As Halloween Continues

Okay, wanna share the rest of my pics from last year's Halloween Tea....



These cute little plastic Halloween candy bowls are dirt cheap and the local grocery store makes these round loafs of bread that are a perfect fit! Just hollow them out and fill them with your favorite dip mix. Tear the pieces into chunks for dippin' and everyone will think you worked your tail off making them! I use these for all occasions but they are extra special around Halloween with little plastic spiders crawlin' around the edges.



Simple, simple, simple is the key...but it has to look like work. This is simply a tray of cubed cheese, but I printed out these little tiny Halloween graphics and taped them to the back of toothpicks...charming!



These were bones and blood dippers. Using loaves of frozen bread dough, twist the ends to look like a bone, sprinkle with garlic and or butter and bake! Served in a straw pumpkin and I used a glass pumpkin candy dish for the pizza dipping sauce.





You may notice the little signs in several of the photos and there is an explanation. One of my dear friends has Celiac disease and cannot eat anything with wheat and such. What I did to help her out this year is I printed cards with her face and taped them on toothpicks inserted into each dish. If it was "friendly" for her diet it would just be a smiling picture of her. If it was "unfriendly" to her diet her photo would have an evil Halloween skull overlayed on it so that she knew it was not safe for her to eat. She loved the idea and I loved making her feel special.



Okay, now I'm getting excited and starting to plan for my 2010 gathering...this should be interesting.

A Passion For It All

Okay, I've said it before, and I'll say it again...it's a lot of work being a zombie wife. There are two things that I have an erupting passion for...the first is all things horror and the second is taking care of my zombie husband and two zombie children. If it were up to them it would be brains for breakfast, brains for lunch and brains for dinner, but I like to spice things up a bit and keep their zombie nutrition within the food pyramid.

I am a born hostess. Although you cannot stand to be around me for weeks before one of my little soirees, as I am a perfectionist when it comes to party planning. This is a rare personality trait in a zombie, but so be it.

Now like a lot of zombie moms I go a little over-board around Halloween (hey, I'm Pagan...that's what we do.) Actually I usually start pulling out the decorations around the end of July in order to have them all up in time for the annual Halloween Tea. Each year I try and go with a theme or such to keep all my zombie friends coming back. I thought I'd start the blog off with some photos from last years gathering...it really was quite enchanted.



It all began with some adorable little skeleton wrapped utensils. I got the skeletons on a garland at the dollar store for like 5 for $1, cut them off the garland and wrapped them with the utensil in a brightly colored Halloween napkin. Tied them all up with a spooky ribbon and place in an orange basket!



This is a view of the plate/utensil area...I put them on a tiled breakfast bar, not a lot of room, but a perfect little nook.




Being a beader at heart, what better way to dress up little pumpkins and gourds than by beading them with shiny sparkly things! I'll admit that the little seed beads to a great deal of patience and time, but you could easily change the pattern and roll them in the beads rather than adding them one by one.



One of my favorite things this year was my chip skeleton! He also came from the $1 store. A good wash with soap and water, lay him on top of a nice Halloween tea-towel in a basket and waaaa-laaaa add your chips to make him part of the party. I'm thinking next year I will be making a cardboard coffin. Beside him I put some salsa in a glass bowl and sat it down into a straw pumpkin....cute!



This was one of the most simple things I did, and one of my guests favorite! Simple to put the olives on a Halloween themed plate, but throw in a couple of skulls and you are rockin'! Again, these were from the $1 store and got a good washing before they touched any food.

Alright, don't want to overwhelm with my very first post, but I have lots more Halloween time fun to share so I'll break the post in two!