Dinner Stories: All Hallow's Evening

Dinner Stories: The Triumphs and Travails of Hosting | All Hallow's Evening | Well and Full | #dinnerparties #dinnerparty #dinnerstories #hosting

Welcome back to another episode of Dinner Stories: The Triumphs and Travails of Hosting! For October, join me for an elegant, spooky All Hallow’s Evening, complete with a Blood Orange Salad and Death by Chocolate Cupcakes!

Hello again! Welcome back to Dinner Stories: The Triumphs and Travails of Hosting! After a hiatus in September, I’m back with a spooky, elegant All Hallow’s Evening Dinner Party. So far in 2025, we’ve had the following themes:

Of course for October, we’re doing something in the spirit of Halloween! So without further ado, let’s get into it!

Just a note – this post contains Amazon affiliate links!

THE THEME

For October, I wanted to do something Halloween-adjacent, without being too on the nose. Enter in All Hallow’s Eve, the root of the word Halloween! All Hallow’s Eve is a Catholic holiday the night before All Saints’ Day, which is on November 1st. On All Hallow’s Eve, we remember those who have died and pray for the repose of their souls.

For this dinner party, I wanted a sort of gothic, dark feel that evoked a sort of funerary, graveyard feeling, without being too serious or depressing (lol). I think I found a really good balance of it all, so let’s get into it!

THE TABLESCAPE

I wanted to have the perfect moody, dark tablescape without spending too much money. Luckily, our dining room table is a dark wood, so that solved the problem of a tablecloth. I also found these SUPER cute, on-theme black-pattern dinner plates on Amazon that were perfect. For almost everything else, I hit up a bunch of last-minute Halloween sales at Hobby Lobby and At Home, which were both full of almost 100% Christmas stuff by the time I got there. Here’s the full rundown:

Candlesticks – At Home
Candle tapers – Amazon
Black Ribbon – Michael’s
Black Lace Dinner Plates – Amazon
Black Salad Plates – At Home
Napkins – Amazon
Flower Vases – Goodwill
Black Pillar Candles – Hobby Lobby (I think?)
Flowers – Trader Joe’s
My FAVORITE huge pasta cooking pan – Amazon
Glass Cake Stand – Amazon
Stick-um (for the candles) – Amazon

Another fun detail that I loved from the party was the placeholders. I wrote everyone’s name down on a name tag, then tied them to red d’Anjou pear stems with black ribbon. I thought it was so organic yet chic, and it was the perfect accent to the table!

THE FOOD

For the food, I obviously wanted to tie in all things dark and eerie, while still keeping things as chic and elegant as possible. So for the appetizer, I made a red bean hummus with black garlic, to match my color palette. I served them with root vegetable chips, which also had a dark and earthy vibe.

For the starter, I made a blood orange salad with black lentils and pumpkin seeds. This was on theme in two ways… first, the BLOOD orange, of course. Then the black lentils were super dark and goth too.

For the main course, I found some black squid ink pasta at Whole Foods, I think (though I can’t remember for sure). I made a riff on pasta alla zozzana – a combination between carbonara and amitriciana. I added in a bit too much Calabrian chile, which had some of my guests sweating. Whoops!! Sorry guys. But everyone agreed that it came out AMAZING. It wasn’t super cute-looking, though, so I elected not to photograph it.

THE DESSERT

For dessert, I made DEATH by chocolate cupakes, with a moist, coffee-scented chocolate crumb and homemade chocolate ganache frosting. I found these really fun black pearl sprinkles on Amazon that really gave the perfect finishing touch.

THE DRINKS

Of course we had a bunch of red wine, the darker and more blood-red the better! We had a Cabernet Sauvignon and some Lambrusco, a red Italian sparkling wine. They were absolutely delicious.

Then I also made some spooky, spicy blood-red pomegranate margaritas with spicy chipotle mezcal. These were also fairly hot, which I felt bad about since the pasta was so spicy as well. But my guests were troopers – it probably helped that the margaritas were so tasty! I’ll definitely have to post the recipe for them.

THE STYLE

Even though I’ve never seen the show, I was really inspired by Wednesday Addams’ outfit in the iconic dance scene (which I HAVE seen) in the titular show. Luckily I found the PERFECT dress that evoked Wednesday’s outfit. I paired it with black tights and black Chelsea boots.

When cooking for guests, I ALWAYS wear my hair in a ponytail or braid. People who cook with their hair down, getting it all over the place, are one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s unsanitary and distracting; I said what I said. I will die on this hill, people!! Fight me in the comments if you must ;)

THE MUSIC

The music was really simple – I just played my Halloween playlist. But that was enough to set the vibe!!

THE PREPARATION

I am so proud to say that this was my most put-together dinner party yet. I think the biggest thing was making sure the house was cleaned by the day BEFORE the party, which is something I’ve been bad about in the past. I (unfortunately) have turned into my mom, and need my house to be SPOTLESS when I have guests over. It’s a really stressful habit, but I just struggle so much to have people over when things are messy. And it’s crazy because I genuinely do not care what state someone else’s house is in when I visit. Oh well!

Making sure the house was set the day before the party allowed me to focus on the cooking. I also prepped a lot of things ahead of time, such as the cupcakes and the chocolate ganache buttercream. I also simplified my menu, with one appetizer (the hummus), one starter (the salad), one main (the pasta), and one dessert (the cupcakes). Paring down my menu definitely enabled me to have a smoother dinner party.

P.S.

For more plant-forward recipes, dinner parties, and New England lifestyle inspiration, be sure to follow along on Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok! If you make a recipe, please tag me in the photo and use the hashtag #wellandfull so I can see! I love seeing your creations!