Eat, Drink, and Be Scary: An October Roundup
Got plans for the spooky month yet?
AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER
WELCOME TO SPOOKY SEASON
WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT, DRINK & DO
The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and spooky season is officially here! October is all about embracing the cozy, festive vibes—whether you are hosting an adult gathering or looking for ways to keep the kids entertained.
To help you make the most of this month, I’ve put together a curated Halloween roundup of my absolute favorite things to eat, drink, and do. From festive cocktails that pack a punch to adorable kid friendly craft projects and autumn bucket list ideas, consider this your ultimate guide to a wickedly fun October. Grab a cozy blanket, and let's dive into the fun!
FestivE BARTESIAN Cocktails to Brew at Home
Nothing sets the mood for a cozy, spooky night quite like a themed beverage. This year, I am skipping the complicated multi-ingredient recipes and letting my Bartesian Cocktail Maker do all the heavy lifting. I picked up their limited-edition Halloween variety pack, and it features a mix of returning fan favorites and brand-new custom flavors.
All four of these seasonal drinks pair perfectly with vodka, mix in under 30 seconds, and look absolutely spectacular in a classic martini glass. Here is the breakdown of the four drinks currently shaking up my home bar:
Four colorful festive drinks that work well with vodka from Bartesian
Sour Spells: A playful, sweet-yet-tart cocktail with a mischievous neon glow. It packs a bright burst of sour rainbow candy flavor that will instantly transport you back to your childhood trick-or-treating days.
Vampire’s Kiss: A deep crimson cocktail that is as striking to look at as it is to drink. It features the unmistakable, nostalgic flavor of classic red strawberry licorice.
Caramel Appletini: A wickedly smooth, dessert-forward drink that tastes exactly like a trip to a fall orchard. It balances crisp, tart green apple flavors with a rich, velvety layer of sweet caramel.
Witch’s Heart: Pure liquid magic. This enchanting martini swirls juicy berry and green apple flavors together, but the real showstopper is the built-in edible shimmer that creates a luminous, swirling potion effect in your glass.
Hocus PocuS: FuN for Kids and Adults Alike
When it comes to Halloween cooking, I love turning to The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook by Bridget Thoreson. Her recipes are great because they strike the perfect balance for a family roundup. They are incredibly fun for kids to look at, but they use real, delicious ingredients that adults actually want to eat. These two standout recipes from her book make the ultimate photogenic pairing next to our vibrant Bartesian cocktail lineup.
Dead Man’s Toes and Brown Butter Booooook Blondies
DEAN MAN’S TOES-SAVORY SAUSAGE& pUFF pASTRY
Overview: Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Servings: 12
Ingredients:
1 pack premium cocktail franks or Lil' Smokies
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough sheets
Yellow mustard and ketchup
Sliced almond slivers (for the toenails)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Cut your crescent dough sheet into small, rectangular strips wide enough to wrap around the cocktail franks.
Wrap each sausage in a dough strip, leaving the very top tip exposed. Using a butter knife, gently score 2 or 3 light horizontal lines across the center of the dough to create "knuckle" wrinkles.
Place a tiny dot of mustard on the exposed tip of the sausage, and press an almond sliver firmly onto it to look like a creepy, jagged toenail.
Bake for 12–15 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. Serve hot with a side of ketchup "blood" for dipping!
The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook has great recipes
Brown Butter Booook Blondies-RICH & SWEET
Overview: Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 25 mins | Servings: 9 book cakes
Ingredients:
1 batch of Bridget Thoreson's signature brown butter blondies, cooled and cut into sharp rectangles
1 tube of black decorating icing or cookie gel
Large candy eyes (one per blondie)
Instructions:
Ensure your rectangular blondies are completely cooled (chilling them in the fridge for 30 minutes makes them much easier to decorate!).
Add a small dollop of black icing on the right-center side of the blondie, and press a large candy eye directly into it to mimic the book's eye.
Use your black icing tube to draw a neat circle around the eye, a zig-zag line down the left side to create the "spine" of the book, and small "stitches" across the corners and edges just like the cookbook instructs.
Easy HALLOWEEN Projects from KIM MCLEOD
Once the kitchen is cleaned up, it is time to shift your attention to keeping little hands busy during the chilly October afternoons. For daytime projects, I am pulling inspiration straight from Craft Ideas for Kids by Kim McLeod. Her brand, The Best Ideas for Kids, specializes in simple, low-stress crafts that use everyday household items. These two highly interactive Halloween projects are incredibly fun to put together and serve as adorable seasonal decorations for your home.
Toilet paper roll bats. This craft is really easy to make and you probably already have the supplies on hand! And if you love making these bats, see other Halloween toilet paper roll crafts too! Don’t let the ideas stop here – you can also make a ghost, cat, witch, mummy, pumpkin and more! With just a few supplies, you can transform your toilet paper rolls into these adorable bats. Hang them up around the house for Halloween decoration. Or add a string and kids can pretend to make them fly. Supplies needed:
3 Paper Rolls
Paper – white and purple or black cardstock
Googley eyes
Bat wing template – you can get the template on the bottom of her site post along with a video that will give you more detailed instructions on how to complete the cute little bats!
This is an intro with ideas from Kim on simple crafting with kids
Halloween slime. You can make a large batch of one kind or make them all! Either way, kids will love receiving these adorable Halloween slime jars. Now meet our 3 Halloween jars and we’ll walk you through how to make them. The link will have more instructions and video for you as well.
Pumpkin slime jar – made with orange slime inside and black felt for the facial features!
Frankenstein slime jar – this guy is seriously the cutest! He may be your favorite mason jar craft yet!
Ghost slime jar - the simpliest and easiest of the three….boo!
