Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Halloween Party Ideas

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a Halloween party, whether it was my parents throwing it (my Birthday falls close to it, so only natural), or as an adult, Halloween equals P-A-R-T_Y! I love this holiday with all the costumes, decorations, ghost stories and the fact that you are encouraged to ‘play with your food’.

Here are some easy do-it-yourself ideas for your Halloween Party.

DÉCOR:

Greet guests with glow in the dark sidewalk chalk outlines of "deceased people", as well as, aliens, etc... drawn on your driveway or sidewalk...

Line your walkway with carved Jack o’ Lanterns or spooky luminaries (fill with battery operated candles, or glow sticks).

Create the look and feel of an abandoned old house with leaves (from your yard?) and white sheets. Cover the sofas, chairs, dining room table and all other large furniture items with old white sheets. Dim the lights, drape cobwebs and ghouly material (cheesecloth works well). Break out candelabras - candles set the mood perfectly. Replace some light bulbs with black lights, you can find at your local hardware store.

Ghosties - Crumple up newspaper into a ball. Place it into the center of a flat piece of tissue paper / white small trash bags. Pick up the corners and twist it around the ball. Tie a twist tie or a piece of string around the ghosts's neck. Draw a face with a felt pen. You can hang them up all over the house!

FOOD/BEVERAGE

Use a garnish with a zombie eye by de-stemming a green or red maraschino cherry and placing a chocolate chip (pointed side down) into the hole. Fabulously creepy!

Place body parts (found at your local Halloween store) around the buffet/room - like this mask purchased at a Halloween store, filled with newspaper, and placed in a bowl of candy for a treat no one can resist.

These finger lickin’ good cookies are easily made with sugar cookie (or your favorite cookie recipe). Shape into finger size and add almonds soaked in red food dye for the fingernails.

Now you tell me, Trick or Treat?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Fund Raiser this Sunday



Come Support The Girl's Inc of Carpinteria annual "Garden Party and Auction" this Sunday! It is great fun for the food and wine lover in all of us....and we're helping inspire girls to be Strong, Smart and Bold. It's my second year in supporting this event. This time I was on the committee for recruiting restaurants, caterers and wineries for donations of food and wine for the event.