a halloween dinner party

I know...the rest of the world has moved onto Christmas at this point (Olivia even commented on all of the Christmas decorations taking over the stores, "Look! Dare's Chri-mus ev-ee-where!"). But I'm currently running my life approximately 3 weeks behind schedule (including laundry), so here we are.

The weekend before Halloween I threw a Halloween dinner party for some of my favorite people! With the girls' birthdays this year being pretty simple, I start to go a little crazy if I go too long without coordinating napkins and centerpieces (you know what I mean?..If you don't, congratulations on being sane *insert upside down smiley face emoji--why don't computer keyboards have emojis yet?) 

I LOVE Halloween. Not so much the scary, bloody, haunted house parts...more like the candy apples, Hocus Pocus, and cheesy parts--that I can totally get behind. I wanted to go for a gothy-glam vibe, so I used lots of black lace, a neutral color scheme, and candles for mood lighting. And huge thanks to Aleksi and Nick for one- letting me crash their house and use their patio,  two- already having the perfect lighting strung from the trees, and three- helping me set up earlier that day!!! 

 

 ^Let's take a moment to appreciate that Clayton did his own makeup.

The candle holders were a cheap DIY made by painting a bunch of thrift store flower vases sloppily painted with brown and black craft paint. Once that dried I used the "toothbrush" technique to spatter on more black paint. The centerpieces had floral moss, skeleton bones, and some greenery.

Vampire napkin rings were another cheap DIY! I bought plastic vampire teeth from the party store and spray painted them with antique gold spray paint in like 5 seconds- my kinda project.

 

 ^Torn up cheesecloth is another quick and easy added layer of spook!

^Kristen and Kyle went for the hard-working, successful, and awesome parents look-- and they NAILED it! ;-p 

 ^Olivia slept with that skeleton chihuahua for probably a week after Halloween. Not weird at all. 

 ^A pirate, Wendy Darling, and the cutest little Tinkerbell I ever did see! 

 ^Cupcake goodness from Alisha's Cravings in Pleasant Grove- hands down the best in Utah!

 ^And this is why I love Jenn and Gordy.

 I decided I should buy dry ice more- it's just really cool. Also, I scored a punch recipe for my Mom that sounds so simple but is like- beyond amazingly delicious. I'm going to share it with you, because it feels wrong not to:

1 quart orange juice

1 quart pineapple juice

8 oz lemon juice

2 quarts water

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 quart gingerale 

Just to give you an idea, that is supposed to serve 80 people...maybe 80 midgets because the 12 of us went through almost an entire serving...yeah...

 ^US! A pig in a blanket and a ceiling fan! (Totally stole the non-costume costume from someone at our church party the night before, but it was very fitting for James and his anti-Halloween nature. ;-)

 ^I didn't know the candles would look even cooler when they started melting- so that was a fun surprise!

 ^Adorable babies disguised as pumpkins are always welcome at ANY party of mine. ;-)

All in all such a fun night with a fun atmosphere, delicious food, and the BEST company!