10 Easy Ways to Make ANY Drink Halloween Ready

1. Turn a Halloween Drink Red with Cranberry or Pomegranate Juice

Having a vampire-themed halloween party? Add just 1/2 ounce of seasonal flavors like cranberry, blood orange, or pomegranate juice to any drink – even as a topper to a classic margarita or vodka lemonade – and you will have a bloody concoction ready for those thirsty fiends! You can even match with a black salt rim (as listed below) or black sugar rim for added halloween elements.

2. Give your Samhain Beverage a Spooky Feel with Black Salt

Black salt is a simple yet enticing way to add a bit of spooky magic to your simple halloween cocktail or mocktail! Use as a rim on your halloween tequila or mezcal drinks, or even make a pomegranate margarita or salty dog by adding 1/2 ounce of pomegranate juice and rim the drink with black salt for a red & black spooky concoction! Just be sure you are using food grade black salt, which you can purchase online as linked, or find as Hawaiian black lava salt as spice and food shops. 

3. Give Your Bewitching Halloween Cocktails a Black Sugar Rim

When it comes to shots or party cocktails, it’s hard to go wrong with a sugar rim. Now you can make your lemon drop, margarita, or even a red cosmo haunting by simply switching out the white sugar for a black sugar rim! You can order black sugar online, or finding it around halloween baking and decorating supplies as a sprinkle.

4. Grenadine Can Add a Layered and “Bloody” Effect To Your Samhain Drink

As a thick pomegranate syrup, often used for Shirley temples and tequila sunrises, grenadine makes a great way to add a layered color effect to your halloween concoctions. With its heavy weight, it will slip to the bottom of any cocktail, and you can even pair it with a black salt rim, to have a black, orange, and red spooky concoction! I suggest making grenadine at home for the best option. I have a recipe in my book WitchCraft Cocktails, or you can make your own recipe from online.

5. Color-Changing Cocktail Powder (Fancy Sprinkles)

After seeing advertisements for these well over a year, I finally dove in and purchased a cocktail powder set from Fancy Sprinkles (I got bonus mystery sprinkles too – and let me tell you, it was incredibly delicious). Their Prism powder will change the color of a cocktail, and add edible glitter as well, so that you can have majestic mocktails & cocktails! I got their Dracula Cocktail Set, which comes with black and red prism powder, as well as some high end sprinkles you can use as a rim for your cocktail. This is a great choice for making any drink, alcoholic or not, look spook-tacular!

Make Your Halloween Cocktail Green with Apple Schnapps

With a vibrant green hue and matching seasonal flavor, apple schnapps can be a great way to have a hauntingly hue-d green concoction. Use this liqueur in an appletini cocktail (you can check out my witchcraft-inspired Witch’s Wand Appletini here), to show off this liqueur and its majestic hue.

Give Your Samhain Concoction an Electrion Blue Hue with Blue Curacao

With its orange flavor and bright blue color, blue curacao is a great choice for crafting a vibrant and vivacious halloween cocktail. As an orange liqueur, blue curaçao can actually be used in place of triple sec or other orange liqueurs, such as in your classic margarita or cosmo, or even as an addition to a vodka lemonade – making it a superbly easy choice for both mixing and aesthetic!

Craft a Bewitching Purple Drink with Violet Liqueur or Creme De Violet

With a luscious purple hue and easily enchanting flavor, violet liqueur or creme de violette is another great way to add a surprising color to a halloween concoction. The classic Aviation cocktail will make a great choice here, or you can easily add creme de violet to most cocktails with its agreeable flavor – like a vodka lemonade with lavender bitters. For more violet liqueur recipes, you can check out my book WitchCraft Cocktails, or even my upcoming book Moon, Magic, Mixology where I include a recipe on how to make your own violet liqueur. 

Create an Alchemical Color-changing Halloween Cocktail with Butterfly Pea Flower

An herb that changes color from deep blue to purple-pink upon contact with acid, any concoction that utilizes butterfly pea flower is a show stopper for those halloween parties. You can order your own butterfly pea flower online and turn it into a syrup, such as I did here for my Elle’s Alchemy alchemical cocktail, or you can even utilize these B-Lure Butterfly Pea Flower drops or liquors infused with it like Unicorn Vodka or Empress Gin. 

7. Turn Your Drink Black with Food-Grade Black Charcoal

From black cupcakes to goth ice cream, food grade black charcoal is making its way through the food world as a way to make spooky, black-colored food items, and your drink should be no exception! You can do the same by adding a moderate pinch to your concoctions – just be sure to be careful about medication, as black charcoal can interfere with certain medications. I personally used activated charcoal in my Black Cat Cocktail recipe in WitchCraft Cocktails.

8. Craft a Bubbling Concoction with Dry Ice

What can be more fitting than a bubbling cauldron cocktail for halloween? An exciting and unique way to add a bit of spookiness to your halloween concoction, dry ice is available almost grocery stores around halloween. You will want to safely handle this ingredient, so be sure to have gloves, tongs, and glasses (when you break it apart) and be sure to follow proper safety precautions. I recommend referencing this Betty Crocker Article and this other article from The Rose Table to help you feel safe and comfortable using this fun ingredient!

9. Add a Mystical Smoke Aura with a Smoker

For those willing to make the extra investment, getting a smoker to smoke your cocktails can be a great way to add a bewitching element to your halloween concoctions. Using a smoker, especially in combination with a cloche, is an easy way to wow your guests at any party. You can use on any drink, as well, transforming a simple old fashioned into an eye catching and aromatic experience. To use these, you will also need a long lighter.

10. Display Your Cocktails with a Cloche

Whether using with a smoker, dry ice, or just to have a bewitching display for your halloween cocktails, a cloche is an elegant decoration that can add a spooky element to your halloween party. You can use a single one at a time for a touch of beauty & the beast realness, get a larger one like this to display multiple cocktails at a time, or invest in a fancy one like this. Just make sure you are selecting one that is tall enough for whatever height glass you are planning to use! You can also use these year round with your smoker, or use for decoration around the house.