Our Second Annual Halloween Hot Drink Open House

Although Halloween 2026 is now just a three day old memory, I wanted to share a few photos from the Second Annual Herling Halloween Hot Drink Open House.

We began the tradition last year when the weather on October 31 was cold and rainy with significant wind. We set up a few crock pots with hot apple cider and hot chocolate and got the fire roaring in the fireplace for any friends or neighbors who needed to warm up during their trick-or treating adventures. Since it was a last minute decision, we didn’t actively spread the word about our hot drink bar. Despite the lack of public knowledge, I ran out of to-go cups and every last drop of hot drinks was drunk before the night’s end. I estimated about 40-50 people came inside our home that night. At one point, there wasn’t an empty seat in my house. That made my heart so happy and full.

Because our open house was such a hit last year, we decided to make it an annual Halloween tradition. This year, the weather was cold but sunny and clear, making it a beautiful night for walking the neighborhood collecting sweet treats. But it was still chilly and the warm drinks and fireplace were inviting to many friends and neighbors again this year.

I think we had about 30-40 people come in to enjoy our hot drink bar this year but we did expect less folks just because the weather was a little nicer. We still had a blast and most of the drinks were consumed with little leftover. I didn’t run out of cups because I bought 100 pack this time around instead of the 30 pack I bought last year. I have 64 cups left for the next hot drink open house.

The drink bar included apple cider both hot and cold, regular milk chocolate hot cocoa, peppermint hot cocoa, white chocolate hot cocoa, and double chocolate hot cocoa made with oat milk. Of course, I had all the hot drink fixings I could think of including whipped cream, caramel sauce, cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon, cinnamon sugar, nutmeg, marshmallows, various sprinkles and sanding sugars, different flavored extracts, maple syrup, maple candy, honey, honey sticks, flavored milk straws, and some boozy additions for the adults. I also bought a peck of fresh apples and a few dozen apple cider donuts to enjoy.

I don’t know how I will be able to top this year’s spread, but I guess I don’t really need to! If I just do it the same, the friends and neighbors will come.

For this year’s couples costume, Jeff and I decided insurance was the way to go…Flo from Progressive and Mr. Mayhem from Allstate. Oh what fun we had creating Jeff’s Mayhem costume. I bought him a suit, shirt, and tie at the thrift store for a total of $20 then we set about destroying it. We laid it in the driveway, spread cold fireplace ash and coals all over it, and then drove the car over it about a dozen times. Then we took some hot fireplace coals and singed the tie and parts of the jacket and pants. I took a seam ripper to all of it, strategically placing tears and holes, then I smudged mud and dirt all over it, and finished it off by splattering it with red paint. We were really pleased with the outcome! My outfit was a lot easier since I had to purchase the Progressive apron and Flo’s other essentials. But it was all a great hit!