Pumpkin Dinner Party

When it was safely a month away I dreamed of how fun it would be to host a Halloween dinner party to kick off my favorite holiday!  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible group of women in my community and we regularly get together for wine and snacks and conversation.  I've also been to lots of wonderful potlucks and realized there is nothing quite like sharing a meal to bring people together.

For this meal, I really wanted to prepare the meal and have my guests sit at the table.  I think there is value to sitting at the table, but as a mom with little kids, I eat most of my meals sitting on the edge of my chair and dashing back and forth to get things.  I wanted it to be a treat for my friends and a way to say thank you. One of the most challenging parts was deciding who to invite.  I had so many people who I'd love to share with, but I wanted everyone at the table (so a max of six!).  

I wanted food that was easy to serve and wouldn't require much prep once people had arrived, so the next challenge was developing a tasty but easy menu.

I ended up serving 4 pumpking themed courses.

1. Kale and Pumpkin seed Salad

2. Roasted Squash and pumpkin soup with homemade bread

3. Baked Pumpking Ziti (with sausge and veggie for each person's tastes)

4. Pumpkin Whip Pudding

I also served pumpkin mimosas when everyone arrived and wine with dinner.

The night before the party I did a trial run with our family  The boys LOVED our spooky candlelit dinner.  

I made myself a little schedule for the day to make sure all of the food got done on time and that I had an idea of how I wanted the evening to flow.  I deckd ou the room with candles and my Halloween deco and I played the Haunted Mansion Theme track.

My biggest unknown was the kids.  They usually sleep, but there was always the possiblity they would sense my excitement and refuse to settle down, but they were fine! :)

I'm always so nervous right before hosting an event, so I made a rule for myself that 10 minutes before people are scheduled to arrive, I sit down and have a glass of wine.

Then my friends came.  And they ooohh'ed and awww'ed and made me feel like I'd done a great job before we even sat down to eat!

It went so wonderfully that I think I'll try to make it an annual tradition!

I can't believe it took me 2 months to get around to writing about it!  Oh well!  Happy very late Halloween!