The food, the fright, the fall vibes: Spooky Season is here! What better way to soak it all in than spending Saturday night with your girlfriends watching your favorite seasonal movie, all while the smell of pumpkin spice desserts fills the room?
Here’s how to plan the ultimate Halloween-themed girls’ night, all treats and no tricks:
Seasonal Baking
Baking is one of the most baseline girls’ night-in activities there is, be it a box cake mix or a full-on homemade, gourmet recipe. Why not take it a step further for your Halloween girls’ night and get spooky-scary with it?
Critter Cupcakes
For an easy baking idea, try critter cupcakes! Pick out your favorite flavor of your box cake mix, and follow the baking instructions as written. Put your art skills to the test by following the frosting tutorial on Steph Carr’s blog page to bring these spidercakes to life. You’ll need a pack of Oreos, frosting, edible candy eyeballs, and a cupcake decorating kit (that includes frosting piping tips), which can all be found at your local Target.
Not into spiders? Not a problem! The same easy tutorial also includes designs for jack-o-lanterns, plain pumpkins, and brains.
Pumpkin Muffins
For a more intermediate baking idea, try out these pumpkin cream cheese muffins with extra pumpkin seeds as garnish. Pumpkin to the max. This recipe is made from scratch and uses real pumpkin puree as a part of the wet ingredient mix. With the cream cheese frosting center too, you can be well-assured these muffins are moist, delicious, and have the perfect fall flavor if you’re looking for a cozy Halloween girls’ night.
Thriller, slasher, or horror Movies
Another quintessential girls’ night activity: the movie you put on while your pumpkin muffins are baking. Romcoms and dramas may be the perfect go-to for any regular old girls’ night, but for your Halloween-themed girls’ night, take advantage of streaming services that add holiday-specific movies to their platforms during October.
HBO Max
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride became available to stream on Oct. 1, and Ti West’s MaXXXine will be available to stream on Oct. 18.
Disney+
If you’re looking for some childhood throwbacks or comfort-movie vibes, Disney+ is the place to pick your Halloween movie from. They’ve got Halloweentown, Hocus Pocus, all the Halloween Disney Channel original movies, and more.
In Theaters
Girls’ night in is always a good time, but if you’re looking for something to do outside of the house, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still playing in theaters, and it couldn’t be more spot on for your Halloween theme. Still haven’t seen the first Beetlejuice movie? Make girls’ night a double feature: log back into your HBO Max account and watch the 1988 film there.
On Campus
The Student Life Center on campus is showing the first Scream movie on Oct. 18 and 19. Plan your girls’ night around the showings at 8 p.m. on both days!
Pumpkin Carving
Find a local pumpkin patch if you want some cute photo ops together, or pick some pumpkins at the nearest Publix. If you plan on carving out your pumpkins inside, be sure to lay down a plastic cloth underneath the table to catch any of the extras. Carving inside or outside, line the top of the table with a plastic cloth or newspaper to protect your surface.
After you find your jack-o-lantern inspiration, use a pencil to sketch the design onto the pumpkin. Carving freehand can get pretty tricky, so be sure everyone is extremely careful. If you use tools from a pumpkin carving kit, it’ll be safer but harder to carve. If you use serrated knives, it’ll be less safe but easier to carve.
Wait! Don’t toss those pumpkin guts. Separate the seeds from the guts, rinse them off with water, then pat dry. You’ve got another baking project on your hands because you can toss those in some spices to make delicious cinnamon sugar roasted pumpkin seeds.
Costume Prep
Still need to get your costume ready? Add that to your Halloween girls’ night activity list. You can shop around the store together for a cute group costume or even set up a DIY station in your house to start assembling those homemade costumes.
These are just a few fun activities for the ultimate Halloween-themed girls’ night. Happy Halloween-planning!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest!