26 AUGUST 2026
6 Halloween pres hacks that you need in your life

Written by The Cruiser Editors
Hosting Halloween pres and you suddenly realised your place looks aggressively normal? Getting your house ready doesn’t mean entirely transforming it into a haunted mansion.
All you need is few strategically spooky additions which will leave you enough time to get ready.
We’ve collated 7 Halloween pres hacks worth stealing.
1. Create one Insta-worthy wall
Pick one wall (or corner) and go all in.
Think: cobwebs, paper lanterns, pumpkins, fairy lights, streamers and anything else spooky enough that is at the back of your cupboards. Even well-designed cardboard cutouts can do a hell of a lot of heavy lifting.
Borrow a projector (or even just hook up to a big screen) and show our spooky-cool ambient screensavers on loop. They’re background videos that you can play to set the mood.
Add your best lighting and voila! You’ve just directed most of the night’s photos to just one location. Easy.
2. Ban the big light
Nothing kills the mood at pres quite like the big bright white ceiling light.
Use lamps, fairy lights and even coloured bulbs instead. For Halloween colours choose: pink, purple, orange or red.
You’re welcome.
3. Give the ice a spookover
Freeze blueberries in ice cubes to create edible frozen eyeballs. Or freeze small lollies such as snakes and teeth to create other spooky decorations in ice.
Low effort but effective result.
4. The playlist makes the vibes
You don’t want to be in the middle of your own pres when you realise you’ve accidentally cued up 14 different versions of ‘Monster Mash’.
We’ve curated the ultimate Halloween pres playlist with songs you’d actually want to hear.
Spooky enough to acknowledge the theme. Banging enough that nobody asks for the aux cord after 20 minutes.
5. Make one of the snacks spooky
You don’t need to create a Pinterest-worthy Halloween grazing table. Just follow the following DIY party rule: choose one snack and make it weird.
Try:
Eyeballs. Wrap strips of prosciutto around cherry bocconcini pieces and press halved olives into the cheese.
Vampire food cake. Make a red velvet cake with white buttercream frosting and sprinkle drops of red icing in the fresh white frosting like drops of blood.
Baby spiders leaving the web. Sprinkle caviar across the charcuterie board, exploding from a corner of crème fraîche
Or put normal snacks in bowls with Halloween themed labels and call it a day. We won’t judge.
6. Bring out the digi cam
The funnest (and most chaotic) of nights are always captured on a digi cam, so make sure you have it on hand.
Tip: charge the battery the day before the party and check your SD card is clear for all the new hot pics.
Your camera roll could never.
You’re almost ready. Don’t spend days trying to get everything perfect. Get the lights right. Put up some decorations. Chuck on the Vodka Cruiser Halloween playlist. Have something for people to eat and drink.
Now, get into your costume and enjoy your party.
And if you haven’t yet sorted your costume, we’ve got a Halloween Costume Generator to help you decide.

