Sometimes the drink is terrifying enough but occasionally you want even more of the macabre beyond the drink. Fancy glassware, garnishes and shaped ice can turn up the fun meter another notch. I will present a few ideas but I leave it to your imagination to create your own unique feel. Take this as a springboard to your own creepy creativity.
If this just seems like too much work for a drink that is creepy on its own, just skip ahead to the drinks and build them in plain clear bar glasses.
Glassware
Skulls, devils, castles – these shapes and many more have been worked into glassware over the years. You can find glass or plastic drinking vessels, especially when October rolls around.
You can purchase chalices that are shaped like skulls or castles. I recently acquired a shot glass from my friends at Macabre Mercantile that has a skull formed in the interior providing a wonderful effect of a colored skull floating in the clear glass when you fill it with drink.
There are mugs galore with the skull motif. There is a brand of vodka which comes in a wonderful glass skull bottle and tequila that comes in ceramic Day of the Dead skulls.
You can decorate normal glassware with paint or stickers. Even a bit of whimsy can be horrific: adhere many pairs of jiggle eyes to the outside of a glass or bottle to create a many eyed horror from the outer dark.
Simply Google ‘Halloween glassware’ and you’ll be presented with thousands of products and ideas.
Garnishes
The perfect glass is not the final word in Terror Chic. A suitable garnish can transform a boring green drink into a tableau of horror. Ingredients as sublime as radish eyeballs, peppers cut to become devil faces, dripping blood syrup or even the lowly gummi worm can transform a boring drink into something spooky.
Simply Google “Halloween drink garnishes” and you’ll find thousands of ideas.
Ice
Molded ice is one of my favorite things to add a touch of terror to a drink. Specialty stores carry molds for skulls, brains, fingers, hearts and any other scary shape you can imagine.
Simply Google “Halloween ice molds” and you’ll find many ideas and sources.
My personal favorites are the Floating Hand of Death and Floating Fingers. These require no special molds. I use these in punches and drinks to liven up my Halloween parties.
Floating Hand of Death
This ice sculpture should be used for punches as it is rather large. To make the hand, obtain a latex glove – un-powdered and un-lubricated – and some green food coloring.
In a measuring cup place enough water to fill the glove ¾ full and slowly add drops of green food coloring. You want a pale cadaverous appearance rather than Creature from the Black Lagoon green.
Pour the water into the glove. Tie the wrist opening in a knot as you would a balloon, and place it in the freezer overnight. When you’re ready to serve your punch, simply peel the glove from the hand and drop it into your cauldron.
For an additional shiver, you can add a few gummi worms into the glove when you fill with water. The worms will slowly be revealed as the hand melts in the punchbowl.
Floating Fingers
There are several ways to make floating fingers. Several companies produce flexible molds for making finger candy. Simply obtain one of these molds, mix some water with green food coloring exactly as you did for the Floating Hand and fill the finger molds.
In a pinch if you cannot obtain molds, use latex gloves as for the Hand but only fill the fingers of each glove. The only difficulty in this method will be that you need to either tie off each finger or suspend the glove so that the fingers remain downward, keeping the water in the finger until it has frozen.
Finally you can find thin balloons such as used for balloon animals. Fill them with 2 to 3 inches of water and tie them off. To make joints you can place rubber bands at strategic locations on the balloon, slightly constricting the material. Balloons can also be shaped prior to freezing to form bent fingers. Once frozen, the rubber bands are removed and the balloons peeled away, revealing creepy fingers.
