Evanston’s trick-or-treating laws are as arcane as the Necronomicon, and if you eat an entire bag of pumpkin-shaped Reese’s you’ll never fit into your slutty Snow White/Hermione Granger/bumblebee/bobblehead Dwight Schrute costume. So what is a celebratory college student to do this Halloween?
The same thing we do every holiday, Pinky: Drink. We’re not talking about chugging Skol, though. There are enough recipes for Halloween shots, mixed-drinks and punch to keep you tipsy long into November.
(By the way: We’ve got Halloween food recipes, too)
Shots
Candy-corn shot
What you need:
- 1 part Bailey’s
- 1 splash vanilla liqueur
- 1 part butterscotch schnapps
What to do: Combine and shake in cocktail shaker with ice, pour in shot glass.
Creepy Jell-O shots
What you need:
- 1 box Jell-O mix
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 cups vodka
- Garnish: black jelly beans, gummi worms, candy corn. Be creative.
What to do: Pour boiling water over Jell-O mix in a bowl and stir. Wait until it cools, then add vodka. Refrigerate until Jell-O sets. For a festive touch, try orange and black cherry. Then, while the Jello-O is setting, add your choice of garnish to float in the middle (or, in the case of gummi worms, extend out the top). If you’re having a Halloween blowout and need larger quantities, just adjust ratio as needed.
For many students, this is the first time our Halloween fun has been combined with an impending election we can actually vote in — an election featuring a candidate that can be turned into a sexed-up costume that doesn’t involve a grotesque rubber mask. If the 153rd fake Sarah Palin outfit you see makes you want to rip a beehive hairdo off of someone’s head, or if you’re anticipating the apocalypse on November 5, try this shot. And if you’re feeling apolitical, what’s more fear-inspiring than the end of the world? (Other than zombies.)
What you need:
- 1/3 oz. dry vermouth
- 1/3 oz. Irish cream liqueur
- 1/3 oz. tequila
What to do: Pour tequila and vermouth into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well, then strain into shot glass. Float the Irish cream on top.
Mixed Drinks
Trick or Treat
What you need:
- 1/2 oz. Amaretto
- 1/2 oz. vanilla vodka
- 1/2 oz. Triple Sec
- 1 dash Grenadine
- Orange juice
What to do: Pour everything except the orange juice into a glass with ice. Fill the rest with orange juice and stir. For garnish, try sticking some candy corn on a skewer.
Ghost
No matter what you think the temperature is when you look out your window and see barely-dressed co-eds frolicking through the frat quad, it’s still the end of October and yes, it’s still quite cold. The Celtic Knot Public House here in Evanston does a brisk business in the fall selling drinks that owner Patrick Breslin describes as “drinks that’ll warm you up.” One of the most popular “warming drinks,” he says, is whiskey.
What you need:
- 1 oz. whiskey
- 2 oz. vanilla rum
- Cream soda
What to do: Pour ingredients in glass and stir. Avoid urge to haunt old buildings, rattle chains, or mysteriously move around objects.
Jack-O-Tini
Recommended by Bar None Drinks, with enough whiskey to keep you warm throughout your long night of mischief and mayhem.
What you need:
- 1 part apple Pucker
- 1 part cranberry juice
- 1 part bourbon whiskey
What to do: Combine in cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled, then pour. If you’re feeling classy, Bar None recommends a spiced crab apple garnish.
Punch bowls and pitchers
If you’re generously hosting the party rather than the pre-game, you may need something a little larger than a single shot. Here’s what to make.
Zombie Punch
What you need:
- 2 fifths of dark rum
- 2 fifths of light rum
- 1 fifth Bacardi 151
- 2 pints Triple Sec
- 3 quarts lemon juice
- 1 quart Grenadine
What to do: Mix all ingredients thoroughly and chill with ice in punch bowl. Serve. Keep a shotgun and/or chainsaw stashed nearby should your friends suddenly turn into the shambling undead and come after you and your tasty, tasty brain.
If you prefer to avoid having to decapitate your former friends-turned-ghoulish-brain-eaters, hearken back to simpler days when the best part of Halloween (after the candy) was watching Charlie Brown on the television. Because you know you still believe in the Great Pumpkin.
Great Pumpkin Punch
What you need:
- 1 part apple cider
- 2 parts ginger ale
- 1 part rum
What to do: Mix and serve. For added ambiance, do so in a hollowed-out pumpkin. Ideally not one with a face already carved in it.
Blood Sangria
“Sangria” comes from the Spanish word for “bloody.” Just try to avoid spilling this on anyone’s expensive costume or you may be sporting a bloody nose yourself. Red wine, according to Breslin, is also another fall favorite at the Knot.
What you need:
- 1 bottle red wine
- 12 oz. club soda
- 2 oz. cognac
- 3 tbs. warm honey
- Fruit: Drink of the Week recommends 4 sliced figs, ½ cup red or black grapes (halved) and ½ cup pitted cherries
What to do: Combine fruit in a large bowl, adding cognac and honey until dissolved. Pour in wine and stir. Refrigerate. When ready to serve, add club soda and stir more.
While booze itself is important, for those of you who are hosting parties, presentation is equally key. Allrecipes.com suggests filling latex gloves with water and freezing them for a day; once fully frozen, run warm water over the gloves and remove the frozen ice hands for placement in your punchbowl.
So go forth, in your minidresses and generic “This is my costume” t-shirts, and remember: To kill a zombie, you have to make sure you take off the head.