You’ll need to make 1 batch each if you want to make each slime jar:
Per batch:
6 ounces of Elmer’s glue– we used white (2 bottles) and glitter green and repeated the recipe 3 times. Note: Do not substitute glue. Other glue may not be the same and the recipe may not work.
Orange food coloring for the pumpkin slime jar *Note: the food coloring may stain, use wax paper to cover your table when playing with it and avoid contact with anything you do not want stained.
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda
1½ tablespoons of Contact Lens Solution. **Important: your brand of contact lens solution must have boric acid in the ingredient list. This is what interacts with the glue to form the slime.
Water – add 2 Tblsp of water to your glue before adding baking soda if you’d like a stretchier slime
Black felt, googly eyes and hot glue or glue dots for the featues on each jar.
Photos: Courtesy of Warner Brothers, HBO and Scribner Publishing
KING OF CREEP
I’m an avid long-time Stephen King fan who is the absolute owner of the horror genre. The thing about his writing is the stories are as good now as they were ten or twenty years ago because he is the master of character development. Hollywood agrees apparently as they continue to adapt and develop movies and series from his books, short stories and novellas.
Yep…don’t watch it alone
I remember the first time I read Cujo back in the early ‘80’s. I was so freaked out I stayed up all night to finish it. I still have an OCD fear of rabies-carrying bats! It’s a great pick for a scary movie night with Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro playing the terrified mother and son duo. A new version is on the way from producer Roy Lee and director Darren Aronofsky. 😱 Pick up a copy of one of King’s latest, You Like it Darker and you’ll get a sequel to Cujo in one of the twelve horror stories with Rattlesnakes.
Welcome to Derry is the prequel to IT, one of King’s scariest ever for folks afraid of clowns. Set in the 1960’s, it tells the story of what happened to bring the horrible Pennywise out of hibernation before the events of the two movies from the 80’s. Super creepy Bill Skarsgard is set to play Pennywise again with the first episode airing on HBO and HBO Max October 26th. Don’t miss it!
BOO-TIFUL MOVIES
One of the all time best Halloween movies is the 1978 cult classic Halloween starring the queen of scream, Jamie Lee Curtis. Horror director John Carpenter spins the story of Michael Myers who returns to his hometown fifteen years after escaping the institution he was placed in for killing his sister.
You can’t go wrong with Beetlejuice either in its original form from 1988 or the latest version, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice from 2024. Both are directed by scaremeister Tim Burton and the talented Mr. Keaton plays the villian in both.
Actor Tony Todd makes his final appearance as William Bludworth in Final Destination Bloodlines with the granddaughter and friends continuing the story from the first movie in 1969. Turns out escaping death ain’t so very easy. All are available on many different streaming platforms so pop up some corn with your favorite cocktail and enjoy!
If you have young kids around these are not going to be the movies you want to watch. You might pick Hocus Pocus. If you’ve never seen the movie, it follows a villainous comedic trio of witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy) who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night…”Amuck, amuck, amuck!”
FESTIVE WAYS TO FINISH THE MONTH
After logging plenty of hours on the couch with your favorite spooky TV shows and movie marathons, it is time to throw on a cozy flannel and step outside. October flies by so quickly, and living in the Atlanta area means we have access to some of the absolute best fall festivals in the Southeast. If you are looking to finish the month strong, these two iconic local events are mandatory additions to your seasonal bucket list
stone mountain pumpking festival
Family-friendly storybook magic that transforms into an immersive neon glow party after dark. Running select dates from September 19 through November 1, 2026 (primarily Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays), the Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival is an absolute must-visit. During the day, you can catch family attractions, special fall entertainment, and hayrides. But the real magic happens at night when the park lights up with thousands of glowing pumpkin displays, a massive drone show, and a light show on the mountain.
Pro-Tip: The festival attractions officially open at 2:00 PM, but the Summit Skyride opens at 10:00 AM. Arrive in the late afternoon to catch a few daytime rides, grab some hot apple cider, and secure a great viewing spot before the nighttime glow events kick off.
SCARECROWS IN THE GARDEN
A creative, artistic stroll through whimsical, community-crafted autumn displays. Running from October 1 through November 1, 2026 (note that the Garden is closed on Mondays), Scarecrows in the Garden is celebrating the Garden's 50th Anniversary! This year is bigger than ever with a special "Supersized Scarecrows" category on the Great Lawn, showcasing 12-foot-tall creations alongside dozens of unique scarecrows handcrafted by local schools, artists, and businesses. If you go on a Thursday in October, you can also catch their "Fest-of-Ale" event featuring live music and local craft beer.
Pro-Tip: Use the QR codes posted at the Hardin Visitor Center during your stroll to vote for the People's Choice Award. It is a fantastic way to keep kids engaged as they rate their favorite characters!
Scarecrows in the Gardens is a fun day of Halloween activities Photo: Atlanta Botanical Gardens
FINAL THOUGHTS
No matter how you choose to spend your October, the most important thing is to slow down and soak up the seasonal magic before it slips away. Whether you are shaking up a fresh batch of Witch's Heart martinis for a cozy night at home, recreating Bridget Thoreson's ghoulish recipes with the kids, or mapping out a weekend trip to see the glowing pumpkins at Stone Mountain, there are endless ways to make memories this month.
Hocus Pocus 2 is perfect for the kids
Dressing up in costume to trick or treat with the kids is great family fun done together. So grab a book, rent some movies and make some spooky foods. BTW, Hocus Pocus 2 is just as funny as the first one and I’m looking forward to time with the Sanderson sisters. Check out the trailer above.
If you enjoyed what you read, you might also like other posts under Just Because. Until next time…
Boo! 😱
Artsy Chow Roamer
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