As we draw ever closer to the spookiest night in the calendar, we believed we’d bring you a couple of soothing mixed drinks to help blank out anything that goes bump in the night. influenced by the ever-awesome Martha Stewart, here’s our For Your Eyes only Martini range.

I keep in mind when I was a kid I had a book on cool celebration game ideas. It was aimed at kids between 6-11, so it a lot of mainly gross. but this mixed drink idea had me believing about the ‘haunted at midnight’ celebration game from my book.

Basically, you’d get your buddies to sit in a circle and turn all the lights off. then you’d have to try and work out what ‘body parts’ your mum had put in a bowl just by touching them. There were things like dried apricots pretending to be dismembered ears and a bowl of cold porridge imitating brains… and peeled grapes for eyeballs.

I never played the celebration game but it’s stuck with me, and these mixed drink garnishes truly took me back.

We believed the name For Your Eyes only was the best in shape for these vodka martinis – it brings a whole new, a lot more sinister angle to the James Bond classic.

For these cocktails, we couldn’t believe of a spirit that would be a better in shape than the Crystal Head vodka with its famous bottle. It need to be a busy time of year for those guys!

The Detached Retina

Here’s what you need:

2 parts Crystal Head vodka

1/2 – 1 part dry vermouth depending upon how dry you want your martini

1 x radish

1 x pimento-stuffed olive

Here’s what you do for the eyeballs:

1. cut the top off the radishes and utilize a peeler to shave off the red skin to about 2/3 to the bottom. Leave bit strips of skin showing to give the radish a bloodshot look.

2. Core out a chunk from the top of the radish with a knife. It needs to be big enough to hold about half an olive.

3. push an olive into the hole, then trim the bit that’s sticking out with a sharp knife.

Here’s what you do for the drink:

1. pour the vermouth and vodka into a mixed drink shaker over ice and shake.

2. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an ‘eyeball’.

A sight for Sore Eyes

Here’s what you need:

1 1/2 parts Crystal Head Vodka

1/2 – 1 part lychee liqueur depending how wonderful you want your martini

1 x lychee peeled and pitted – or get them in a tin ready-prepared

1 x blueberry

Here’s what you do for the eyeballs:

1. push a blueberry into the pit cavity of the lychee – it’s that simple!

Here’s what you do for the drink:

1. pour the vodka and lychee liqueur into a mixed drink shaker over ice and shake.

2. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an ‘eyeball’.

For a bit added extra gore, you can drip some maraschino cherry juice or liqueur into the glass to make it look a bit bloody!

If you’re a lot more of a gin martini drinker (The Gin Queen, I’m checking out you), I believe the savoury garnish of the radish eyeballs would work truly well here.

I’m still not sure if the radish eyeballs are just for show or if they must be eaten. I ate mine, but Mrs romance wasn’t as well keen. She was much a lot more thinking about the lychees and blueberries!

As we mentioned, this idea is from Martha Stewart and all her craftiness. Here’s her video where she demonstrates how to make the eyeballs. There’s a lot of other stuff in this 7 1/2 minute video, but the action all starts at about 3 min 45 secs.

How will you celebrate this halloween? Do you keep in mind any fun celebration games from when you were a kid? Do you have any cool food or mixed drink concepts for this frightening season? tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs Romance.