Halloween Party Post Mortem

This Halloween party is in the bag. We had such a great time. The food, the people and the costumes were all impressive. I actually had a record number of trick-or-treaters. In the four years leading up to this Halloween, I have had a total of 3 trick-or-treaters. This year I had probably 40 kids come and ask for candy. I give all the credit to the big kitty looking out the windows.  Because I was already in costume for the party, the kids all got a thrill when I answered the door in full on Medusa garb. I was so surprised by the record numbers, all the candy I had out for decoration in bowls was gone a quarter way through the party. Oh well, probably for the best anyway. I certainly did not need any more sugar after everything I devoured. But in my own defense, I was the hostess, I was duty- bound to eat some of everything that people bought. Plus, I had to taste test my own creations to make sure they were acceptable...... At least that's what I keep telling myself. ;p

Some of the goodies I gave people in their take home trick-or-treat bags

snarky gravestone sugar cookies

Pumpkin hand pies

Creepy cheese and frightening fruit tray- my time spent catering very apparent

Vegetarian gello-brain. Strawberry-lychee flavor,

Thanks to everyone who brought other food.  No pics to prove it, but it is appreciated.


Party People

Your hostess Medusa

Nikki, Mistress of the night{shift}

Cheryl, the wicked witch of the East{errr E-lectrical}

Joe-zo the clown

Julia Audubon, Bird Watcher Extrodinaire

Margaret,
Not sure if she was supposed to be a school marm, a nun or what.
 I personally believe she was channelling Julie Andrews from the sound of Music and came as Sister Mary-Margaret

Father Richard the flirtatious

Annette as a dragonfly {I still say she's actually a love bug} and Reina, as herself a lady who had to close the store that night and open it the next morning.

John as Elvis during the white jumpsuit era ....{Uh thank ya, thank ya verra much} 

The only picture I was able to catch of my mother in law {corner} the whole night, She and Joe went as a pair of clowns

Many other people came, but I didn't get any more pics of costumes.....boo

Pumpkins from the pumpkin carving festivities



Margaret's kitty and a sickle moon

Julia's kitty face

My spider "Sal"

All in all I'd say everyone had fun. Another year in the books.  

Great finds

This past week was my birthday, so I indulged myself in a Goodwill spree. Well. not a real spree as I only found 3 things, but boy, are they AWESOME!

First off these two cutey jars. One is the clasic cookie jar shape and one is in a ginger jar shape. Perfect to fill with fall odds and ends. I am thinking maybe channelling St. Mary-Martha {Stewart, that is}and cutting little shapes of spirits or devils to have floating in each jar.

Price on the cookie jar-

Price on the ginger jar-

Plus I got this little ghost candy dish. I plan on filling this with the mini bat cookies I made yesterday.

Note-

 If any of you are considering making "mini" cookies .

DO NOT SUCCUMB TO THE ALLURE OF MINI COOKIES!

They are so much stinkin' work . As if cut out cookies aren't bad enough . Lets roll out the dough and cut shapes and peel them off the counter an extra 6 times per recipe. One time was enough to cure me of my desire to use my mini cookie cutters. From now on the will only be used to cut bread or cheese or other easy things.
Anyhow, here's the last find.

price-

More Halloween to come!!!!

Halloween luminaries

Sorry no post in a week, I have been aggravated with blogger. I have been busy doing all kinds of Halloween projects. Most recently these little luminaries. My plan is to place one or two in each window in the kitchen.  These luminaries took like 10 minutes. Literally. I cut out some cute Halloween shapes, stuck them on some drinking glasses and thenwrapped the glasses in wax paper and secured.  That's it.

Sorry about the picture quality on this one. During the party the shades will be up and luminaries in place.

The paper curtains took alot more time to do than they probably look like.

Lots more has been happening this week decor wise. Also I picked up some great stuff at Goodwill that I'll be sharing in the next day or two.

