Season of the Witch

Witches + feast tables = Halloween glee!

I do so love Halloween. I love the uncomplicated joy of it. The mischief of it. The being-someone-else of it. (And the candy. Who doesn't love the candy?) 

It gives me a lot of pleasure to celebrate Halloween in a big way. I decorate the house (inside and out). I plan and assemble elaborate costumes for hubs and I. I attend Halloween parties with gusto. 

A few of my witches, enjoying the night 
air out on the back patio

This year, instead of just attending a Halloween party, I decided to throw one myself! My buddy Shawn and I teamed up to host a witch-themed party a week or two before Halloween. (Appropriate hats required.) I put together my first-ever video invitation (I used FlexClip.com. It was so cool and fun!), emailed it out, and prepared to hex my way into the best party ever. 

We decorated the front of the house. We decorated the inside of the house. We decorated the back of the house. The party actually gave me an excuse to do some work on our back patio - hanging cafe lights, installing a bench, replacing our back porch light/fan, etc. I love how it turned out! 

Then, on to the food! I'd been seeing these really cool "feasting table" ideas online, and I thought the concept was appropriately pagan for a witch party. I laid some black poster board on my long stone island, and Shawn and I piled it high with cheeses, fruit, nuts, olives, crackers, bread, charcuterie, and other snacks. We used a few pedestals and one tiered server to give it some height. The look you are going for here is abundance, and if you pick an area and really fill it up, it's impressive and beautiful. 

Shawn also brought along a couple of custom cocktails (a fall sangria and a mixed drink), and we spiced them up with some glow-in-the-dark ice cubes. (I am so not kidding. A Mississippi company makes them, and they are MAGICAL.) I also made sure everything was ready in the fire pit out back for a cozy evening. Then, we threw on our witch outfits, put on a spooky playlist, and got ready to party! 

Patrice and I practiced out incantations out by the fire pit. Heh.

This was so. Much. FUN! We had about 10 ladies over, and we drank and ate and talked and laughed and warmed ourselves by the fire. Guests RAVED about the feast table (noted), and everyone looked so fetching in their with costumes! Sweet Jim, my across-the-street neighbor, even swung by to take a group photo of us! (We let him stay for drinks and munchies as an honorary warlock.) 

I *must be* a witch at heart, because I positively loved this party! You know a gathering is good when you find a random witch hat that someone left in the road outside of your house when cleaning up the following morning (which I did). 

Just two major brands, getting ready to party.

The Saturday before Halloween, there were also some parties around town, so hubs and I dressed in our costumes to see what kind of trouble we could find. (This year, I went as the Morton Salt Girl, and Hubs was the cutest Chef Boyardee in the world! Adorable!) 

We found our people at Dogmud Tavern, a local bar/restaurant owned by a work colleague of mine. It was FULL of folks in really great costumes - superheroes, Harry Potters, fairies, trolls. They had karaoke on the back patio, a photo booth, specialty drinks, and a costume contest! Y'all, I'm coming straight here for every Halloween party they do every year forever. We got some fun drinks, split a really good pizza, enjoyed the photo booth, and soaked up the Halloween of it all. 

Because Halloween itself was on a Monday night, we were able to go out for fun on the weekend but still be home on Halloween to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters! We had some really cute little ones (and big ones)! I am a 3-4 piece of candy kind of lady, so we unloaded pretty much all of the candy we'd bought and made some shorties really happy. 

Between my spooky activities in NOLA, an awesome witch party, our night out at Dogmud Tavern, and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, we had a great Halloween this year! And now, on to the rest of the holiday season!