Kids celebrate Halloween with candy, but many adults prefer tricked-out cocktails for their treats.

"You want drinks to look and taste like Halloween did when you were a kid: sweet, scary or a mixture of both," said Michael Bunker, a bartender at the Mission in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The key is creating cocktails that are tasty but not necessarily tasteful. This year, Bunker's ghoul-inspired creations include the Sweet Bloody Jane, a fruity rum drink that looks to be drenched in blood and exudes dry-ice fog.

"The look of the drink is just as important as the taste," he said. "Bartenders are the new chefs. People expect us to know how to pair flavors, use fresh ingredients and basically create cocktails with the eye of an artist and the knowledge of a chef."

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of United States, Bunker's Halloween potions are spot-on. The popularity of holiday-themed drinks, once novelties, continues to increase, as do the public's expectations of bartenders, aka mixologists or cocktail chefs.

"Everyday cocktails are still big; when it comes to holidays like Halloween, themed drinks are even bigger," said Danielle Eddy, a spokeswoman for the Distilled Spirits Council in New York City. "They're just one more way to make the holiday festive."

The trend toward turning cocktails into holiday treats comes at a time when an increasing number of adults celebrate Halloween with childlike abandon. The National Retail Federation reports that Halloween spending topped $5.7 billion last year, with an average of $67 spent per person on costumes, treats, decorations and parties.

For many, Halloween, a holiday brought to North America in the 1840s by Irish immigrants, trumps Christmas and New Year's for a party. This year, Halloween falls on Saturday, a night particularly suited to scaring up fun.

"It's the perfect night to celebrate a holiday nobody gets too old to celebrate," Bunker said. "It's all about dressing up in costume and having a little fun."