Still plenty to do before the party.

But I have my costume basically figured out. I will be going as Medusa

Dress- white linen sheath

Hair- will do in a messy up do with tendrils coming down.

 I bought several toy snakes to weave through it and around my neck.

I will do some glitter green eye shadow make up on my face to simulate scales.

I still need to make a couple of arm bracelets and a big necklace....hmmmm

Will keep you all posted as things get done!

Happy Halloween

Fall Find part deux

Skull Ice Cube Tray.... $1.00!

Of the many things I love about this country, dollar stores are in the top ten... well at least top 20.

I dub this facial expression "grinnacing"

get it...?

grin+grimmacing= grinnacing

I crack myself up...

Ahem

Are they wearing sunglasses?

a mug shot

I'm thinking I could make some seriously gross-out candy with these as well.

Like white chocolate filled with gooey carmel or peanut butter brains....

Actually that is not grossing me out at all .

Just tempting me to raid the party favors stash I have hidden from my hubby.....and myself, lets be honest here.



halloween in every corner

The picture quality is crap on this pic, but it was like 11 pm when I took it..... Not an ideal time for lighting.

You can't really see, but in the cheese plate is a big spooky ball of all sizes of spiders and some webbing.  The skull is one of two I own.  Glowing, and only like 5.99 last year at Party City. The Trick or Treat sign I picked up at the Dollar Store like 6 years ago for obviously 1.00. The pewter candlestick was a Goodwill find- .25. That little white dish is a Shelly candy dish .99 courtesy of Goodwill again. And the pumpkin....well I just bragged about that here.

So not to toot my own savings horn,

but BEEP BEEP

I purchased  this two years ago on target clearance. I think like 2.99

The new home for the Medusa head...
I think I will make the candles drip blood or something. The plain white is bumming me out.
Maybe hot glue some candle bling to it? I also will be filling up the tea service with candy for the party,  but candy is not allowed in the house otherwise I will  gobble it all up in one sitting.
Seriously, I have no self control when it comes to the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
And you know that's what I'll buy. No gummy items {has gelatin, which is not vegetarian} and no boring candy either.

Speaking of candy.....

The hubby and I were talking about treats that we enjoyed as kids, and Andes chocolate and mint candies came up..... My question is, Why have they not made a Halloween version of this. There are Halloween Oreos, M&M's, Chip's Ahoy, Reeses, and everything else under the sun. Why no Andes? The green would look super cute with a bit of purple mixed in ....like the wrapper. A low cost option vs. reformulating the whole confection.

Hear me Andes makers! We want A Halloween option!

Top of the Hutch options





Option 1

Decided not to go with this based on hubbys statement that the Medusa head was one of the coolest Halloween items I had, and it wouldn't be fully appreciated up there.
BTW she has glowing red eyes. and I got her for $7.00 last year on Target Clearence

BOO-yah {I am so punny, I crack myself up}

 

Variation , no Medusa Head...

Thought this was too blah color wise

Final choice

yes the little thing on the left is a collectors Jack and Sally shot glass set.

I realize it does not go with my whole Vintage Victorian inspiration, but a little bad taste is like salt.

I will show the rest of the hutch tomorrow....



Fall Find!

I am doing my happy dance right now!!!!

I hope you all appreciate this as much as I do.

FAKE CARVEABLE PUMPKINS FOR ONLY THREE DOLLARS!!!!

THREE DOLLARS!!!!!

Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha

The name brand variety runs around $15-30 per pumpkin.

see what I'm talking about

You know I was not about to spend that much on a single item {unless I can wear it}.

My luck this fall is AWESOME.

sorry about the CAPS explosion....{I am very excited}

The variety of carving possibilities are making my head spin!

a witch flying over the moon?

a wise old owl?

a haunted house with ghoasties in the window?

Gaaah, I need more pumpkins.



First of the Fall Flavors...

