Pinterest Worthy Halloween DIYs

I've never been a big halloween person.  I have always liked the holiday and have great memories growing up trick or treating with all of my neighborhood friends, but celebrating this holiday as an adult never seem to be a priority for me.  Well, that is until this year.  

My office floor at work just so happens to be filled with a large number of halloween enthusiasts.  For the past few years one side of the floor has participated in a Halloween office decorating contest that grown into quite the elaborate competition with each passing year.  This year, my side of the office was invited to participate in the floor decor competition.  Naturally we all jumped at the opportunity to participate.  The one hiccup on my team was that our boss was going to be on vacation the week we were scheduled to decorate, but graciously offered up his office to decorate for the competition.  I think that's the last time he will ever trust us with the keys to his office for an event like this.  We ended up creating the most fabulous and elaborate, roach infested (400 fake roaches to be exact) doctors office complete with a dead body on his desk and fake blood splattered practically everywhere.  As if that wasn't enough, we also created a dessert buffet for the judges including spider web cupcakes and candy corn rice crispy treats, which I am sharing today in this post.  

In addition to the office decorating competition, the floor also decided that it would be fun to have a pumpkin decorating/carving competition as well.  My team and I were in it to win it and immediately turned to Pinterest for a few pumpkin ideas.  We ended up settling on a movie theater pumpkin scene (pictured above) that was inspired by this picture, courtesy of Brit + Co.  

In the end, my team came in second place for the office decorating competition and first place in the pumpkin carving contest.  Truth be known, we ran unopposed in the pumpkin competition, but I was still really proud of the masterpiece we created.  Most of all, I think I surprised myself at how into Halloween I got during this competition.  We had a great time working together and are already plotting and planning for next year's floor competition.  

For today's post, I couldn't resist sharing two easy Halloween dessert ideas that I am loving this year as well as the cutest idea for a Halloween hostess gift.  I hope you all have a wonderful and treat filled Halloween!

Indian Corn Rice Crispy Treats

• See this post from pintsizedtreasures.com for the complete how-to guide (plus video) on how to make these absolutely delicious treats. 

Spider Web Cupcakes

1. Bake and frost 24 chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting
2. Using a pre-made piping bag of white decorating icing (like this one)
3. Pipe a bulls-eye onto the top of each cupcake
4. Then, starting at the center dot, pipe lines around the cupcake (pictured above)
5. Take a wet toothpick and drag it through each straight line to help blend the lines and create a web effect
6. Top each with a plastic toy spider ring 

**Note-  Each cupcake must be piped one at a time and toothpicked before moving on to decorating the next cupcake.  The decorating icing dries quick, so if you wait too long to drag the toothpick through, it will crack and you won't achieve a fluid looking web.

Wine Bottle Witch Costume

• Mini Witch Hats by Meri Meri Party
• Black Raffia
• Natural Raffia Ribbon
• Paper Bat Tags
• 6-8inch Tree Branches/Sticks for Mini Witches Brooms
• Red Wine (I suggest Trinchero Napa Valley BRV Cabernet Sauvignon)

To Make the Mini Witches Brooms

1. Collect sticks from outside that are roughly 6-8 inches in length
2. Wrap raffia ribbon around your 4 fingers 20 times.  
3. Carefully removed the coiled ribbon from your fingers and tie them off at the top using a piece of 6 inch raffia ribbon
4. With the excess raffia from tying off the raffia coil, secure the coil to the end of a stick
5. Cut another piece of raffia ribbon (8-12inches) and wrap that piece along the top of the attached coiled ribbon and stick to tightly secure (optional- use a hot glue gun for this step).
6. Trim the exposed coil ends to achieve the clean broom look
7. Use a piece of black raffia ribbon to secure the broom to the neck of a wine bottle, like my latest obsession pictured in this post Trinchero Napa Valley BRV Cabernet Sauvignon (literally to die for, so delicious!  A quintessential Fall wine for sure!). 
8. Top wine bottle with a mini witches hat from Meri Meri Party. 

Miniature Caramel Apples

Halloween is tomorrow and in addition to the many wonderfully festive aspects of this holiday, like Jack-O-Lanterns and Trick-or-Treaters, I am all about making Caramel Apples!  This sweet treat has been a Halloween staple for me for as long as I can remember.  The combination of caramel and apple alone is brilliant!  Honestly, whoever came up with that combination deserves some sort of award, especially on Halloween!  

I will admit that even though I am a total Caramel Apple fanatic, I have never been a fan of their size.  Sure, eating an apple alone is no big deal, but then coat it in caramel, chocolate, candy, etc… it quickly becomes overwhelming and way too much food, especially for one sitting!

