Our Halloween party was this weekend. It was a whirlwind of ladybugs, robots, spiders, and werewolves all wrapped up in a tidy 1950's-era package. It was also pouring down rain and pitch dark so I don't have a lot of pictures of our scavenger hunt in progress, I'm afraid. I have lots of shots like this:
Yeah...
So I'll tell you what we did and show you pictures of what it looked like sans kids... We held a 1950's style Halloween party including some reproduction decorations.
We carried the theme into the menu by trying to replicate a TV dinner in a more desirable way. We served homemade meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and steamed peas and carrots mixed with mint. There was also a jell-o salad style dish because 50's and a 7-Up Cake. Our starter for the kids was Vienna Sausage size organic hot dog chunks. We also had meatballs, gluten-free cookies, and the vegetarian main was beans and franks. We washed it all down with punch and martinis!
This was an agar agar Jell-o salad stand in. It was interesting. I especially liked the salad dressing.
Minted Peas and Carrots
1 lb bag carrots, peeled and sliced
1 bag frozen peas
2 Tbs mint
salt and pepper to taste
Steam the carrots until almost done. Add the peas and continue steaming until warmed through. Toss with salt, pepper, and mint. Serve immediately.
1 Bottle Sparkling Apple cider
1/2 Gallon orange juice
1/2 Gallon Earthwise Wild Berry Guava Lemonade
12 scoops Raspberry Sorbet
Add all drinks to a large punch bowl and top with sorbet. It doesn't look like much, but it tastes great and there are no HFCS or artificial flavors! It also happens to taste great with vodka, so if you happen to make your martini a little too strong, dollop a little punch in there and you'll be a happy haunter!
One of our lovely hostesses, Danika.
Our cowboy, David, who handed out the scavenger hunt sheets, sock hopping it up with a robot and a ladybug. You just don't see that kind of thing every day. For music, I found several, mostly 50's era songs including: Wooly Bully, Lil' Red Riding Hood, The Twilight Zone theme song, Bo Meets the Monster, Halloween Spooks (featuring Lambert, Hendricks and Ross), I Put a Spell on You, Witch Doctor, Punky Punkin, Morgus the Magnificent, The Purple People Eater, and of course, Monster Mash all downloadable on Amazon from about $.90 to $1.50. Some of these songs are crazy weird. Just sayin'.
Our homage to 1950's cowboy flicks, the kids had to break out of jail by sliding down the slide. The sheriff gave them a handy map to the rest of the scavenger hunt. Apparently he was in on the whole thing...
First stop, Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
Next up, apples on strings. At every station, the kids got stickers to prove they completed the mission.
Because it was raining and I was busy appleing out in it, I don't have one picture of our witch, Lauren, who many kids said was their very favorite part of the hunt, and was also one of our hosts. She had a bubbling cauldron full of dry ice and a bowl full of "eyeballs" for the kids to scrounge through to help her find her jewels (skull rings which the kids got to keep). So here's a picture of her hut, which you may remember as the troll house from our fairy party a few years ago.
Can't really have a 1950's party without a hula hoop, can you? No. No you can't.
A classic game with a 1950's twist. Tossing mini Frisbees into the pumpkin's mouth turns a bean bag toss into game using an iconic vintage toy.
Note to self: Yellow Frisbees are hard to find in a leaf pile...
Spooky ghosts in the rain...
Fortunately revealed in the daylight to be balloons with flashing lights inside zip-tied to dowels.
Our fortune teller (and co-host), Tori, before she braved the weather to read our guest's fortunes.
It was wet business...
EEK! A GHOST! Matt was the scariest ghost in a sheet the world has ever seen. Three-year-olds the world over were terrified. The kids were rewarded with Trader Joe's candies when they returned with their scavenger hunt sheets filled out.
Twin housewives, Bekah and myself. At the end of the party. With fallen hair and rubbed-off make-up. Drinking. I also discovered something about my costume. All it takes is a hair change to turn perky, perfect wife-lady into:
The Lunch Lady.
Hoagies and grinders, baby.
