Tag Archives: Halloween

Party // Ghouls Night Out …

October 8, 2015

It’s October, and Halloween is just around the corner!
I don’t know about you, but I just love fall holidays and activities!  Halloween is such a fun time for my family, especially the kids.  Sometimes we let the kids have all the fun, but adult Halloween parties are also a good time!
A fellow group of bloggers and I had a little “Ghouls Night Out,” that was so much fun!  Who says costume parties are only for kids?!  It’s nice to be able to let loose a bit, and get out of your comfort zone! 
We all arrived in style, making it much more fun and festive to have a costume requirement! It was fun to set the theme with colors and see how creative everyone was with what they came up with!
Be sure to check back for a little more on the costumes from the party.  I’m going to share how to throw together a DIY Mary Poppins costume! I will be posting that soon, as well as some of the other ladies! 
We each helped out with different portions of the party, making it really easy for it all to come together rather than putting all the load of the work on the hostess.
Sara of Confetti Sunshine designed this sophisticated yet adorably spooky “Ghouls Night Out” Halloween Party invitation!  It will be available on her blog if you are looking for a free printable invitation for a future party!
I helped come up with some festive food items for the spread.  I made some Halloween Pumpkin Cream Puffs, and some Pumpkin soup with Parmesan “Cobwebs.” (click the links for full recipes, and step by step instructions)
Sandy of Sandy a la Mode put together this spooky Halloween hot chocolate bar with all the fixins. She also is sharing her 10 tips to throwing a Halloween Party on her blog!
With a little help from everyone, the spread looked fabulous, and came together nicely!  A perfect “Ghouls” Night Halloween table!
Chelsey of Housewife 2 Hostess had the perfect house to host us!  She is a Halloween lover, and had all sorts of spooky decorations!  There was even a scary painting in the powder room that talked that took me for surprise!  She posted more about her spooky decor over on her blog!
I loved feeling silly again, and having a spooky “Ghouls Night.”  It’s fun to shake things up a bit now and again from the norm! 
Be sure to check out the other ladies I collaborated with on this fun Halloween Party!
See more of their costumes, crafts, Halloween Decor, DIY’s, and recipes that they prepared for the party on their blogs!  We will all be posting over the next little while!
All photography by Diana Putnam Photography. If you are in the Salt Lake City area, don’t forget to check out Tai Pan Trading for an abundance of Halloween, Thanskgiving, Christmas decor for your parties. Or you can shop online too!

Recipe // Festive Pumpkin Cream Puffs

October 6, 2015

I needed to come up with a fun recipe for a Halloween party, and I decided to make these festive Halloween Pumpkin Cream Puffs!   The good thing about these little tasty puffs is that they are simple to make, and do not take a lot of time at all!  Perfect to throw together for quick treat for a Fall Party!
The secret to the simpleness is the store bought Puff Pastry Sheets!  You can find them in the grocery store in the frozen isle near the cool whip.  I am always for homemade, but they save so much time, and they can be cut into any shape with a cookie cutter! Sometimes semi-homemade works, and it’s the way to go! I chose a pumpkin cookie cutter (affiliate links used) shape for a Halloween Girls Night Out! Each sheet made about 9 pumpkins! I cut out two sheets for the amount of filling I made. 
I allowed the pastry sheet for thaw from the freezer for about 40 minutes then unwrap and cut out shapes with a Pumpkin Cookie cutter.
After cutting out the shapes onto parchment paper sheets, I took a pairing knife and scored little lines to make it look even more like a pumpkin!
I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 13-15 minutes or until they puff up and the tops get to be just barely golden.  Cool on a wire rack completely.  Cut in half like a sandwich ready to fill with Pumpkin Whipped cream filling. 
Now for the Pumpkin Whipped Cream filling!
I wanted the Whipped Cream to be stable enough that it didn’t ooze out everywhere.  I decided to add a little Gelatine to help it to stay stabilized.  That’s a nice little trick to help whipped cream stay a little more stiff and not fall if you are going to pipe it!  And, Vanilla Bean Paste!  Always my secret ingredient, and always a must! I add a little pumpkin puree, for that subtle pumpkin taste, as well as pumpkin spice mix!  Tastes like fall!
Pumpkin Whipped Cream
2 cups Heavy Whipped Cream
1 teaspoon Gelatin Crystals
4 teaspoons Water
1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice Mix
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup canned Pumpkin Puree
In a small saucepan, mix together 4 teaspoons water, and 1 teaspoons gelatin.  Mix well, and place on the stove over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves (Stir the entire time), it doesn’t take long just 20-30 seconds. Don’t allow it to get thick!  Set aside to cool.
In a mixer, whip 2 cups of whipping cream on medium speed.  Add Vanilla Bean Paste, Pumpkin Spice Mix, and Powdered sugar.  Drizzle in cooled gelatin mixture.
Whip until the whipped cream forms stiff peaks.
Place the pumpkin puree in a medium to large bowl.  Fold in the whipped cream mixture gently into the pumpkin puree.  Folding in 1/3 of the whipped cream at a time.  Fold until pumpkin puree is well incorporated.
This would also be amazing on pumpkin waffles, crepes, pancakes!  Can you imagine!
Chill the Whipped cream for at least an hour.  Place in a piping bag, and fill the Pumpkin puffs and serve.
Keep remaining puffs in the fridge.  Dust with powdered sugar (optional).
Enjoy!
Be sure to check back tomorrow for more on a fun Halloween Girls Night out costume party collaboration where I served these festive treats!
{all photos by me}

Holiday // halloween feast

October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!
I hope you are having a great day!  Amidst all the last minute preparations I wanted to quickly share some of the details of our Halloween feast we had with my little family.
I don’t have the time to set a fun table all the time, but when I do I really enjoy it!  Making the holidays a little extra special for my children is one way I show my love for them (hello love language) so it was a lot of fun for me to set up and see how excited they were.  The little pumpkins on the table are actually bread bowl pumpkins from Harmons.  My kids loved that the bread was orange!
A quick and easy detail I added was adding a little sprinkle rim to the glass goblets I found at Tai Pan.  
It is so easy to do.  All you have to do is put a little corn syrup in a dish, then dip the rim into the corn syrup, then dip it into the sprinkles and pat them on well. And, there you go! So easy!
A lot of this I had already in my party box.  I know hoarder status, but it’s nice to have things on hand that you can pull out of your hat!
I placed little pumpkins on the plates with some wash tape with their names on it.
I had some mini easels, so I thought it would be perfect to put the cookies on it as a decoration as well as a yummy treat.
I went to Trader Joe’s and they had all of their fun pumpkin flavored treats, so I pretty much bought them all.
Mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin salted caramels, pumpkin scones.
I put some black and white gum balls from Orson Gygi into some beakers for table decor as well.
The cheese spread was fun.  I used those babybel cheeses and drew little jack-o-lantern faces on them with eatable markers, and rosemary crips, and pumpkin crasin crackers.
I decided to go simple on the food.  My local Sams Club had these darling pre-made pumpkin shaped ravioli that I added some thyme and pine nut browned butter sauce.
I also served some steamed broccoli rabe as “witches brooms.” The kids loved all the little details.
This was a fun new tradition for us that I hope we can do every year!  After we finally got a chance to carve our pumpkins. Traditions are the best!
I hope you have a Happy Halloween! We are excited to head out to trick or treat!
{all photos by me}