Spooky Dinner Party

Earlier this month, I was lamenting a bit about not decorating for Halloween. After all, half the fun doing it for many years was due to the childrens’ excitement. But why not make Halloween something adults can enjoy too? So as a last minute, spontaneous gesture, we decide to have a small spooky Halloween dinner party for our wonderful neighbors.

The Decorations

I honestly can say that decorating just the back porch was SO. MUCH. FUN. When you take decorations out once a year, you tend to forget what you have. And we seem to have a lot of spooky decor.

Naturally, now, when entertaining I always take into account everyone’s comfort level on social distancing so the back porch is the perfect choice. Since one of our friends has an underlying condition, it is important to put him and his spouse at a comfortable distance from everyone else.

There is a delicate balance between creating a cozy atmosphere and keeping 6′ apart from others.

So I stuffed a pair of pants with newspaper and tucked a pillow inside a man’s shirt. Adding a scary mask, I wedged the knife in his back, and made some blood to drip down the white shirt. My “crime victim” is propped on one of the chairs and helps solve the social distancing requirement.

On the other side, Mr. Bones and a rat in a trap joins us for dinner. The table isn’t feeling so empty now!

As you may remember, my husband made a raised centerpiece shelf (see post here), and it comes in handy for the spooky decorations.

Tarnished and dusty candlesticks are perfect with black candles. The old laboratory bottles, skulls, skeletons, black cats and witches add to the Halloween theme.

The rest of the porch is decorated with mummies, owls, autumn leaves, lighting and sounds that let you know that you should B.E.W.A.R.E!

The Menu

The menu for the evening is rather simple, starting with a themed cocktail, Deathly Hallows, which was recently in my post, Fall Inspired Drinks. This is served with a variety of nuts and fruit.

The main course is my favorite Turkey Chili (see recipe here) and a fig, pear and goat cheese flat bread. Unable to find fresh figs, I altered this Southern Living recipe using dried figs and added sliced Bosc pears. Drizzled with thick balsamic (the one I buy from Pinetop, see here) and topped with fresh arugula~it was delicious. Since one of our guests is a vegetarian, I also made chili full of vegetables and no meat from Ambitious Kitchen (see recipe here).

Dessert is a simple pumpkin cream cheese swirled brownie. I won’t share the recipe because they were okay but not spectacular.

All in all, it was a VERY fun evening, especially with the lights low and the skeleton dog howling.

Whatever you are doing for Halloween, I hope you have as much fun as we did at this dinner party. We feel so blessed to have neighbors who are spontaneous and enjoy our festivities!