Making Memories at Halloween Y'all

So tomorrow is Halloween and I probably should have gotten this post out a little earlier but that's how it goes when you are starting a blog! 

Halloween has become my favorite time of the year...maybe it's because it starts the holiday season off with a bang. As a kid, my best friend's mother would always throw us a Halloween party. It was soooo much fun! The one thing I really remember from those parties is bobbing for apples! I remember this the most because our entire 5th grade class would come (the cutest guy in the whole school was included) and when you bobbed for apples your Halloween makeup would smear, especially your mascara, (gasp) and then I would spend the rest of the party wondering if he was noticing me or seeing my makeup. (It was very traumatic.) 

Those days were a lot of fun. As an adult, I look back and I'm so grateful for all the hard work my best friends mother (I called her my second mom) put in year after year. For us it was just pure fun, for her, I guess the fun was watching us kids have a safe and fun Halloween. But alas, all good things must come to an end. After we grew out of those parties, I grew out of Halloween too.

But now suddenly, in my late forties, I'm trying to resurrect the Holiday. I have to say I think it's more for me than the kids!  I thought why not start a new family tradition of carving pumpkins? I never did it as a kid and I always wanted to learn how. So, why not torture my nephews and get them learn how! And that's how a family tradition was born! 

This year was a little better than last year since we know, more or less;) what we are doing. I have to say that I think it's a lot of fun!

In the age of computers and iphones its hard to get families to gather and really connect. Everyone is always on their ipad, phone, watching tv or playing video games. Ugh. Honestly, it drives me crazy! EVEN AT DINNER. Call me old fashioned but I want to go back to the days where families talked to each other. I want to make more memories like the ones of my childhood Halloween parties! No one even had cell phones back then! Can you imagine?lol.  

So this year our family went outside, and the guys watched football ( I didn't say I could work miracles) and the kids (and some of the adults too) carved pumpkins. It was great. We had a lot of laughs and... what do you know... everyone talked to each other (even if it was the adults telling the kids not to cut there fingers off).

 It didn't matter what we were doing or how our pumpkins turned out...we were making memories!

Hey, I just had a thought...maybe next year I can make my family bob for apples! lol! I'd have to offer a REALLY good prize for that! -it so sad I have to bribe my family:(

Anyway, I digress, back to the party... 

I tried to make it as fun for the adults as for the kids. (adults out numbered kids 6 to 2) We had football on the TV, BBQ buffet with all the fixins', alcohol (what's BBQ and football without beer) and an adorable ghost cake for dessert. Can you tell yet that I'm from Texas? And, of course, we can't forget carving pumpkins! Not too bad!

About the cake...

Is this cute or what? And it only took 5 minutes to decorate! What's my secret you ask? I cheated. I bought a chocolate cake at HEB. Then I walked over to the Halloween candy isle and bought the ghost Peeps. I had already bought the extra large gummy candy corn at Marshalls (by the registers) of all places! And for the life of me I can't remember where I got the little skewers ( I wan't to say Michaels.) Then I just put the ghosts on the sticks and stuck them in the cake. The orange bow came off the bag of candy corn. Then I put the candy corn at the base of each stick for a little color and all around the base of the cake. Soooo easy. Who needs cake decoration class?!?

Tips:

• This could work for any holiday, if you can't find Peeps in your holiday theme, get creative. For example, for Easter you could make a white or yellow cake and use the colorful foil covered eggs to impale on the sticks. Use robin egg hard candies or a ribbon to put around the base.  
• Find gourmet candies at Marshall for a discount. They taste just as good.
• Print out holiday theme pictures or cutouts then trace the outline of the image on some cute scrap-booking paper and glue them together with the stick sandwiched in between.
• Keep your eyes open ahead of time so when the time comes you already have some ideas in mind. 
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About the cookies...

Last year I found these black silhouette stands at Michaels for dirt cheap after Halloween. I had no idea what I would do with them but I bought several. I'm so glad I did. I'm not sure what they are made of but its like very thick, stiff felt. There are two pieces that lock together so you can take them apart and store them flat. (gotta love that) I found a black cat, a tree and some crows. I took cookies, again from HEB, cake stand and threw the cookies around the base of the tree.--I forgot to tell you I put all this on a cake stand. It just so happened that one of the cookies was leaf shape so I stuck a few in the tree (i'm still not sure I like the "leaves" but I left them anyway).

Tips:

• Visit the stores after the holidays to get good prices. The choices will be slim but you can usually find something that you like. 
• If you love it and its a good price get it even if you don't know exactly what you are going to do with it but your fairly confident that you will figure it out. 
• any time you entertain have a couple of things out for your guest to nibble on. It gives your guest something to do and holds them over until it's time to eat. Even though we had a big cake to eat for dessert I still has some cookies out. My nephews came in and went straight for them.

About the decorations...

I have this large island in my kitchen and it has this area that I always feel I need to have something rather large and colorful. I usually have some sort of tray and I use the same design for each occasion. I picked of the chalkboard sign last year at Hobby Lobby. I love it! I do the designs myself and they are a lot of fun. Then I have this beautiful vase my friend gave me and it works great for the height. The Halloween plates are last year at Marshall's (I think the have the same ones at Target). Each plate has a different pattern and they come in a set of four. I bought two sets. One for my tray and one set for my breakfast table that seats 4. I absolutely love them. The tray (of course) is from Marshalls. I liked this tray because it was only $16 dollars and it was rustic for the fall holidays. To dress it up I just took a ribbon and taped it to the tray. Then I took a Halloween sticker and just stuck it in the center. How easy is that???

Tips:

• Buy cute dessert plates at Marshall's. They always have cute ones and they are so much cheaper than even Target.
• Invest in a couple of trays. Trays really pull your vignette together and make it look like a neat cohesive unit. 
• Try to stack things in varying heights and add different widths 
• Chalk boards are so cute and add an unexpected element. And if you practice you can change them for each occasion. 

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween and make some memories guys!