Although Halloween was a week ago, I thought I would write about what we got up to as I had so much fun!
I first really got into Halloween when the boys were at primary school and Chloe was about a year old. I thought it would be really fun to decorate the porch whilst they were at school to surprise them when they got home so, leading up to the 31st, I hit the shops in search of spooky decorations. I was surprised at the huge range of Halloween themed items available, mostly from our infamous pound shops which made it relatively cost effective - lucky, as I got rather carried away!
Chloe was unpeturbed as Mummy wrestled with mountains of fake cobwebs and dangly skeletons, happy to use a rubber bat as a chew toy whilst she slid around in her baby walker.
I was having a whale of a time and chuckled when DH arrived home early and had to navigate his way through the front door!
Pumpkins were carved and I even carefully cut out the inside to use late for pumpkin soup and pie, keeping the seeds after washing them to use in craft activities. (Well, that was the plan but I think I ended up throwing most of it away when I ran out of time!)
The end result gave the desired effect and the boys were delighted at my efforts!
They got excited about dressing up and looked great in their costumes, even letting Mummy apply some face paint.
With an invitation to a neighbour's Halloween party, I couldn't wait to show Chloe off in her cute pumpkin costume, even though she resembled more of a carrot!
After such a successful Halloween, my enthusiasm grew and every year I added to my collection of decorations. As the children got bigger, a new costume was bought for DS1 and the existing costumes were passed down in age, and I delighted in thinking up new ways of celebrating.
Some years we went trick or treating with the neighbourhood children, other times we invited friends and their children over for a party, and in more recent years we would start the evening at our local church with a Light Up the Dark event which was a mix of art and craft activities, apple bobbing and fun food-making, like apples dipped in chocolate. It was Messy Church without the focus on spooks and ghouls and more about warming, traditional autumnal
activities, literally lighting up those dark winter nights.
Roping in my lovely friends to help decorate the hall on the day, we soon transformed the bland room into a spook-fest, complete with a bloody footstep runner leading in from the front door, rats running riot, various themed lights dotted around, table settings complete with monster hands and a ghostly pumpkin, and a last-minute burst of inspiration with a sign written in "blood" so people knew to help themselves to drinks!
Needless to say, I had a fantastic night and all my efforts were well worth it!
This year I had wanted to do the same again but host it in our house, but unfortunately lots of people couldn't make the date (it was half term) so, once numbers were confirmed, I realised I could turn it into more of a Halloween dinner party. Having already purchased a pretend menu board for the kitchen, I set to work googling the list just to see what I could cook and conveniently found recipes for every item listed!
One of my friends who is amazingly good at cake-making had already offered to make me a Halloween cake which fitted in perfectly with the menu too!
With Pinterest in hand, I referred back to already pinned decor ideas and set to work on mummy tea lights, bloody candles and spooky eyes (to put in the bushes outside!). The children helped put together small coffin cakes, jelly brains and assorted eyeballs, had great fun helping decorating the porch, living room and kitchen/diner ready for our guests, and seemed suitably impressed by my homemade decorations!
The table looked great bathed in candle light, with Blood Bites (cherry tomatoes soaked in vodka and tabasco sauce), pumpkin shaped bread rolls, Monster Claws (chicken strips), Halloween shaped crisps and Maggot Stew (beef with Orzo pasta!).
I also did a chocolate fountain with red food colouring to look like blood which was yum!
Everyone dressed up for the occasion, enjoyed the food, and lots of cackling was to be heard! It was hard work but I totally enjoyed myself - I love creative activities and cooking so I was in my element. My only problem now is what to do for next year.......
I first really got into Halloween when the boys were at primary school and Chloe was about a year old. I thought it would be really fun to decorate the porch whilst they were at school to surprise them when they got home so, leading up to the 31st, I hit the shops in search of spooky decorations. I was surprised at the huge range of Halloween themed items available, mostly from our infamous pound shops which made it relatively cost effective - lucky, as I got rather carried away!
Chloe was unpeturbed as Mummy wrestled with mountains of fake cobwebs and dangly skeletons, happy to use a rubber bat as a chew toy whilst she slid around in her baby walker.
I was having a whale of a time and chuckled when DH arrived home early and had to navigate his way through the front door!
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| Spooky treats baked ourselves |
Pumpkins were carved and I even carefully cut out the inside to use late for pumpkin soup and pie, keeping the seeds after washing them to use in craft activities. (Well, that was the plan but I think I ended up throwing most of it away when I ran out of time!)
The end result gave the desired effect and the boys were delighted at my efforts!
They got excited about dressing up and looked great in their costumes, even letting Mummy apply some face paint.
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| DS2 enjoying Halloween party food |
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| My Halloween carrot! |
With an invitation to a neighbour's Halloween party, I couldn't wait to show Chloe off in her cute pumpkin costume, even though she resembled more of a carrot!
