About thirty seconds before guests arrived for our party last weekend, I remembered that I had been planning to dress up. And instead of throwing on a pair of cat ears...I did this. (And then did it again, and again, and again, because all of the kids - and half of the adults - who came wanted me to do it to them, too.)
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The (Super) Spooky Party
OK, last post about this party - promise. (Maybe. It was SO FUN.) In these shots, you can see what we did with the decor, which went way further than last year's. My son had requested that the "whole house" be spooky, as opposed to concentrating our efforts in one space, and...ok, so that sounded a little intimidating, because I've never been one of those people who has a massive bin of, like, skeleton cats and spiderweb bowls in their garage. But one trip to Party City and one trip to the Dollar Store later?
Super spooky. (Or at least "semi-age-appropriately super spooky" - we wanted to mildly freak out the six-year-olds in attendance...as opposed to, you know, traumatizing them. I still remember the misty coffin that my neighbor set up in a faraway courtyard of our apartment building, and it still haunts my dreams, THIRTY YEARS LATER. That was not the goal.)
Bloodshot Eyeball Cake
The blood-smudge on the edge of the plate is my favorite part.
My son said he wanted a "spooky cake" for his sixth birthday. Done - except I didn't want to just do a repeat of last year's ghost cake. I pulled up a picture of a plain fondant cake in my head - just a smooth, white circle - and tried to imagine what I could turn it into...and then it occurred to me:
Eyeball Cake.
Target’s New “Stranger Things” Collection Is GREAT
I don't watch Stranger Things. I know everybody loves it, and I'm sure I would love it too - I love everything horror-related, and have a soft spot for kids-banding-together stories like It and Stand By Me - but I just haven't gotten on the bandwagon yet.
I'm going to have to do this sooner rather than later, though, because I now own the most amazing sweatshirt ever that just so happens to say "Stranger Things" on it, and I suspect that I'm going to have the conversation ("Do you watch Stranger Things?" "No, not yet, I --" "Oh my god, you HAVE TO!") everrrrrrry single time I wear it. Basically I'm going to start watching the show to minimize the frequency with which I have to interact with people on line at the grocery store.
Target's new Stranger Things collection - which includes apparel, a Blu-Ray set that looks like an old VHS tape (!), action figures, accessories, and more - was released on October 15, just in advance of the Oct 27 premiere of Season 2, and it's phenomenally well done (or at least the clothing is). The vibe is spot-on '80s, the prices are solid ($15 for t-shirts, $21 for sweatshirts, etc), and the fabrics are so, so, so soft.
Worms ‘N’ Dirt
Now THIS is the kind of dessert I could have gotten on board with as a kid: Oreos that have been decimated to the point where total potential cookie intake is maximized like whoa.
Sidenote: somehow fifteen whole cookies translate into one teaspoon of ground-up cookie, and while I'm not exaaaaactly sure how to explain the physics behind this, I do know that my daughter ate 90 Trader Joe's Halloween-themed Jo-Jos in the course of an hour via six cups of worms 'n' dirt. And honestly, to me that seems...
Well...
Like a job extremely well done.
Bloody Band-Aids
I cannot take credit for inventing this one - I found it on Pinterest - but I wish I could, because it's genius, costs next-to-nothing, and takes about five seconds (not counting the twenty minutes I spent hunting for a box of Band-Aids to add the all-important finishing touch).
“Puking Pumpkin” Guacamole
Obviously you need to make a puking pumpkin this Halloween. My personal preference is to do the bare minimum with the pumpkin (does it have a mouth? does it have eyes? you're done.) and just throw on a whole bunch of Costco-brand guacamole, because come on: it's a vomiting pumpkin - how much more do you need?
But if you want to get all fancy and particular about it, here are a whole bunch more ideas for how to completely gross out your guests.
“Bloody Brain” Popcorn Balls
Ew. I know. But Bloody Brains score extremely high on the effort/impact scale: they take just a few minutes to make, and everybody will have something to say about them. (That something will probably be "ew.")
Note: Popcorn balls are always best when they're super-fresh, but you can make these up to a day in advance provided you wrap them individually in plastic wrap and put them in an airtight container; the jelly will retain its shine really well.
Lollipop Ghosts
The hardest part of making these was keeping my children from eating all of the lollipops quicker than I could wrap them up. The second-hardest part of making these was the fact that my three-year-old REALLY wanted to help, and obviously you need to let children participate with Halloween decoration-making, but girlfriend seriously needs to work on her ghost face-drawing skills, just saying.
These ghosts make cute party favors for kids, but you can use them to decorate in lots of fun ways: use string to hang them from light fixtures and such; fill a bowl with them for a centerpiece; line a mirror or mantle with them. (One caveat: if you're hanging them with string, make sure the string is clear, or the effect can be a little too macabre for a kids' party.)
Mac ‘n’ Cheese Pumpkin Cups
OK, caveat: I am aware that the macaroni and cheese shown above does not look particularly delicious. It was actually delicious, because all Mac 'n' cheese is delicious and that is just a fact, but it probably would have been more delicious had we made it before people arrived, as opposed to making it in advance and reheating it.
Macaroni and cheese just doesn't look as great post-reheating.
But still.