This year I will only have beer and hard cider at the party,

so we taste tested a few interesting looking ones......

I have posted real beer tasters reviews because I either like it or not, I really don't know the "proper" terms for the flavors

read ratings here

White Rascal- pretty good, had that Belgian White taste of orange and coriander.

read ratings here

Dead Guy Ale- Hubby loved, but I am not a big fan of ales... a bit too dark tasting for me

read ratings here

Shipyard Pumpkinhead- My favorite of the lot...a nice pie spice flavor

read ratings here

Saranac Pumpkin Ale- average, I would drink hard cider over this any day.


I will hopefully taste more and post pics, but I can't lie,
I will most likely just go with Woodchuck Amber cider and a beer that the hubby picks. Compromise is the name of the game. He puts up with my incessant Halloween chatter, and I indulge his beer preferences...;p

Autumn tablescape

These are a few of my favorite things....

Well, my first table With a whiff of fall flavor to it at least.

The framed phrase was one of the first things I bought for our house when we moved in. ....1/2 price at Bed Bath and Beyond.The candelabra was $8 at Earthbound trading co. {one of my favorite places to shop} The rest is Goodwill and Dollar store finds... Except the books. Those are first edition Chronicles of Amber, and the broach was my granny's. I just love the sparky fall color faux gemstones. I am going to add in some mesh leaves or bittersweet berries once I find some for a good price. Maybe something like this...



I have ALOT more decorating to do for fall. I have been looking forward to this since like July! Also I have been finding sooooo many cute things for fall. More to come on that....

Meet my new friend, Farnsworth

Isn't he the cutest!

Two things led me to Farnsworth...

One, would be his obvious good looks, and the other is how little he cost me.

Honestly, I would have paid $15, but he was only a third of that... a measly $5.

 How I ask you could I leave him sitting on the shelf?  I gave his ankle a dab of glue and his rear end a brush of black paint, and he is good as new.

 And he has been placed in a starring role in the living room. Right next to my chair.

As for the name...

Hopefully someone out there watches either Futurama or Warehouse 13... But the actual person was fascinating in his own right.... see here

More fall finds later this month!



Halloween Party revised lists

Remember when I laid out my ideas  here?

or here?

or even here?

Well, it has come down to this main thing.... 5 of my best and dearest friends are not going to be able to make it because of various work/ moved 3+ hours away etc. reasons.......Boo-hoo 

So I am now faced with the decision, do I just invite a half dozen or so people over for a small pumpkin carving dinner party or do I keep my same plans and hope that it won't seem too empty .

I am totally into the whole vintage theme I had committed to, but if only like 12 people are coming, there is not really enough people to do some of the party games, and to eat all the food I had planned.

Sooooo-

My current menu looks like this

deviled eggs with little devil faces made out of pieces of red pepper

fleetah - a spinach and cheese creation my MIL makes -listed as "decomposed specimen"

like this only like a pie not little balls

cheese platter

with an aged chedder, a gooey brie and a crumbly blue cheese with figs, grapes, and crackers

{maybe olives}

something like this... dark fall colors

pumpkin seeds

-from my jack o lanterns-roasted w/ olive oil ,salt, and chili powder

mini grilled cheese

{on that tiny pumpernickel loaf you can find in the deli section of the grocery store, with halloween shapes cut out of the top slice of bread so you can see the cheese peeking through}

hand pies

with a savory veggie filling and a pumpkin pie filling

"Man Toes" Pretzels

{shorter stubby version of these, with lttle rosemary "hairs"}

Tombstone shaped cookies

popcorn balls

carmel apples and pears

spiced old fashioned doughnuts

Beer and Hard Cider

with a spiced autumn tea for our non-alcoholic friends -;p

as for the entertainment...

Pumpkin and squash carving with maybe some bobbing for apples

 and pin the tail on the cat after a few hard ciders!

Or should I just have a "viewing" of a Halloween movie  after dinner..... What do you think?