No-fuss hors d'oeuvres are one of those golden tenets of entertaining, and for that, nothing beats a good crudité. Prepare ahead, refrigerate, and assemble. That way, there's plenty more time for actually enjoying your party, instead of running around the kitchen working up a sweat—so not pretty. Here's a creepy version of a crudité I did on the Halloween special this month. It's an easy way to use all the colorful gourds of the season, but in a totally unconventional way. Plus it's healthy, so you won't feel guilty frying up a few fall tortilla chips to go along with it. Start by assembling a good mix of sizes, shapes, colors and textures.    

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Grab a sharp serrated knife—I used a wood saw from Home Depot—cut a wavy pattern around your gourd, scoop out the innards, then slice off the bottom so it sits nice and flat.

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And there you go! It's the perfect container (with lid!) for a creepy crudité.

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To save time, you could even get all pre-cut
vegetables from the grocery store. Just make sure you ditch the plastic platter for a more
spooky spread.

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And for the swamp dip? It's super gourmet, so take notes: Lipton Onion
Soup Mix and sour cream. How easy is that? Sure, I could have concocted something
completely original (and so could you!), but why bother when you could
use a 1950s classic that everybody loves anyway. At least they did for Spooktacular Cocktails & Beastly Bites, the ghoulish gathering we had at the fantastic home accessories store Wish in Rye. 

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Among the other tasty treats, fall leaf tortilla chips and spiderweb cupcakes, both reincarnations from a previous life. And for a blood-red punch as quick and delicious as this one, combine Pom juice, vodka, Fresca, and fresh floating pomegranate seeds and slices to satisfy even the most sanguinary among you.

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Our most sincere thanks to the temptress of Wish herself, Denise MacDonald, and to our dear friend Elizabeth, whose stylish house you may have toured around town.   

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And so with Halloween a day a way, and a growing guest list of hungry heathens, why not create a crudité that's beautiful, healthy and oh-so-creepy?

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