Everything We Know About Chuck E. Cheese's 2021 Halloween-Themed Menu

If there's one thing Charles Entertainment Cheese is not, it's a party pooper; thank you very much, sir. The esteemed mouse behind Chuck E. Cheese's has been hosting kids' birthday parties for years now, and he's certainly not one to shy away from a good time. Indeed, that may be why he's already looking ahead to Halloween, and – as the country's resident rodent Gatsby – trying to put the pizza party pieces together to create a "boo-tacular" bash for the ages (via Chuck E. Cheese's website).

Perhaps it was the unflattering piece put out by Bon Appétit in 2014 – the one that lambasted the food, warned that a Chuck E. Cheese's party ends in tears, and suggested that adults bring a flask of Campari and sweet vermouth to the restaurant in order to make the whole experience bearable – that put a bee in Cheese's bonnet to make this Halloween party stand out. Or maybe, like Gatsby, this is just what Chuck does, old sport. Either way, we could be the beneficiaries of the greatest party mouse of our generation, and we bloody well better act like it by accepting the invitation to this year's spooky season at Chuck E. Cheese's. Here's what's on the menu.

As Chew Boom, culinary tastemaker of the Internet food literati, reveals in a sparkling tell-all, this season's boo-tacular at Chuck E. Cheese's sees not only the return of cheeseheads who presumably summered in the Hamptons and have returned to Cheese's to winter (and party) in the manner and lifestyle to which they have become accustomed ... it also sees the return of Pumpkin Pepperoni Pizza. The chain takes its signature pepperoni pie, and artfully carves the shape of a pumpkin into the base, using slices of the cured salami to create the eyes, nose, and mouth of a traditional Jack O'Lantern.

Other exhibits in Cheese's artisanal food installment include the Slime Cookie, an oversized, cake-like chocolate chip cookie decorated with white icing, green "slime," and a monster face made of candy. (Could it be commenting on capitalism or the power of our own fears to consume, or "eat," us all?) The Creepy Cupcake might reflect Chuck's avant-garde period, with what could interpret as a slime monster eternally imprisoned in a miniature cake, the cupcake wrapper holding it hostage just as our own mortality grips us daily with the icy hand of Death, threatening to close its fist and squeeze the sweet ("frosted") breath from our life at any moment. Then there's the Dippin' Dots Eye Scream, which is really just ice cream with some gummy worms on top. Pair that menu with skeeball-playing, pizza-guzzling children, and this could be Chuck's best Halloween yet.