What better way to keep the spirit of Halloween than by turning your buffet table into a party that can almost turn off your appetites instead of turning them on. Creating a “corpse buffet” will allow them to enjoy what you’ve prepared and leave a lasting impression when it comes to your party decorating skills. There are many ways to do this. Let’s start with the basic supplies and then move on to the food possibilities.
Supplies:
- 6 foot long table
- Black tablecloth (8 feet or larger)
- Battery-operated candles and/or table lights (safety first! Battery-operated please)
- Various sizes of serving plates
- Wig (for the “head” area – optional)
- old man dress shirt
- old pair of pants
- Various foods (see below)
The art of creating a carcass buffet lies in the strategic placement of the corresponding foods. The goal is to create a tasty buffet of food that resembles a corpse, and additional portions of the creations are placed in front of the corpse for easy serving. You can start with the body accessories: a wig, a large shirt and pants. The wig is easy, that’s the head. When it comes to the shirt, it should only be buttoned in the “collar” area and placed on the open tablecloth, as an additional decoration (the sleeves are placed on the table). The pants are the same…wear an old pair, leave the button and zipper open, and put out a serving plate of whatever you’re using for the intestine/stomach section. However, for the pant legs, cut each pant leg down the center front, just below the crotch, stopping before the hem. Fold open and fit serving bowls and plates inside. It helps to shred the clothes a bit for added effect. There are endless ways to vary the buffet and the above is just an example to get your creativity flowing.
As for food, try these options for size:
Head – Bloody eyes, ears, and brain matter are key here. First, though, put a properly sized bowl on a wig. This will be your head. Fill it with brain stuff (either leaf salad, pasta salad, or a special brain snack such as a cheese ball made from a “brain mold”) and garnish with your choice of edible eyeball creations. It might be a good idea to make the head area a snack section so that the actual head has a selection, allowing you to place two additional snacks like a bowl of Eyeballs (jelly eyeballs, egg eyeballs stuffing, etc.) or a platter of Bloody Ears (“ears” of shrimp and cocktail sauce).
Neck/Shoulders – There’s not much to do here. If you’re wearing the shirt, you can button it up over a box and use this area for lighting effects and decorations…like a battery-operated flickering candle with some spiders and cobwebs.
Ribs/Chest – Place a serving dish (slow cooker, saucepan, or skillet) in the rib area and fill with boneless barbecue rib meat. Stack the bone-in ribs on another serving plate at an angle in front of the boneless rib meat to create the “ribs” of the body. If you prefer, you can get some fake bones from a party supply or order some bones from a butcher that you can simply place as decoration, keeping the center meat on a warm plate.
Stomach/Intestines – Inside the torso of the pants, place your crock pot or serving plate filled with things like spaghetti (or any pasta of your choice), hot dogs, or any large sausage… actually it can be filled with anything you think would it would be an intestine or a stomach. It seems. You can choose to stuff it with sweet and sour chicken (the red sauce is pretty grotesque), or even some fried chicken gizzards with a bit of bloody sauce (Marinara or Red Ranch Dip)
Hands – the actual arms will be under some serving plates, cutlery or napkins, but the sleeve cuff can be adjusted to skirt the bowl or platter where appetizer “fingers” can be served. There are many types of finger recipes, from shrimp to crackers. It will be your choice here. Be sure to make a display hand and have the actual items in separate bowls. You can even create a hand out of dead finger and chicken wing appetizers, using the battery as a swollen, rotten thumb (a light application of BBQ sauce with a little red food coloring works great for this effect).
Legacy– This is the area where you can stuff the pant legs with Breadstick Bones, Tinted Kneecaps (dinner rolls) or make them bloody style with a little marinara sauce by hand.
Feet – You can create some toes the same way you do your fingers, or you can just reserve this section for condiments and cutlery, or other additional dishes and desserts you want to place on the table. Simply decorate it with old boots or shoes (wash first!). Slide the boots and shoes against the far side of the table (eg against the wall) and cover them with fake cobwebs, bugs, worms, spiders, etc.
It only remains to assemble the table. Put the tablecloth on the table, then arrange the food according to their respective body parts and clothes. Finish off by placing faux lights and cobwebs to create the appropriate spooky effect. Since all party sizes are different, use your imagination to organize the accessories and make your dead body the life of the party!