Halloween is the time of year when ghouls and goblins come out to play, and the creative possibilities for themed food and cocktails are endless. One eerie but fun trend is serving Halloween cocktails in blood bags. These macabre libations add a touch of horror to your Halloween festivities and are sure to be a hit at any spooky soiree. In this post, I will share a chilling and delicious recipe for blood-red cocktails and all the tips and tricks needed for serving them up in blood bags! 

Our neighbor who normally hosts a large Halloween party for all the adults in our neighborhood, had something come up at the last minute and was unable to host this year. Several of us got together and decided to have the party anyway!

There is normally a bartender serving up drinks at our annual soiree, but with short notice and a tighter budget, we realized a bartender wasn't in the cards. The party was now a group effort and to get more people involved, we decided to have a Halloween Cocktail competition! This was a great way to get more people to bring drinks to share with a crowd! 

The bartenders at our annual party always whip up some yummy cocktails, but they spend the whole night mixing drinks! I wanted to come up with something that was yummy, and I could prep in advance! If you have seen my Halloween costumes in the past, you know I'm rarely in a position to be making drinks in them! Check out my Headless Marie Antoinette Costume Tutorial HERE for example! 

Making my cocktails into blood bags not only solved my problem with making drinks on the spot, but it was also a fun and creative way to present my cocktail competition entry! 

The Perfect Presentation

Before we delve into the recipes, let's talk about the presentation. Serving Halloween cocktails in blood bags is all about the theatrical effect. Here's what you'll need:

1. Blood bags: You can find empty, sterile IV bags online or at medical supply stores. Make sure they are unused and safe for serving drinks.
2. Labels: Create spooky labels that resemble real hospital blood bags, complete with fake patient information.
3. Plastic syringes for filling the blood bags
4. Plastic clips to seal the bags.
5. A Red Cocktail to put in the bags

I found this Blood Bag Cocktail Kit on Amazon that already included everything needed, except the drink! It included the food-safe blood bags, labels, large plastic syringes for filling the bags, and plastic clips that can be opened and closed so the drink won't leak out. 

 With the presentation essentials sorted, it's time to move on to the main attraction—the cocktails! You can use any cocktail you'd like and add red dye to achieve a bloodish look, but I wanted to make a delicious drink that didn't rely on artificial coloring! 

I was making these for an adult Halloween Party, so these have a strong amount of alcohol, but feel free to fill these with red Kool-Aid or a red mocktail to surprise your kids on Halloween! 

Vampire's Kiss Cocktail Recipe

The quantities listed here are enough to fill 5 of the blood bags at a time, just adjust to volumes to make as many as you'd like! I will be making 10x of this recipe to fill 50 blood bags! The units of measure for this drink are easy to adjust up or down to suit your needs! 

Ingredients:

1 cup 151 Rum 

1 cup Pomegranate Liqueur

1 cup Apple Juice

1 cup Grape Juice

1 cup Pineapple Juice

1/4 cup of Grenadine 

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl (a punch bowl is perfect, but any large bowl will work). If you are mixing these in advance, room-temperature ingredients are fine, you can chill the filled bags in the fridge until it's time for your party. If you are mixing these right before your party, I'd recommend starting will chilled juices and liquor. 

Once all your ingredients are mixed together, it's time to fill your bags! This cocktail is fairly strong but tastes like fruit punch, so drink responsibly! 

Adding Cocktails to the Blood Bags

The Blood Bag Cocktail Kit I ordered on Amazon, arrived with all the components separated. 

Start by sticking the label to the empty bag. I first attempted to fill the bag without the sticker attached, so I could rinse the bag if I had any sticky drippage. Once the bags are filled the sticker doesn't attach as smoothly and has some ripples. I realized it wasn't very messy filling the bags and the labels could handle a wipe-down if needed. So I attached the stickers first, before filling them. 

Next slide the clip over the straw, but leave the clamp in an open position. 

After the bags are filled, it's easy to close the clip to keep the drink from leaking. You can open and close the clip as many times as you need! 

Use the included syringe to suck up your cocktail. 

Place the blood bag into something that can hold it upright. I used a large 5-cup measuring cup to hold the bags upright during filling. 

Place the tip of the syringe into the straw on the blood bag and slowly add the liquid. You only need to fill slowly at the start, once the bag expands with the first syringe full of cocktail, you can squirt additional syringes in quickly. It took between 4 and 5 syringes full of cocktails to fill each blood bag. Once the bag was full, I closed the clip and filled the next bag. 

Once all the bags were filled, I wiped down the outside of the bags with a wet cloth, dried them off, and placed them in the refrigerator to chill until party time! On the day of the party, I will place them in a bucket of ice. 

Conclusion

Halloween is the ideal time to let your creativity flow, and these Halloween cocktails in blood bags will definitely impress your guests. The presentation alone is a conversation starter, and the deliciously eerie flavors of these cocktails will leave everyone wanting more. So, whether you're hosting a Halloween party or simply want to enjoy a spooky night in, give these drinks a try and let the blood-curdling fun begin! Cheers to a hauntingly good time!

*I personally purchased every product that was used to make this costume and nothing was provided to me. 
**I have included affiliate links to the products I used and can receive a small commission if a purchase is made after you click on a link in this tutorial.

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