before your plan on use them)
Per eyeball:
1 radish
1 pimiento stuffed green olive
Peel radishes, leaving thin streaks of red skin on to represent blood vessels. Using the tip of the vegetable peeler or a small, knife, carefully scoop out a small hole in each radish, roughly the size of an olive. Stuff a green olive, pimiento side out, in each hole. Place 1 radish eyeball in each section of an empty ice cube tray. Pare the radishes down a bit to fit, if necessary. Fill the tray with water and freeze overnight.

HALLOWEEN HELL

.5 oz green melon liqueur
.5 oz blue curaçao
.5 peach Schnapps
.5 oz jägermeister
Splash of orange juice
Pineapple juice

Fill a Collins glass with ice. Add the melon liqueur, blue Curaçao, peach schnapps and the splash of orange juice. Fill to top with pineapple juice. Stir to mix. Lastly, float the Jägermeister on top.

…and for a virgin but far from innocent concoction?

DEVIL’S JUICE

3 oz. cranberry (or cranapple) juice
3 oz. tomato juice
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 dashes black pepper
Dash of salt

Pour ingredients into a Collins glass filled with ice, stir and garnish with lemon and parsley.

Too Old for Gross? Never!

C’mon, admit it, we never really outgrow getting a kick out of the gross-out factor, so even if you’re throwing a “grown-up” Halloween party, go ahead, add some just-this-side-of disgusting touches…

Make some red, green or black cherry Jello shots. As soon as they’re set but not quite firm, add a gummy worm “crawling” out of each one.

Float colored liqueurs and mixers in your punch bowl ~ the heavier ones will sink too the bottom and look even creepier. Grenadine syrup will look like blood, crème de menthe or melon liqueur like green slime, and sour peach or orange schnapps like pumpkin guts.

Need a [severed] hand getting ready for your party? These look great floating in a punch bowl: fill disposable Latex gloves (cleaned very well both inside and out ~ and make sure none of your guests has a Latex allergy!) with water colored with a splash of green food coloring and tie off tightly with a rubber band. To really maintain the hand shape, hang the gloves (fingers down) from your freezer shelf. Right before your guests arrive, run warm water over the gloves just long enough to loosen them from the ice ~ and then carefully peel them off the hands. Drop the hands into the punch ~ and if a finger breaks off here or there, it’ll just add to the zombie effect.