A glam and spooky Halloween dinner

Intimate Dinner Parties · A home in Calabasas · October 2025

A Halloween dinner with friends in Calabasas, set to be glam first and spooky second, with black pasta on the kitchen island and chrome skulls beside the crystal.

A long wood dining table set for Halloween, black napkins in silver skull rings, black taper candles in gold holders, and a centerpiece of deep red amaranth, black roses and velvet pumpkins

A Halloween dinner with friends at a home in Calabasas. The brief was glam but spooky, so we lit a long table with black candles and deep red flowers, and the host’s black pasta took over the kitchen island.

A white marble kitchen island draped in black cheesecloth, set with black bowls of black pasta topped with grilled shrimp, seared scallops, sliced steak, burrata with cherry tomatoes and risotto, with a skull and black branches behind

The signature moment

Black pasta, made by the host

The dish everyone remembers is the black pasta. The host made it, piled into a wide black bowl and topped with grilled shrimp, and a second black dish came out crowned with seared scallops.

We built the kitchen island around it. Black bowls on black cheesecloth, a skull at the end of the counter, black branches and cream hydrangeas behind. The steak, the burrata and the roasted vegetables all went into the same black serveware, so the island looked set rather than just covered in food.

What we were going for

Glam first, spooky second

The brief was glam but spooky, and we kept the glam in charge. Chrome skulls went next to crystal glasses, black taper candles stood in gold holders, and the cobweb runners sat on a proper table setting.

The colors stayed tight, black, deep red and candlelight, so even the skulls looked dressed up for dinner.

A black and cream balloon garland with skulls and bats climbing a tall arched mirror, beside wood shelves of black pumpkins, candles and draped black cheesecloth

A Halloween grazing board with black grapes, crackers, brie under a chocolate spiderweb, cheese cut with bats, mini pumpkins, white chocolate ghosts and gummy rings

A balloon garland on the mirror for the entrance, and a grazing board with bats and ghosts to start the night.

A close place setting with a black napkin through a chrome skull ring on a black plate, a white charger on a black spiderweb placemat, and candles and red flowers behind — Every seat got a black napkin through a chrome skull ring, on a spiderweb placemat.

Let’s celebrate

Something like this, but yours.

Tell us about your celebration. We can’t wait to hear about it.

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