Saturday was Belle’s big halloween Birthday party. It was a crazy good time. We had a scavenger hunt in the backyard where 15 girls ran around looking for chocolate eyeballs and vampire lips; we decorated trick or treat bags; ate mummy hot dogs and swamp cups; danced to Michael Jackson and Katy Perry; and topped it all off by pummeling a pi?ata in the shape of a purple bat.
Below are some highlights. I went full suburbia old-school with the food and desserts (imagine what you used to eat in your neighbor’s wood paneled basement).
I had no shame!
Candy! Chips! Bring it!
But I decided to give a twist to some of the junk food classics, whenever possible. Like my version of a giant pig in a blanket, or mummy dogs. I don’t have a perfect photo of the mummy hot dogs but I can tell you they were a BIG hit, even bigger than the individual ghost pizzas. I thought the recipe was my own invention: one Fearless Frank wrapped with a strip of breadstick dough, snipped here and there with kitchen shears to resemble tatters, baked in the oven, and then decorated with two little ketchup or mustard eyes. But on Sunday my mom was reading Parade magazine and what was there? A recipe for mummy hotdogs! Must be in the zeitgeist.
I have to say that the best food served at the party was not the cups or the cupcakes or the mummies or the ghosts, but a big kettle of freshly popped popcorn.
So below are more photos of the day–enjoy!
As the girls arrived in costume they gathered around the dining room table and decorated these plain canvas tote bags I’d found with fabric markers and felt pumpkin and leaf stickers. Some of them even signed each other’s bags, which I thought was very cute.
I hung the doorway with gold streamers and the mantel with cobwebs, bat tinsel and a leering black owl with red flashing eyes (OK, I went a little nuts with the Halloween decoration mail order).
Even though it was an all girl party, Conor participated in all of the festivities. He actually yanked a 6 year old girl off her seat when she tried to sit next to Belle, “that’s my seat!!!!”. Apparently no one gets in between Conor and his sister blowing out the birthday candles.
For the scavenger hunt the girls had to solve riddles, draw a spooky cat, and hunt for treats. One of the joke finds was a “stinky sock”. I had mixed my own socks in a laundry basket full of Tim’s Hawaiian shirts and they turned out to be one of the favorite discoveries; problem is, the girls wouldn’t give me my socks back! I don’t know what their moms thought when they returned home with one argyle knee high in their goodie bag–and now I need to buy some new ones.
The chandelier looked really cool draped with cobwebs, spiders and special novelty light bulbs that had a flickering orange flame…
As a special treat I made something completely new for me, a swamp cup: Green J-ELLO, with a gummy worm floating inside, topped with chopped chocolate cookies for the dirt, and then decorated with gummy frogs, fish, and more worms. I didn’t have a hard time finding people to help me with the decorating job…
For Belle’s “birthday cake” I decided to do cupcakes, partially because they’re a lot easier to serve, but also because my cake skills are still pretty bush league. I went with pumpkin cupcakes topped with maple syrup cream cheese frosting and topped with orange sanding sugar.
Here’s Belle helping me with the frosting…
And the final product…
And besides the mummy hot dogs I made little pizzas that were decorated with olive slices for eyeballs. Instead of using the traditional english muffin I chose crumpets because they’re a little denser and I like how chewy they are in the middle even when the outside is toasted. Before the party started I topped them with tomato sauce and a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella cheese. About 15 minutes before the girls sat down to eat I put them in the oven at 300 with their eyeballs on to bake until the cheese was melted. I also sprinkled them with pecorino cheese before serving them, which Tim thought was a bit much, but I couldn’t help it!
As the girls arrived in costume they gathered around the dining room table and decorated these plain canvas tote bags I’d found with fabric markers and felt pumpkin and leaf stickers. Some of them even signed each other’s bags, which I thought was very cute.
I hung the doorway with gold streamers and the mantel with cobwebs, bat tinsel and a leering black owl with red flashing eyes (OK, I went a little nuts with the Halloween decoration mail order).
Even though it was an all girl party, Conor participated in all of the festivities. He actually yanked a 6 year old girl off her seat when she tried to sit next to Belle, “that’s my seat!!!!”. Apparently no one gets in between Conor and his sister blowing out the birthday candles.
For the scavenger hunt the girls had to solve riddles, draw a spooky cat, and hunt for treats. One of the joke finds was a “stinky sock”. I had mixed my own socks in a laundry basket full of Tim’s Hawaiian shirts and they turned out to be one of the favorite discoveries; problem is, the girls wouldn’t give me my socks back! I don’t know what their moms thought when they returned home with one argyle knee high in their goodie bag–and now I need to buy some new ones.
The chandelier looked really cool draped with cobwebs, spiders and special novelty light bulbs that had a flickering orange flame…
As a special treat I made something completely new for me, a swamp cup: Green J-ELLO, with a gummy worm floating inside, topped with chopped chocolate cookies for the dirt, and then decorated with gummy frogs, fish, and more worms. I didn’t have a hard time finding people to help me with the decorating job…
For Belle’s “birthday cake” I decided to do cupcakes, partially because they’re a lot easier to serve, but also because my cake skills are still pretty bush league. I went with pumpkin cupcakes topped with maple syrup cream cheese frosting and topped with orange sanding sugar.
Here’s Belle helping me with the frosting…
And the final product…
And besides the mummy hot dogs I made little pizzas that were decorated with olive slices for eyeballs. Instead of using the traditional english muffin I chose crumpets because they’re a little denser and I like how chewy they are in the middle even when the outside is toasted. Before the party started I topped them with tomato sauce and a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella cheese. About 15 minutes before the girls sat down to eat I put them in the oven at 300 with their eyeballs on to bake until the cheese was melted. I also sprinkled them with pecorino cheese before serving them, which Tim thought was a bit much, but I couldn’t help it!
I have to say that the best food served at the party was not the cups or the cupcakes or the mummies or the ghosts, but a big kettle of freshly popped popcorn.About 10 minutes before the party started I popped a big pot of popcorn and then tossed it with melted butter and salt. Everyone who walked in the door immediately said that the house smelled so good, it was the best way I could think to welcome all of the guests, with the intoxicating aroma of warm popcorn and butter. The kettle was polished off quick, and now I think I’m going to make popcorn before every party.
