Welcome to the witch party!

I finally have my energy back after Saturday's Witch Party (or Witches' Gathering, as we sometimes call it). It was lots of fun, and I can't wait to share some party pictures! Think of this as a virtual party. I'll try to share the Witch Party experience, as if you were here from beginning to end...

First, there is a lot of preparation. The table needs to be set...

Cupcakes need to be made. These are triple chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips pressed into the tops. They're melty and chewy and perfect for those chocolate fiends out there!

The cupcakes are covered in green buttercream frosting and topped off with little black crows.

These crows were actually made from the little plastic doves that can be found in the wedding aisle at craft stores. We painted each one black and added glitter.

Time to get ready for the party! I've done my makeup, added my false eyelashes (a big fiasco) and donned my leaf covered witch hat.

The pumpkins are also dressed for the party, and sitting on the porch.

Across from the pumpkins, my Ouija Board is displayed. Skeletal hands get in touch with the spirit world! (Otherwise known as salad scoops).

By this point, the sun has almost set. The wind is picking up, and some spookiness is rolling in! I've started the scary sound effects on the porch. So as you approach the door, you will hear frog croaking, cat yowling, and noises from various other creatures.

A cage sits ajar. I wonder who flew out?

Mom prepares the witchy, green brew for our guests. (It's actually Kale and Cannellini Bean Soup.)

She has probably used a secret ingredient from our potion and poison bottles. 

The guests begin to arrive! One of them is my friend Stacey. She notices that she and I have the exact same hat on, aside from my leaf garland. This isn't the first time we've worn matching outfits/accessories. Stacey remarks, "This doesn't even surprise me anymore."

Stacey was nice enough to bring witch hat buttons for all the party guests. She sells these 3" buttons in her Etsy shop: Stacey's Expressive Buttons

The guests are ready to eat! The Mannheim Steamroller Halloween mix is playing and we all shuffle in to the table.

A bouquet of orange roses sits in the center of the table.

Uh oh. It looks like a spider has discovered the bouquet! Actually, that's a spider ring I managed to fit between the rose petals.

A little crow donning a witch hat sits on each guest's plate. The crows hold place cards that display everyone's Halloween themed nickname. We started using these nicknames 11 years ago for the first party. We were inspired by the Simpsons Halloween Specials. You know how in the credits each of the artists, writers, producers etc. has their name listed in some spooky way? (Matt "Hell" Goering, for example)

We sit down to eat dinner and pass around the Focaccia bread we made earlier.

It's cupcake time! Mom brings in the tray...

After cupcakes, we have some candy from our treat bags. Remember those Pirate Choppers? Those were in there. Although, Stacey didn't want hers after reading my blog post about them... The Choppers are actually quite good. They're kind of fruity. Here are a few of the other body parts included in the gift bags:

The sky is now completely dark. It is getting to be quite late and some of the guests are leaving.

Stacey stays on a little while longer for some time with the Ouija Board! We bring it in from the front porch and get ready to contact the spirit world...

For those of you who are wondering, Stacey and I did have an interesting experience with the Ouija Board. We tried three different times to contact a spirit, and each time were told different information. Such as gender, age, date of death, etc. Although, every time after about 10 minutes, the planchette would end up circling slowly around the board. All three times, the word "MAZAZ" was spelled out. Also it went back and forth from N-Z a lot. It was kind of repetitive and weird, so we just gave it a rest. I just googled "Mazaz" to see if it was an actual word or a name, and found this:

Someone else's Mazaz Ouija Board experience

Woah.

OK, moving on...

I took a few pictures of my false eyelashes before getting ready for bed. I guess I wanted credit for managing to keep them on all night! I won't bore you too much with the challenges of false eyelashes. Suffice it to say, I went through three bottles of glue. Two were so dried up that a putty like substance shot out and the third tube basically exploded all over the sink! This all happened after having only one eye done. So... yeah, I was proud to get these on and keep them on!

I assembled some of the presents our guests brought over, and wanted to share a few of them. Check out these metal salad scoops! They're a bit of an upgrade from the plastic ones on our porch display.

Here are a few more presents from our guests:

These foil wrapped chocolates came out of the little kitty purse above. They're filled with a chocolate and caramel mixture like Cadbury Creme Eggs!

One more thing! We figured out a use for the cauldron and candy bucket we found at the estate sale. Don't these make lovely vases?

I thought they made fine decorations for the party. Also, that estate sale pumpkin/skull got a party hat! The hat was a gift from Stacey last year, and I think it's a great fit.

Can you imagine if all of us in blog land had a Halloween party? I bet that would be entertaining! I know we all live in different states, and in some cases, different countries. So, we can't have an actual in-person party. Still, we could have a virtual one!

If you have a photo of yourself in a favorite Halloween costume, and are willing to email it to me, I'll include it in a "virtual party" blog post later this month.

I don't care how old your costumed photo is. It could be recent, or a picture from childhood. Just so long as you are dressed up, I'll include your photo along with a link to your blog. 

Any reader of this blog is welcome to send their photo to my email address: contactartgirl@gmail.com

Hopefully, I'll see some of you at my virtual Halloween party!