Witches' Dinner Party!

I have been plotting this party since mid-August. Each detail proved a perfect piece to the masterpiece. Thanks to those lovely girls who attended this year. It was so much fun! I can hardly wait until next year!

Don't pay attention to the smudge on the frame...How did I miss that?

Theme: Black and Purple with Silver accents.

 Menu:

Appetizer: Ghostly Greens

Main Dish: Bat Wings and Monster Mashed Potatoes

Dessert: Sinful Delight

Drinks: Mulled Cranberry-Blackberry Cider Spritzers

We ate dinner in candle light. It added to the creepy ambiance and created a fun atmosphere. The pictures doesn't do it justice, but it also helped that you couldn't see the full horror of the bat wings... 

Homemade, Halloween-shaped croutons.

Bat wings. Garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes.

No-bake Nutella Cheesecakes. mmm...

Recipes for this devious dinner can be found here(Ghostly Croutons), here(Bat Wings), here(Potatoes), here(Cider Spritzers), and here (Cheesecakes). 

We had some fun entries for our food contest. Congrats to the ladies who won. :) It was all delicious and so fun to see the creativity. 

I especially loved the Witch costumes worn this year. I couldn't be happier with the turn out. Our "Best Dressed Witch" was... electrifying. Her hat was wired with lights! Again, the picture doesn't do this lovely lady justice... but it had to be taken in the dark for full effect. 

Each lovely lady got to take home her very own vial of homemade lavender sugar scrub. And their contest prizes. The dead flower bouquet (in the first picture) also went to the Best Dressed Witch. 

The details for the next party are already underway. *wink, wink* 

Beware! Witches are coming!

With the month of October literally flying by, I can't help but feel a little left behind. So much is happening and I can hardly keep up! But I can hardly keep my excitement about my upcoming dinner party contained... and so I thought I would give a bit of a hint... and maybe a sneak peak. :)

What do spider webs, witch hats, and the color purple have in common? That's right they will all be present at my dinner table this weekend! The Witches' Tea Party has transformed this year into a more dinner-type party. I have had a lot of concocting the details... *insert cackle here* Witches only! I am grateful to those gal pals that have agreed to be my guinea pigs as this is the first dinner party I have ever thrown. And now, as promised, a little sneak peak.

Happy Haunting!

Halloween: Monster Bash 2011

This is the time of year that I spend my free time concocting another Halloween party. This is my favorite party to throw every year. Last year was a very successful party and I was pleased with the turn out. Due to the blog change, I have lost the opportunity to post the details. So, as I was looking back at past parties, I thought I would post a few of my favorite parts from last year... think of it as a little inspiration for the upcoming holiday... a teaser before the details unfold for this year's bash!

The "Monster Mash-tini" Bar:

We had a "Monster Mash-tinis" complete with the "spare parts" bar. Guests were served martini glasses filled with mashed potatoes. Everyone was then able to add whatever toppings they wanted and enjoy their "mash-tini". (hence, the spare parts...)

The spread also included a few... "Dreadful Edibles" including "Purina Wolf Chow" (Chex muddy buddies with candy corn and peanuts), Fruit "ninja bites" (fruit pizzas), a jello heart, and my mom's panna cotta brain.

Jell-o heart

Ninja bites

sorry for the terrible pictures...

The Bug Juice:

 This drink was my favorite of the night. Did you know that if you put a raisin (or in our case, raspberry crasins) into a carbonated beverage it will rise to the top and sink to the bottom? It was way fun to watch! I used the Berry 7-up that was purple and plopped them in. The picture doesn't do it justice... 

Activity: Haunted House contest:

We decided to hold a graham cracker haunted house contest! Entry into the contest was a bag of a candy you could use to decorate with. We provided the graham crackers and the royal icing. 

Activity: Pumpkin Bowling

We also had our traditional pumpkin bowling lane set up in the carport. Small, round pumkins work best when using water bottles as the pins. I make sure to have a few extra... the first usually get pretty smashed. We have also used a fake pumpkin I buy at Michael's. (though, that too ended up in pieces...)

Tip: glow sticks in the water bottles made them easier to see.

Costume Contest:

Everyone placed a vote for their favorite house, as well as their favorites for Creepiest, Cutest, and Most Creative costumes. Awards were presented and the party ended with a movie (Ghostbusters) for those who wanted to stay for the after-party (the clean up...). 

we won the office "best family theme" prize at Bryce's work. just FYI.

one more, just because it makes me smile... :)

Halloween Monster Bash!

This year's Halloween Bash was the most successful party I have thrown yet. I am so pleased with the turn out. Thanks to all who came and made it the success it was! It was fun to see everyone who came and their costumes. (This is a looong post... just warning ya!)

We had a "Monster Mash-tinis" complete with the "spare parts" bar. Guests were served martini glasses filled with mashed potatoes. Everyone was then able to put whatever toppings they wanted on them and eat them out of the glasses. (hence, the spare parts...)

The spread also included a few... "Dreadful Edibles" including "Purina Wolf Chow" (Chex muddy buddies with candy corn and peanuts), Fruit "ninja bites" (Ica's delicious fruit pizzas), a jello heart, and my mom's panna cotta brain.

Jell-o heart

Ninja bites

As this was originally a cocktial/mock tail party, we had a few drinks. There was pumpkin poison (which was actually a recipe for Butterbeer I found on the Internet), "sweetened swamp water" (hot chocolate), and "bug juice". The bug juice turned out to be my favorite... did you know that if you put a raisin (or in our case, raspberry crasins) into a carbonated beverage it will rise to the top and sink to the bottom? It was way fun to watch! I used the Berry 7-up that was purple and plopped them in. The picture doesn't capture it all the way... but we took video of it too! :)

We also had our traditional pumpkin bowling lane set up in the carport, but this year we decided to hold a graham cracker haunted house contest! Entry into the contest was a bag of a candy you could use to decorate with. We provided the graham crackers and the royal icing. (I found this awesome tutorial on the icing here.)

Tip: glow sticks in the water bottles made them easier to see.

can you guess who's house this one is? :)

After everyone had built their houses and voted on favorite house, and the three costume categories (Creepiest, Cutest, & Most Creative). We started the Ghostbuster movie and held an award ceremony for the winners. The party ended with the movie and the after party began (that is when the clean up happens so we don't have a pile of dishes for the next week and a half.)

we won the office "best family theme" prize at Bryce's work. just FYI.

I had so much fun this year and am already planning next year's bash! I have some crazy ideas and possibly an awesome new venue! So excited! :) Thanks for reading!

xoxo

one more, just because it makes me smile... :)