How to make the most of Halloween in Elsternwick Village

On Halloween night, the streets of Elsternwick Village come alive with visions of the undead; candy-fuelled creepsters roam the streets; vampires and ghosts compete to terrify friends and neighbours; and where blood, guts, gore, and a terrific backstory, are the must-have fashion accessories.

Halloween is that one fun fright night where we can release our inner child, transforming our homes into houses of horror and our yards into haunted graveyards.

Yet, a happy Halloween isn’t something you can just conjure up, it requires planning and a cauldron full of creativity – and everything you need is in Elsternwick Village!

Creepy costumes

The first step to creating a memorable Halloween costume is to pick a theme. Dip into pop culture by transforming into a movie, TV show or video game character; step back in time with an historical figure like a queen, pharaoh, or famous artist; or step into a mystical world of witches, wizards, fairies, and dragons.

For a macabre mashup, try combining two unrelated things like a vampire cowgirl or a zombie pirate. If you’re more of a Halloween traditionalist, zombies, vampires, skeletons, and ghosts are creep-tastic classics.

Party Bazaar is your first stop for a range of creepy and cutesy costumes, as well as matching accessories to complete your look. For kid-friendly costumes, pop into Kidstuff.

Elsternwick Village’s op shops – Australian Red Cross, Posh Opp Shoppe, Sacred Heart Mission Op Shop and Salvos Stores – are a great source of era-specific clothes, or outfits you can afford to rip up or drench in red paint.

For face paint, accessories and costume embellishments, look no further than Hot Potatoes Super $2 Shop.

Wicked food

Whether you’re hosting a Halloween feast or just entertaining friends in between answering the door to trick or treaters, Elsternwick Village has everything you need – and with a dash of creativity, you can transform these ingredients into a spine-tingling spread.

Imagine linking sausages to resemble intestines, or drenching chops and steaks in tomato sauce to spark eerie curiosity about their dark backstory. What about Mummy Hotdogs (sausages wrapped in pastry), witches’ brew soup, or a cannibal’s charcuterie board?

Stock up on all your meat essentials at Trialto Meats and Peter Da Silva Poultry & Selected Meats, then point your broomstick in the direction of Dirito’s Quality Fruits for everything required to craft a ghoulish grazing board.

Don’t forget the sweet stuff! Light and airy meringues are the perfect base for ghostly figures, liquorish is just a spider waiting to be created, and cakes and biscuits can be fashioned into any number of body parts. Head to Coles and Kosher Kingdom for all the ingredients.

Baking with an eerie twist

Gather your friends and family for a spine-chilling bake-off challenge and find out who can whip up the most horrifying and grotesque baked goods! Here’s some inspiration:

For a gruesome yet delicious treat, bake red velvet cupcakes and drizzle raspberry or cherry syrup over the top to mimic blood. You can even add edible glass shards by making clear sugar candy broken into jagged pieces.

If you’re looking for a no-bake Halloween dessert, dirt pudding cups will have your guests howling with delight! Layer chocolate pudding with crushed chocolate biscuits to look like dirt, and top with biscuit tombstones.

You can find all the ghoulish ingredients you need at Coles and Kosher Kingdom, as well as speciality and health food options at Glo Health.

Hauntingly good decorations

Decorating your home and yard is a great way to have fun with the kids and everything you need is in Elsternwick Village.

Hanging white sheets to create ghostly figures can add an ethereal touch to your interior and exterior. You can also make fun ghost decorations by using balloons or paper lanterns to create floating spectres that sway in the breeze.

Silhouettes are a simple yet effective way to create a haunting ambience. Cut out shapes of bats, witches, or tombstones from black construction paper and stick them to windows or walls. When illuminated from behind, they cast spooky shadows that can frighten even the bravest trick-or-treaters.

You’ll need to start with some crafting basics: pipe cleaners for spiders, clay or plasticene for body parts and creepy creatures, and black cardboard to create creepy window silhouettes for the windows. You can get everything you need at Party Bazaar, Hot Potatoes Super $2 Shop and Officeworks.

Body parts for the front yard can be created from stuffed pre-loved clothes and some red paint. Arrange them artfully among cardboard tombstones and pumpkins from the fresh food stores in Elsternwick Village. Or for custom Halloween decorations and balloons, chat to the team at Fantasy Decorland.

This Halloween, Elsternwick Village helps you avoid any last-minute tricks and guarantees all treats, making sure you’ll have a howl of a time this Halloween. Here’s wishing you a hauntingly happy Halloween!