A Last Minute All Hallows Eve How-To

Happy Halloween!!!!  My favorite night is upon us.  We plan to spend the evening with our friends, A and L, handing out candy, watching scary movies and eating spooky treats. 

As the Halloween season is coming to a close, I thought I would go over a couple of quick DIYs in case you want to enhance your Halloween experience in easy and cheap ways.

First of all, I dress up like a witch every year to hand out candy.  I dress up the outside of my house to look like a witch may live there and then I answer the door in full character.  Some kids love it, some don’t.  Some parents love it, some don’t.  Last year, right before I opened the door, I heard little boy on the other side ask his mom, “Does a real witch live here?”  Love it.  The perfect mix of spooky and fun, as opposed to the year I forced my husband to answer the door with a hockey mask on, just one time…..based on the reaction of the kids, we will NOT be doing that again!  Let's just say there were tears...mostly from the kids.  Too much scary and not enough fun.  My bad.

Back to the task…..the witch’s hat is of course the best part of the witch costume.  I wanted to update my hat this year so I purchased this fancy one with a veil from Spirit Halloween for only $10!!!

 

Isn’t it fun for ten bucks?  The only problem is...it looks a little flat.  All the black makes it hard to see the detail. I have heard Nina Garcia say it a million times on Project Runway and let me tell you…she is right.

So, with the help of a few little ingredients...

 

I brewed up a new and improved witch’s hat.

 

For a grand total of less than $15 (already had the glue gun and glue sticks)

The next little tip is making bloody candles for your candle sticks.

Easiest thing on Earth.  I had four plain white candles bought cheap at Wal-Mart.  So I went back to Wal-Mart and bought a red candle for 46 cents.  Then all you do is hold a lighter to the red candle and let it drip onto the white.

 

It makes a quick, cheap and creepy effect for your Halloween display. I have them throughout my witch’s den among my ingredients for potions and the like...

Don't you love my hand in the mirror reflection? Amateur hour at its best.

 

 

I hope this has given you a little inspiration to “liven” up your all hallows eve….

Tonight's menu includes some of our favorite concoctions like Mini Mummies, Graveyard Dip, Bat Wings, Devil’s eggs and of course...Witches Brew.

How are you spending the evening?   

Have a spellbinding night,

tbg

Chicken Soup for the Soul Days

It’s Friday and it feels so good!! 

This weekend I am heading to a going away party for a friend of mine.  She and her family are moving to Australia.  Jeals?  Me too.

I have known this chickadee for about 23 years and I so amazed by the woman she has become.  She is an amazing mother, wife and business owner…..oh and can cut a rug like nobody’s business.

I had a little girl’s night gathering at my house a few weeks ago to get some good gab time in with her before she left.  It was one of those good for the soul nights I talked about here. 

 

We have all known each other for more than half of our lives so we decided it would be fun to bring all of our old photo albums over and go through them together  Holy cow did we have some gems.  We threw all of the "best worst" pics into a pile and then picked a winner at the end of the night.

This weekend all of her friends and family will be headed out to downtown Ft. Worth for some food and libations to say goodbye.  We are starting the night out at the Woodshed.  If you are in the area you need to check this place out.  It is so good!

It will be a bittersweet evening I am sure.  I will be so sad to see her leave but I am so excited for the journey she has in front of her.

Last weekend I got to see my lovely Karles who I had not seen since March.  Slash was able to make it out too.  I had them over for brunch on Sunday.  It was beautiful out so we got to lounge around on the patio eating quiche and chocolate babka.  Mimosas may have also been involved.  Another chicken soup for the soul day for sure. We discussed life, love, boys and business.  It was simply sensational.

 

This weekend I will also be getting some new furniture for my dining and bar area!  My mother is giving me some of her pieces that I have had my eye on for a while.  I am very excited.

This is what the area looks like now…..

 

That may all change very soon. Cannot wait to show you some pics of what is yet to come!

Have a wonderful weekend and get yourself some chicken soup for your soul!

Chicken noodle please,

tbg

Backyard BaByQue Couples Shower

It is about time I share some pictures from the Backyard BabyQue I hosted at my home a few weeks ago.

The shower was a couple’s shower for my college teammate and roommate. I love this girl like a sister and our husbands love each other like bros. We really wanted it to be special.

Besides how can you not reward behavior like this at our wedding from the Daddy-to-be???

 

And how cool of the Mama-to-be was it to surprise me in New Orleans for my Roaring Out of My 20's 30th birthday party this year dressed in a vintage flapper dress???!!

 

She had a bun in the oven and didn't lnow it yet!

Plus we just love these guys.

Ok so, as I explained back in this post here, I went with a pink and blue theme for a little spin on the traditional blue and red bar-b-que them.  I also added in rustic touches here and there to give it that backyard bar-b-que feel.

We used the hot tub as the main serving space.  I covered the hot tub with butcher paper and then glued cute baby themed wrapping paper around the edges to give it a table cloth feel. 

I used old wine crates, watering cans, a pepper plant, mason jars and succulents to add a little "outdoorsy" in the mix.  These were things I already had in the backyard.

 

Another example of a rustic "backyard" touch was using a wheelbarrow and galvanized bucket to hold gifts.

 

Please excuse the dog crate in all of the pictures!  We removed it before the party.....I hope.

The drink station was my favorite area of the backyard...

We served a mixture of drinks on top of a vintage bar filled with bar supplies.

The seating was simple; we covered long tables with butcher paper and then ran wrapping paper down the middle as table runners.  We topped the tables off with pink flowers in blue mason jars.

And now for the most delicious part of the evening......the cake.

 
In case you cannot read the top of the cake, despite my amazing picture taking skills, it says "Bun is in the oven! Burgers on the grill!"  How cute is this cake???  And look at these orange dreamsicle cupcakes.

 

 

So cute and so yummy.  If you are in the DFW area a need a cake and/or cupcakes, look up my girl Lane.  You can find her on Facebook, her page name is Obsessions Bakery.  Or you can just shoot me a message and I will hook it up.

The most fun area of the backyard was our little make-shift "Guess the Gender Photobooth"...

Guests were provided props that allowed them to put their two cents in on what the gender of the baby would be...and it was really a good time!

Just a few fun examples! 

All in all it was a fun night.  The fella was happy because the beer pong table was broken in....until 3 a.m.!!!

Class.  Pure class.

Thanks to the ladies who threw the shower with me!  Y'all were so amazing and worked so hard!

Now mommy and daddy to-be, close your eyes real tight and make a wish.....

....for the baby boy or girl of your dreams!  We love you!

So excited to meet Baby "G"!

tbg