As if the universe somehow heard me voicing my issue with caramel apples while perusing Pinterest a few weeks ago, I came across the most brilliant idea- Miniature Caramel Apples!!  After spending time testing recipes and various assembly tips, I am pleased to share with you what I think is the perfect caramel apple.  Not too big, but still has all of the essential flavor components AND gives you the ability to have just a taste or many tastes! 

Here is what you will need:

• 2 Granny Smith Apples
• 1 Bag of Kraft Caramel Bits
• Cinnamon Sugar
• Crushed up Pretzel Pieces
• Chopped Nuts (I used hazelnuts and toasted them)
• Tree Sticks from your yard/outside (*You can also use toothpicks)
• Parchment Paper
• Pam Non-Stick Cooking Spray
• Melon Baller

Directions:

1. Wipe sticks down with distilled white vinegar and a damp cloth
2. Then break sticks into 3" long pieces and bake on a baking sheet at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes (to sterilize)
3. Heat the caramel according to the packaging, then set aside to cool
4. Meanwhile, use your melon baller to scoop out apple balls making sure to leave a piece of apple skin on each apple ball
5. Use a paper towel to dry the apple balls, removing as much moisture as possible from the flesh
6. Insert a baked stick into the top of each apple ball (*the apple skin is the top of the ball)
7. Spray a parchment lined cookie sheet with Pam non-stick spray
8. When the caramel is cooled enough that it is starting to harden, dip each apple ball into the caramel, making sure to have the caramel touch all edges of the apple skin
9. Once the apple ball is coated in caramel, dip the base into your desired toppings and set on the greased parchment sheet to dry

*Note- these treats have a short shelf life, so please enjoy them shortly after they are made.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Host a Pumpkin Carving Party

This past Friday, I invited a small group of friends over to my house for cocktails and pumpkin carving.  Since none in this group (myself included) has kids, which is typically the most compelling reason for carving pumpkins, we had been missing out on this fabulous holiday tradition for quite some time.  So as you could imagine, the response from my guests to this party invitation was an enthusiastic "yes!".  After extensive plotting and planning, I came up with a pumpkin carving party that struck a perfect balance of sophistication with splashes of festive Halloween accents thrown into the mix. Below is a breakdown of the various elements from my recent pumpkin carving party, filled with great ideas and tips on how you can recreate this holiday tradition with your own group of friends!

Pumpkin Carving Station

Since there were a fair number of us carving pumpkins, I decided to transform my dining room table into the pumpkin carving station.  Here is a list of the supplies I used to create this space:

• Disposable Painting Tarp
• Pumpkins
• Set of Assorted Foam Brushes
• Carving Knives (I just used my favorite Victorinox Steak Knives)
• An assortment of paints (see this post for more details)
• Glitter 
• Glue
• Tea Lights
• An assortment of Halloween candies (to keep everyone's energy levels up)
• Free Pumpkin Stencils courtesy of Better Homes and Garden (so many fabulous options!)

Pumpkin Trivia

Instead of just sitting around the table carving pumpkins in silence or with generic conversation, I thought it would be a fun idea to take this time to share a little pumpkin trivia with my guests.  Not only was it fun to see what my friends knew about pumpkins, but it also added an extra element of fun to the party.  This site has everything you need to know about pumpkins. 

Food and Beverage

What cocktail party of mine would be complete without a cheesescape?!?  Here is a breakdown of what I served at this party:

• Cheeses: Jasper Hill Farm Clothbound Cheddar, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog
• Chutney: Virginia Chutney Co. Balsamic Fig Chutney
• Crackers: Raincoast Flats Kale and Walnut, Dr. Kracker Pumpkin Seed Cheddar
• Ina Garten's Tomato Crostini with Whipped Feta
• Other Nibbles: Edamame, Somersaults, Assorted Nuts, Veggies and Hummus
• Wine: Napa Cellars Pinot Noir

Goody Bags

What Halloween party would be complete without a little Trick or Treat!  Well, in our case it was more of a nod to Trick or Treating.  Each guest received a goody bag and mini bottle of Prosecco at the end of the evening  to take home along with their carved pumpkin. See my post on Halloween Treat Bags for more details.

This party was a huge hit with my friends and the perfect culmination of the various projects I had been sharing throughout this past month.  Even though it may seem at times like pumpkin carving should be more of a kid centric activity, there are so many ways to enhance the sophistication level of this activity, ultimately making it worthy of adults and even a cocktail party!