What a fun day ... the morning of the day of my witches party, for which I had been decorating for weeks, I got the idea, to put Edgar Alan Poe's face over my husband's in the period portrait I had commissioned when we bought our 125 year old house, 20 years ago. I loved the effect, and one of my party guests even asked if I always had the Poe portrait on display in my library.
This is the desk in the library, with its decor including a specimen case with 'fairy remains', I'd made the day before. Doesn't it look scholarly?
Then my helpers began to show up. My grandson Scott dressed as Harry Potter, and worked the library for me. His sister Eva was in charge of the craft in the garden house ... and since it was Eleanor's birthday she was in charge of having fun.
This kindly witch was in charge of the entry way, she greeted guests and gave them the checklist for activities. She also made sure the small graveyard in the front was full of goody bags for the witches to find when they went 'grave robbing'.
When it was dark enough Hubs added dry ice to the fountain, which looked pretty cool, because the bubbling brew animated the pumpkins .... oh soooo spooky. He also turned on the projector that projected flying witches against the house.
With the help of early comers, like Becca, Wendy and even Hubs the table was laid by 7.
There were Mummy Dogs, Jack-o-lantern oranges, Deviled Eggs, and Tomb Stone and cookie dirt puddings.
There were also cookies (Thanks Jann), trick-or-treat candy, spooky brownie bites, Witch Finger Bread Sticks, Spider Ice cubes, and a cauldron of Bubbling Brew brought by a neighbor.
My birthday girl granddaughter asked me if they were real spiders.
My friend Cheryl brought Candy Witch Fingers, which were yummy, and we floated 'hand ice' with a spider ring in the punch bowl.
The birthday girl had a friend come to keep her company, since her siblings were hard at their spooky work.
Here are some of my guests ... my dear friend Robin, who stopped at the grocery store on her way home in her complete costume, and ran into a lady who said "How cool, you're like a real witch out doing her regular grocery shopping ... I wish my kids were here to see you."
This is Wendy who flew in a bit early and made the deviled eggs for me.
Here I am with neighbors, and my daughter-in-law in the orange sweater.
and more of my darling neighbors.
These girls are all related, and its fun to see that they are color coordinated.
Tara and Andrea
The details of costumes was so amazing, like this sweet spider pin my friend Lyn is wearing.
Now that you have met some of my guests, I thought I'd share pictures of the 8 witch activity stations for the evening.
1. Above and to the left are friends who are sitting in my family room watching 'Young Frankenstien' We chose it because everyone knows the basic story so you could catch a few minutes for a laugh and move on if you wanted to.
2. This witch watched over the Witches Ball, where witches danced around a steaming cauldron to classic tunes, like the Monster Mash ....
Don't you think my friends are good sports?
3. My Granddaughter Eva helped everyone make poison bottles for the spooky craft in my garden house. I love this peek through the window.
My friend Shirley is in my art group and is one of the most talented people I know. I'm not sure how I missed getting a picture of her bottle, but I did get others.
Here are friends Andrea, Tara and Kim, hard at work.
Here is Lillian's bottle.
... and Carolyn's. They are both in my book club.
Here are four of the six members of my art group who were able to come, Ann, Jann, Kimmy and Margo.
4. My Grandson, aka Harry Potter oversaw the Library activities, including getting my guests to reach for a book on the shelves, which action triggered a trick book which moved in and out of the shelf while emitting spooky sounds and admonishing them concerning scary stories. He then read part of The Raven, by Edgar Alan Poe (Who you will recall is overlooking the scene), then he administered a Halloween trivia game, for which they could win a prize.
5. Then my guests stepped into the room next to the library to have their 'fortunes told' by my friend and walking partner, Ginny.
Since we are not 'that kind of witches' all of the fortunes were jolly, such as new grand babies, trips, treasures to be found and new friends...
6. All the witches were reminded to spend some time in the dining room, eating dirt and witches fingers, and the like.
7. Then it was photo booth time, the witches were invited to use the props on the front porch to take pictures to remember their spooky evening and scary witchy friends.
8. Last of all the witches were sent to the graveyard out front to do some 'grave robbing'. We had hidden bags of 'Witches Loot', for them to find.
I thought the 'candy stealer' grave stone was particularly funny, since the bags included a fair amount of candy, and the witches were there to rob .... beware ... There was even a strobe light to make it harder to focus and find the black bags.
So that was my 6th witch party. I had done one for each of five years before heading to Finland. This was my first to be held in the evening, as I decided it was time to take advantage of the fact that my house looks haunted. Thanks for coming along to share the fun. I hope your spooking season is your best ever.
