This year was our 18th annual pumpkin carving party. (Let’s not think about how old that makes me. Em-kay?) I think it was also our best ever pumpkin carving party. Spooky food, laughing kids, good friends and pumpkin guts! I ask you.. does it get any better? Nope, I didn’t think so either!
First we got down to some serious gutting. Really, if my hands didn’t have so much pumpkin guts on them I would have taken better pictures. But have you ever tried taking pictures while trying not to get orange goo on your camera? I can tell you, it’s a challenge.
Next the carving began. The little ones used stickers and paint on their pumpkins. I didn’t get any pictures of this. By then the orange goo was up to my elbows and there was no avoiding goo-a-fying my camera.
And finally there was the spooky food. Lots and lots of spooky food.
Appetizers included:
- Deviled Egg Eyeballs – regular deviled eggs with 1/2 a green olive for the eye. These took about 1/2 hr including egg cooking & peeling time. But while the eggs were cooking I made the fruit pumpkin. If you put your egg yolk mixture & mayo in a zip top bag you can mix / mush everything, then snip a corner to fill the eggs. Easy peasy.
- Mozzarella eyeballs – fresh mozzarella balls with 1/2 a green olive for the eye (hey, I already had the olives so why not?). Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with dried basil. These seriously took 5 min.
- Blood and bones – Pillsbury bread sticks cut a 1″ slit on each end of the bread stick. Roll the slit parts back on themselves to make the knobs for the bones. Jarred (or homemade) spaghetti sauce. I made the night before.
- Apple nachos – Slices apples tossed in lemon juice. Drizzle chocolate & caramel sauces. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips & chopped peanuts. A whole 10 min to make these babies!
- Fruit pumpkin – Orange sections for the pumpkin, red seedless grapes for the mouth & eyes, celery stick for the stem. The hardest part of this was peeling the oranges. Clementines would have worked way better, but all I could find were navel oranges. 15 min
- Batty cheese – just use spooky cookie cutters to cut shapes out of sliced cheese. 15 min
Dinner was just as easy. We had an Italian sausage bar. I threw the sausages in a crock pot in the morning layered with sliced peppers and onions and put in a large can of diced tomatoes. 8 hrs later – Viola – Sausages. They were served right in the crock with a varity of condiments:
- Gratted mozzarella cheese
- Giardiniera
- Sliced pickled banana peppers
- Peperioncini
There was a green salad and potato salad to go with the sausages.
The cupcakes were also made the night before. N helped both with making the cupcakes, making the frosting and decorating them. I am so glad that he is learning that part of the fun of having a party is getting ready for it.
- Spiky monsters – chocolate cupcake with chocolate butter cream frosting. Decorated with candy corn, pink mints, and a bit of white frosting to “glue” on the eye candy. I found my eyes at my local craft shop.
- Glaring monsters – chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. I put crushed Oreos in a small bowl, turned the cupcake upside down and rocked it in the Oreos until covered. Then pushed 2 matching M&Ms into the frosting for their eyes. ***WARNING*** These cupcakes will glare and judge you every time you open the refrigerator. Just sayin’.
- Eyeballs – yellow cake and butter cream frosting. I used store bought red gel frosting for the bloody veins. The eye is a gummy Lifesaver with a chocolate chip inside. The gummy had to be stretched out some to fit the chocolate chip. Luckily N has lots of patience for a 5 year old and he did all of the stretching – chocolate chip inserting.
- Vampire bites – yellow cake and butter cream frosting. N used a chopstick to poke the teeth holes. Then used the red gel to make the “blood” dripping out.
And now for the grand reveal!!!! The punkins themselves!!!
Of course with the huge superhero kick N has been on we had to make a Spider Man and Bat Man pumpkin. Do you think he likes them?
Inspirations:
- Cooking with Tanya – Eyeball Cupcakes
- Baking Bites – Vampire Bite Cupcakes
- Orange and Black – Glaring Monster Cupcakes
- Better Homes and Gardens – Spiky Monster Cupcakes
- Dabbled – Mozzarella eyeballs
- Our Bites- Blood and bones
- The Frugal Girls – Apple nachos
- Wholesome Dinner Tonight – Fruit pumpkin
Not Your Normal Steam 