Daily Party Dish

Halloween Office Party

Tomorrow is Halloween as you all should be aware of.  We here at Party411 hope you have your costumes and candy ready to go.  As you know we always like to have a party whenever the reason fits.  Friday usually fits the bill but today we decided to celebrate Halloween.

We last dressed up for Talk Like a Pirate Day and today we were expecting the normal participants. However, we had participation from almost everybody.  As you can see we had a Santa, Charleston dancer, hilarious clown, gunless Queen Amidala, a married woman, scary monster and a pirate.

I have to say I’m impressed with the variety and quality of the costumes.  Amidala made her costume from scratch.  Yes you read that right, from scratch.  She even made her laser gun look like the one from the movies.  Any way you cut it, an impressive display.

It’s hard to ignore the scary monster.  Look at the detail; I’m impressed, as you should be too.  As he said, “People sure got out of my way on the road to work today.”  Looks like a sure fire way to get to work on time, even during Halloween.

We had the typical office grub of pizza, salad, and wings.  Amidala was nice enough to bring in punch.  She went so far as to scoop sherbet into each glass.  Attention to detail is why she would make a good queen.  Santa then brought cookies to all the good boys and girls in the office.  Hard to say, but this might be the best Halloween party I’ve ever been to.

Candy Corn Pudding Recipe

Remember back in school when your teacher told you to read all of the instructions on the bulletin board before starting the assignment?  Remember how you didn’t do that and started at the beginning and got to the last instruction which negated all the work you had done?  I should have remembered that lesson last night when I attempted to make Candy Corn Pudding. 

Here’s the basic idea of this super cute recipe that I tried last night from Pillsbury – Make butterscotch pudding with red and yellow food coloring.  This makes the orange part of your pudding.  Then make banana cream pudding with yellow food coloring for the yellow part of the pudding.  Let them both cool and then place equal parts yellow and then orange pudding in a martini or wine glass.  Top with cool whip and you’ve got Candy Corn pudding!

Seems simple, right?  Well, I didn’t read the instructions quite right.  I saw that the instructions said the make the butterscotch pudding first.  So, I assumed this was supposed to be my yellow.  Well, I made it with the yellow food coloring and ended up with an odd yellow pudding.  Still thinking this was right, I put it in the jar.  (Seriously, how did I think that was the right color?)

Then I started with my banana pudding.  Yes, I did think it was odd that they were telling me that the banana would make the orange and not the yellow.  Well, I realized I had made a mistake when I added the red food coloring and got a very off color.  So, I added some yellow…and some more red…and some more yellow.  Uch.  No matter what, it was not orange.  That’s when I read the instructions and realized that I had pretty much messed up the entire recipe.  I plugged away, determined to finish, even knowing these were not candy corn colors.  I added the “orange” on top and then the cool whip and topped the concoction with candy corn. 

 
Here’s the result – not as pretty as the pros, but it has a vague candy corn feel.  I’ll try this one again next year and actually read the instructions.  Although, I think I’ll use something other than banana pudding, because, well, banana pudding? Yuck.

Phenomenal Halloween Invites

Halloween is coming up and I’m excited. Normally I get dressed up and wait to pass out candy to the kids. Of course, the neighborhood kids rarely come by my house. I don’t understand it either, it’s not like we’re giving out “bad” candy. This year is different though. I got invited to a party.

Now we here at Party411 offer some really cool Halloween Invitations. These are really great but the invite I got went above and beyond, because it was a DVD. Yes, that’s right a DVD. I mean how cool is that?

 

The DVD invite gets you ready for the party because you notice the birds attacking the lady. Now movie buffs would immediately get this reference.  Of course if you don’t you would still see birds attacking a woman, which is in line with Halloween.

I popped in the DVD and Hitchcock was talking to me.  Well not to me but it was the intro to his old show.  4 minutes later and some clever editing by the host, I knew I was invited to a Hitchcock Halloween party and where the party was.  Could I have gotten this information out of a paper invite? Sure. Would I have been as excited as I am now? Maybe, but this invite is incredible and I’m ready to double up on passing out candy and partying.

-Brian

Choosing a Halloween Costume

I do the same thing ever year.  I start thinking about Halloween costumes for my kids over the summer.  Give me a little slack though – we start updating the Halloween section on Party411.com over the summer, so I’m surrounded by costume ideas when it’s still hot and humid outside.  Nevertheless, I’m still a bit of a loony about Halloween.  As I’ve mentioned before, tubs of decorations come out on October 1st and my house is transformed into Halloween land. 

So, you’d think with all this planning that I’d have Halloween costumes ready months ahead of time.  Of course not.  I’m also incredibly indecisive.  I have to look at every store in town and look on every costume site on the internet.  I’m always amazed by my friends who have their costumes ready weeks ahead of time. 

Now, my older son is finally old enough that he can help choose his costume.  That might help me some, but for about a month he wanted to be tape for Halloween.  I don’t think they sell that in stores and I’m not that creative.  Finally, he saw a clown costume in one of my many Halloween magazines and he was hooked.  Perfect. 

Again, all I would need to do is go online and buy one, right?  Of course not.  First I went to my parents to see if they had the clown costume I wore as a kid.  No luck.  We did find a wig and hat and a bowtie, so that’s at least covered.  Then my coworker offered me a costume her son wore.  It was super cute, but unfortunately way too big.

Now we’re getting down to crunch time.  Halloween is in less than 3 weeks and all I have is a hat.  Well, I finally went (back) online yesterday and picked out his clown costume!  

