Decorating your house for Halloween can be a lot of fun and also a lot of work, so if you are looking for a chance to show off your handiwork, here is a great party idea for the end of October.
This idea was born out of the need to have a Halloween party and the realization that hosting on Halloween night is a hassle. A lot of people have commitments that night with respect to handing out candy or taking kids out trick or treating. There has to be a way for the adults to have a fun night without resorting to not answering your door and risking getting egged or not taking your kids trick or treating which will result in them needing years of costly therapy down the road. I asked myself, what do I need to do in the lead up to Halloween? What do we all need to do to keep ourselves safe? How can I both host a fun party and help protect my friends and family from the imminent danger of Halloween? The answer: eat garlic.
The Vampire Awareness Party was created!
Set a date 2-3 days before Halloween and send out your invitations. This is a fairly casual party and it doesn't have to be a lot of work. You have probably already decorated, but if you haven't there are some great, quick ideas here. We opted to have our party be costumes optional, but we did ask that people at least wear black and white. This will help to draw those who are less enthusiastic about Halloween out of their sad little shells. Trust me, you are doing them a favour. We also went with black, white and red for all our decorations. The red lighting (as mentioned in my decorating post) was perfect and we also rigged up TVs around our house to play black and white vampire movies. Nosferatu is a really great choice. We put the sound on mute and played our own music for the party.
A trip to Lina's set us up nicely for a Mediterranean antipasto buffet, and I also made a few garlic-y tapas and lots of good old fashioned roasted garlic to be spread on baguettes. I DID NOT make garlic desserts. You have to draw the line somewhere. Perhaps a more talented cook could pull that off, but I was not even going to try. Individual cups of Terror-misu made a much nicer finish to our evening and kept the Mediterrenean theme going. The Mediterrenean probably has few vampires due to its penchant for garlic by the way, so it's a great holiday destination any time of year.
We served red wine and black martinis. We had a couple of kids who were happy to participate as waiters dressed in black and white and complete with little moustaches. They had fun serving the guests black martinis (which are really red) and tucking into the garlic-y snacks.
Our party was a great way to draw out the season a little longer and guests had space in their schedules to attend a pre-Halloween party so we had a good turnout and it was terrific to see friends and have a good time.
Is your space terrifying? Need help pulling it all together? I can help.