When you're hosting a Halloween party, you have enough to worry about with decorating and entertaining your guests without having to play bartender as well. One way to simplify your responsibilities and free you up to enjoy the party is to serve one or all of these Halloween themed punches. Not only will they enhance your ghoulish ambiance, they taste great and your guests can help themselves!

Invasion of the Pumpkin Patch

1 large pumpkin
1 gallon apple cider
2 2-liter bottles ginger ale
1 750 ml bottle light rum
Toy plastic spiders

Cut off the top of the pumpkin. The opening needs to be bigger than you make when carving a jack-o-lantern because the pumpkin will be your punch bowl. Pull out the pulp, discard the seeds (or roast them for a snack) and place in a large bowl. In the bowl, combine the remainder of the ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. Fill your blender with as much of the mixture as you can, puree and pour into the pumpkin. Repeat until you have pureed everything and your bowl is empty. Mix again with a spoon to ensure uniformity throughout the punch.

Float plastic toy spiders on top of the punch and place additional spiders outside the pumpkin as if they are invading the punch. You can even glue some to the sides of the pumpkin. Serve at room temperature.

Sewer Water

7 cups orange juice with pulp
2 2-liters Dr Pepper
1 750 ml bottle vanilla vodka
Tootsie Rolls
Milk
Clear, undecorated punch bowl

Unwrap Tootsie Rolls and place in a microwave safe bowl. It's up to you how many you want to use, as these only serve as decoration for the punch bowl. Microwave 1 minute at a time, stirring and adding milk as needed, until they are melted. The ideal consistency is slightly thicker than chocolate syrup. Drizzle along the sides of a clear punch bowl over wax paper, then set aside for the Tootsie Roll mixture to harden.

While the punch bowl is setting, mix the remainder of the ingredients in another large bowl. The combination of orange juice and Dr. Pepper will make the punch look like murky water, but - rest assured - it is quite tasty despite its unappetizing appearance. Pour into the prepared punch bowl to create the illusion of sewer water. Serve over ice.

Bloody Mary in Pieces

1 gallon tomato juice
1/2 cup lime juice
3 tsp salt
3 tsp black pepper
1 tsp celery salt
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 750 ml bottle vodka
Hot sauce to taste
Barbie doll(s)
Cauldron style punch bowl

Thoroughly wash at least one Barbie or similar doll. Pull all of the pieces apart, including the head. Using your child's cherished toys is not recommended, as it could be traumatizing to see playtime friends dismembered.

Mix all of the ingredients in a cauldron style punch bowl. A regular punch bowl is okay, but the cauldron produces the best effect. Don't add a lot of hot sauce because some people like their bloody marys extremely mild. You can leave a bottle of hot sauce beside the cauldron for guests to spice it up as they please. Put the doll pieces inside the punch and allow them to float around like Mary was hacked to pieces and boiled to perfection. Serve warm or over ice.