After such a successful Halloween, my enthusiasm grew and every year I added to my collection of decorations. As the children got bigger, a new costume was bought for DS1 and the existing costumes were passed down in age, and I delighted in thinking up new ways of celebrating.
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| All ready to go! |
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| DS3 pleased with his sweetie haul |
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| DD proudly showing her "spider" made of a tea cake and Matchmakers! |
Some years we went trick or treating with the neighbourhood children, other times we invited friends and their children over for a party, and in more recent years we would start the evening at our local church with a Light Up the Dark event which was a mix of art and craft activities, apple bobbing and fun food-making, like apples dipped in chocolate. It was Messy Church without the focus on spooks and ghouls and more about warming, traditional autumnal
activities, literally lighting up those dark winter nights.
After a warming cup of hot chocolate and a hot dog, we would walk back through the village with the children of madmumof7 so the kids had a chance to add to their sugar high by doing some trick or treating, knocking on any doors that looked remotely Halloween-y. Then it was back home with a quick stop-off at our next-door neighbours' who always insist on seeing the children in their Halloween glory (they love Halloween too!).
Last year I decided to combine Halloween with my birthday celebrations, wanting to see what other people would dress up as and giving me an excuse to hire a hall and a disco to go the whole hog!
In a Halloween decor shopping frenzy I had a great excuse to go even more overboard and picked up some great table decorations as well as more cobwebbing to cover the hall. I spent hours searching on the internet for drink and food ideas (this was before Pinterest!) and giving the DJ a list of suggestions for themed songs to play. There was so much scope if you use your imagination!
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| Me with my lovely corpse groom! |
Next I had to sort out an outfit for me and DH and after a browse on ebay, I got excited by the idea of a corpse bride and groom. ebay was full of Halloween costumes but the best ones were proper dresses that people had turned into costumes. After a bit of searching I found a white prom dress that someone had bought from Bhs and made it gruesome by adding brown and green paint, splashes of red and a bit of creative ripping - perfect!
Then I had a rummage in DH's wardrobe and found an old woollen suit jacket, some old suit trousers and a really old shirt which already had a nice bit of dust and mould on it to add to the effect! I may have enjoyed cutting up his clothes a little too much, but after adding a bit of fake blood and paint it looked great.
Roping in my lovely friends to help decorate the hall on the day, we soon transformed the bland room into a spook-fest, complete with a bloody footstep runner leading in from the front door, rats running riot, various themed lights dotted around, table settings complete with monster hands and a ghostly pumpkin, and a last-minute burst of inspiration with a sign written in "blood" so people knew to help themselves to drinks!
Even the toilets got a bit of a makeover with my purchase of a sticker that you put in the toilet bowl making it look like a zombie hand coming out!
Just before the party started, we brought in the ice hand to go in the witches brew (complete with gummy snakes) and the fab "wedding cake" made by madmumof7 was put in pride of place!
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| Witches brew or vodka & orange test tube shots anyone?! |
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| Me and madmumof7 |
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| Mad cake! |
Needless to say, I had a fantastic night and all my efforts were well worth it!
This year I had wanted to do the same again but host it in our house, but unfortunately lots of people couldn't make the date (it was half term) so, once numbers were confirmed, I realised I could turn it into more of a Halloween dinner party. Having already purchased a pretend menu board for the kitchen, I set to work googling the list just to see what I could cook and conveniently found recipes for every item listed!
One of my friends who is amazingly good at cake-making had already offered to make me a Halloween cake which fitted in perfectly with the menu too!
With Pinterest in hand, I referred back to already pinned decor ideas and set to work on mummy tea lights, bloody candles and spooky eyes (to put in the bushes outside!). The children helped put together small coffin cakes, jelly brains and assorted eyeballs, had great fun helping decorating the porch, living room and kitchen/diner ready for our guests, and seemed suitably impressed by my homemade decorations!
The table looked great bathed in candle light, with Blood Bites (cherry tomatoes soaked in vodka and tabasco sauce), pumpkin shaped bread rolls, Monster Claws (chicken strips), Halloween shaped crisps and Maggot Stew (beef with Orzo pasta!).
I also did a chocolate fountain with red food colouring to look like blood which was yum!
Everyone dressed up for the occasion, enjoyed the food, and lots of cackling was to be heard! It was hard work but I totally enjoyed myself - I love creative activities and cooking so I was in my element. My only problem now is what to do for next year.......
Disclaimer: All views and opinions are my own, I was not sponsored for this post
WOW that looks brilliant - love the bride and groom corpse outfits and that spread looks very nice too :)
ReplyDeleteThis is ace! I love Halloween, I took my little one track or treating for the first time this year! I love how creative you are with your plans! Xxxx #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fantastic and looks like you had an amazing time :) Thank you for linking up to PoCoLo x
ReplyDeleteThat looks great, I like doing all the halloween food :)
ReplyDeletelovely post! We had lots of fun enjoying your efforts!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your lovely comments, I love Halloween!
ReplyDelete