Let curious creations come to life in easy-to-make party decorations and food inspired by the late 19th century. Victorians were able to fill their cabinets with an ever-widening array of objects. Decorate your place with an eclectic mix of store-bought oddities, downloaded clip art, and handmade artifacts. Surely your guests will enjoy a slice of fungus tart and maybe a jellyfish skeleton or two.

Create and display creatures -- or parts of them -- from myths or even ones you've dreamed up yourself. The "Flintstones"-size femur and the heap of humeri posing as logs in the fireplace are made from newspaper wrapped in plaster cloth.

There's nothing bare-bones about this table decoration. The table legs are legs indeed -- store-bought faux bones. Note: The legs can't stand up to heavy weights; use the decorative table to display light items.

Create this arm-bone frame to display our clip-art sea-life print or another suitably spooky work of art.

Beautiful butterflies seem to float off the pages of a dusty old tome, growing as they flit around this library. Use butterfly clip art to create these party decorations that come to life.

Print Butterfly Clip Art 1
Print Butterfly Clip Art 2
Print Butterfly Clip Art 3

Guests will expect an unusual event when they receive invitations crawling with bugs. Print these clip-art designs onto heavyweight paper, and fill in the details for your party.

Print the Bug Clip Art

Serve potent potions on our creepy-crawly insect coasters.

Print the Insect Clip-Art

These fizzy concoctions look like they're straight out of a mad scientist's lab. The secret ingredient is Aperol, a bittersweet orange Italian liqueur with a bright orange hue.

Don't be afraid to disturb this display of stone-crab claws and poached shrimp. Dipping them into devilish cocktail sauce is irresistible.

Fossils in rocks are fascinating. These cookies, made to resemble them, are equally engrossing. Just press plastic critters in the dough before baking to make imprints.

The usual gin and tonic gets brushed by a peacock's teal plume thanks to blue Curacao, a bitter-orange liqueur, and green Chartreuse, a French herbal liqueur.

Sweet, spicy, and addictive, these fried black-eyed peas will stare at guests from their bowl.

If the spooky decor doesn't scare off your guests, they can get a handle on hor d'oeuvres with these exposed-bone, Asian-flavored drummettes.

Having a peacock -- a spectacular example of natural beauty -- in a Victorian garden was a kind of status symbol. These birds, a colorful departure from crows and ravens, bring an element of mystery to a Halloween party.

Young Victorian ladies loved to tromp around outdoors, gathering plants and flowers to press and display for their collections. 

Mimic the look of a botanical print in an impressive savory tart. using a rectangular tart pan makes a frame for the work of art. A puree of mushrooms (fungi) and fennel is hidden beneath a cream cheese filling. Against this backdrop, thinly sliced roasted wild mushrooms and spring onions and a scattering of fennel fronds become gorgeous specimens.

Tempt your Halloween party guests with an array of candies masquerading as botanical or nautical artifacts. Fill large glass jars with sweets, and then mark each jar with a label that sounds convincing -- the meringues are "jellyfish skeletons" -- while being completely made up.