Needless to say, I haven’t figured out what my younger son will wear.  Who knew this holiday was so stressful?

-Amy

Win a Cardboard Celebrity of Edward from Twilight

Are you a fan of Twilight? Most of us here at Party411.com are big fans of Twilight, especially Edward. Such big fans that there is a life-size cutout of Edward floating around the office.  And if you’re a big fan you know the new movie is going to be released soon. (So excited, it looks so good! Midnight viewing here we come!)

To celebrate the movie, and to give you all a nice little treat, we’re having a giveaway. An Edward giveaway :) You can win your very own Edward Cardboard Celebrity. He is life sized, so that is a lot of vampire yumminess! 

All you have to do to enter is to go to our Twilight giveaway page, sign up for our newsletter and you’re in. The contest ends November 9th so you’ll have it in time for your Twilight Movie Release party!

Enter the Twilight Giveaway Now!

Happy Customers

We love it!  Cassidi’s family ordered a custom lifesize caricature cutout for her 30th birthday celebration.  They loved it so much they created a cake from the art!  Needless to say, the cutout and the cake were a hit!

 

Thanks for sharing Cass and Happy Birthday!

Amy

ISCD Texas Hold'Em Tournament

Here’s a great event being held in Cleveland on Thursday, November 19.  A Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament is being held to raise money for the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled (ISCD) at Signature of Solon.  Top prize is $3000.  Not bad!

The ISCD is a center in Israel that provides physical and physiological rehabilitation for Israeli children and youth through aquatic and wheelchair sports. 

Check out their site to learn more, sign up or donate if you’re interested and can’t attend. 

You know we think there is nothing better than a party with a purpose!

-Amy

Excitement for Halloween

First and foremost, I’d like to apologize for our absence from the Daily Dish. We came down with the flu and needed to heal.  Well, we’re healthy and we’re back.

I’m excited for Halloween. I know almost everybody says that and I am looking forward to passing out candy to neighborhood kids, maybe attending a party and of course dressing up.  These things are all great parts to the excitement of Halloween.  However, there is something else I look forward to with Halloween, and that’s candy bars and cookies at my grandma’s house well before the holiday.

I was at my grandma’s house the other day to cut the grass and basically be a good grandson. She wasn’t home so when I was done I decided on catching another epic Law and Order episode. And to my surprise she had Halloween cookies. Delicious. Then in the T.V. room there was just a wonderful collection of mini candy bars. 

I love mini candy bars because you can eat more of them because they are smaller than a regular candy bar.  These treats were only available because of Halloween. This is yet another reason I look forward to the great holiday. I love the different cookies, and the appearance of mini candy bars in bulk.  That being said Halloween can not come soon enough!

Super Excited About Twilight Party Products

We’re counting the days at Party411.com until the next Twilight movie comes out on November 20th!  And, of course, we can’t let it pass without planning a Twilight theme party! So, we put Edward in our office for inspiration and got to work. 

We started with a whole line of Twilight inspired custom products.  Our favorite has to be this beautiful caricature of Edward and Bella that you can use as an invitation.  Use it as is or take out Bella and add your face.  (Or Edward’s, of course, if you’re a male who is hosting.)

We’re so excited to present our Twilight theme party.  It’s full of decorating ideas, favor ideas and entertaining ideas.  It’s great if you’re planning a Twilight movie release party (like us!) or a Twilight theme birthday party. 

And, we know you all love Edward too.  Stay tuned, we’ll be giving away a lifesize cutout of Edward next month!

-Amy

Spooktacular is indeed a word!

So, I’m on vacation walking through a Saveway Supermarket, minding my own business, when Pillsbury’s newest impulse buy magazine hits my eye from the racks.  Screaming “HALLOWEEN—Food, Parties, Fun”…I had no choice but to buy it.  A party planner (and a good one) I may be, but a house with two ovens later, the words creative and kitchen have never mixed nor mingled and probably never will.

Yet, leafing through this tome of ideas, my mind raced and I leapt forward to October 31st and the thought that maybe I’d have a party just to show off these incredibly creative treats—costumes being the least of it.  Even I, a woman who has never cooked, never created anything from scratch, could pull this off.  I think.

For instance, they have sandwiches where the bread is cut in the shape of a coffin and jelly is used (it seems—I only look at the pictures) to spell out R.I.P. on top.  They’ve taken deviled eggs and actually made the “devil” out of them with what looks like pimento, peppers and pieces of carrots to name a few.  They’ve made bugs out of pigs in a blanket using shoestring potatoes out of a can with ketchup and mustard for eyes and skin pigmentation (yes, you read that right).  They’ve even made creepy crawlers by wrapping meatballs in their refrigerated flaky biscuits, using cut olives for eyeballs and connecting them together to look like a centipede.  Excited yet?

Everything has eyes and legs and creepy appendages.  A simple potato turns into a terrifying twice-baked mummy, a salad changes into a scary clown and a loaf of bread turns into a cheese-filled jack-o-lantern.  And I haven’t even talked about dessert!

So, if you’re in the mood for Halloween wrapped in a Pillsbury crescent roll or buttery biscuit (and you’re missing a chromosome if not), you can check out Pillsbury’s Halloween recipes or get Volume 18, Number 1 of their Most Requested Recipes™--since the website does not do this Halloween issue justice.

Gotta go and get a “chef” costume.  Have a great Halloween!
    The Party Girl