As seen on SA Live - Friday, Oct. 30, 2026

Today at 10:30 a.m., halloween prep, costume chaos and drinks that look as good as they taste.

LAST-MINUTE HALLOWEEN HOSTING IDEAS

With Halloween landing on a Saturday this year for the first time in a while, the show opened with a party setup built almost entirely out of things already sitting around the house. A local content creator walked through the shop-your-house approach: stack books and prop them open, drape cheesecloth picked up at H-E-B or Walmart, and pile on whatever pumpkins you already own. Her trick for a spooky candle vignette is leftover red wine rather than food coloring, which reads more like blood and less like a craft project.

Food got the same low-effort treatment. The easy pumpkin dip is three ingredients, canned pumpkin, Cool Whip and a vanilla Jell-O mix, stirred together, spooned into a hollowed-out pumpkin and served with vanilla wafers or gingersnaps, with a dusting of pumpkin spice on top. The drink was a witch’s brew of lemonade, a splash of grape juice for color and sparkling water, kid-friendly as mixed and easy to spike with vodka or sparkling wine. The snack board leaned on store-bought everything from Trader Joe’s, H-E-B or Walmart, arranged in a coffin tray with jumbo marshmallows used as dividers and small plastic cauldrons as bowls. Her parting advice was simply that more is more.

SPIRIT HALLOWEEN COSTUME ROULETTE

The crew took the cameras to the Spirit Halloween superstore at 10628 Culebra Road and turned shopping into a game. Six categories went into a cup, and each draw gave the hosts one minute to sprint the aisles and assemble something. Pop culture produced a Michael Myers mask paired with a denim jacket. Scary, nostalgic, ridiculous and spicy brought a Chucky sweater, a pizza-slice hat, a clown mask and a SWAT commander look, with the hosts then picking each other’s final outfit. Chaotic, and a decent argument that mixing and matching beats buying a costume in a bag.

ARCHIE’S FINE COFFEE HALLOWEEN DRINKS

The Halloween menu from Archie’s Fine Coffee came into the studio for a three-drink demo. The Franken Matcha, a returning favorite from last year, starts with white chocolate and gets its sweetness and color from ube. The Cursed Cocoa pairs espresso with chaga mushroom over the shop’s Chococino base. The Day of the Dead builds on a Mexican Coke base with caramel syrup and a vanilla soft top, plus espresso.

On Halloween day, Oct. 31, anyone who shows up in costume at any of the four stores gets buy one, get one free on Halloween drinks, the fall menu, signature drinks and plant-based energy drinks. The stores close early that day at 6 p.m., and the Halloween lineup ends Oct. 31. The shop is on Instagram at @archiescoffeelounge.

EL RODEO SPOOKY COCKTAILS

El Rodeo at Alamo Ranch, 11282 Culebra Road, closed out the show with the cocktails that have been circulating online. A bartender there walked through the Haunted Tower, a four-flavor build with blue citrus, wild berry, passion fruit and green apple, rimmed in black salt, heavily decorated and loaded with ice for the smoke-and-fog effect. The Bulleider flight uses the same flavors in a different presentation. The one she recommended is the zombie soft serve, a green apple and grape pour with a gooey texture, black salt, edible fake eyeballs and a shot of house vodka with citrus fruit on top. The drink menu changes every month, so the Halloween lineup gives way to something new for Christmas.