If you’re not making a themed charcuterie board for every single holiday, are you even living your best life? Halloween is creeping up, which means it’s time to swap out the basic cheese and crackers for something spooky and snackable. I’m talking candy eyeballs, gummy worms, and ghost-shaped brie. Whether you’re hosting a full-on haunted bash or just vibing with a Hocus Pocus marathon, a Halloween charcuterie board is the Instagram-worthy spread your spooky season deserves.

Listen, if you’re not that artsy, I get it. Trust me, I’m a writer not an artist. So I can see why the idea of putting something together with your hands can be totally intimidating. But you don’t have to be a grade-A sculptor to make your charcuterie board totally adorable (and spooky, of course). All you need to so take inspiration from a few of these basic ideas and in no time all your guests will be complimenting you on your equal-parts-creepy-and-cute Halloween charcuterie board.

How To Make A Halloween Charcuterie Board

Step 1: You Don’t Have To Stick With The Basics

Okay, I know “charcuterie board” usually implies cheeses and crackers, but it can really be made of anything you want. Use brownies, cookies, buttercream — whatever it is you need to make your creation come to life.

Step 2: Use Store-Bought Decorations

Who said you needed to make your ghosts out of brie (I know I just did, but not relevant right now)? Sometimes, all you need is a central — most-importantly — store-bought decoration like a skeleton and you can build your entire board around it. After that, you just need to make sure everything is placed nicely, but other than that, that’s all the creativity you really need.

Step 3: Halloween-Themed Snacks Can Take You To The Next Level

There are so many brands that put out Halloween-themed treats for the season, so you definitely want to use those to your advantage. You can rely less on your artistic skills when you’re using orange cookies, Halloween candy, and spooky popsicles to do most of the holiday workload for you.

Step 4: Meat Is Your Spooky BFF

If you’re easily grossed-out, this may not be the option for you — but if you’re into all things gory, meat will be your gold mine. Meat looks just like… well, flesh. And you can totally use that to your advantage. Use sausage links to look like intestines or ham slices can double as human meat (muahaha, etc.). Let’s just hope you and your guests keep your appetite after this.

Step 5: Hello, Did You Forget About Candy?

If you’re really feeling low-lift this year, candy is your best friend. I mean it is Halloween after all. There are no rules against throwing a bunch of candy on your board and calling it a day.

Step 6: Lean Into Your Fave Halloween Classic

Do you have a favorite Halloween special? Maybe it’s Halloweentown or Hocus Pocus. If you don’t want to go the standard route and just do ghosts and ghouls, take inspo from your favorite Halloween flick. It might even become easier to come up with different ideas and it’ll guarantee that your charcuterie board is as unique as they come.

Step 7: When In Doubt, Give It Eyes

If you’re really not feeling your creative juices flowing, the absolute easiest thing you can do is to just grab some googly eyes from your neighborhood dollar store and just stick them on everything. Cheese? A ghost. Oranges? Now spooky pumpkins. It’s really fool-proof.