Pumpkin Carving Party

The Sunday before Halloween we hosted our annual pumpkin carving party. I wasn't so sure about having it this year but in the end I decided I needed to stick it out or it wouldn't truly be a McDonough "annual" event...

I honestly didn't spend much time preparing for this party. I actually didn't even have ANY Halloween decorations out until the morning of but luckily everything came together and we had a blast. Everything that I used was from last year (with the exception of a few things)- which was all packed up in my Halloween boxes. It was great - like a party in a box!

Here was the table spread- recognize those runners? I used them for Ryan's 2nd birthday party...they worked perfectly for Halloween! Below are some close ups of some of the goodies!

1.) Cheese tray with scary spiders 2.) Witch Brooms (pretzel rods dipped in chocolate & Halloween sprinkles) 3.) Halloween cupcakes 4.) Carmel Apples - my first attempt. The carmel was sticking but I should have put them in the fridge to speed it up so that it wouldn't have fallen so much - oh well, they were still yummy! 5.) Pumpkin Spice cake balls (recipe from Bake at 350)

A few food ideas from Pinterest:

Jack-o-lantern fruit tray...didn't turn out as well as I anticipated but oh well

Candy corn veggie tray!

And on to the pumpkin carving...

Colin should get the award for most prepared participant...unfortunelty it didn't seem to help. The power tool that Colin brought didn't so much help with his carving as much as it did create a mess...anyone near him ended up with pumpkin guts splattered on them. 

James took his carving very seriously...Micky Mouse for his boys! So cute!

Nat & Jack supervising

Terra carved a french bulldog after their little dog Tilly.

Susanne and Mike strategizing

Karen prepping her pumpkin and Andrew & Heather cleaning theirs out

Gigi and Grayson

Pumpkin painting for the kiddos! I couldn't find smocks so we used garbage bags...

Ryan kept losing his arm hole - I will be getting smocks for next year!

Audrey's masterpiece

Hanging with Whitney & Dom

Next year these two will be all over the place!

Michael helping Lyla carve a princess pumpkin

The Haydels - love that adorable pumpkin dress!

Most people had to leave so I didn't get a picture of all the pumpkins. Next year I will have to be more organized and set a time for the pumpkin judging to begin! I think we will do awards with silly scary trophies! 

Had a great time and can't wait for next years party! So excited that we will be in our new house!

POP

Yesterday we threw a baby sprinkle for my friend Nat. She is due in February with another sweet little boy! It was so much fun planning this sprinkle because I got to work with two very talented ladies (Trinh & Mylien)!

The food table was just as adorable as it was delicious. Keeping along with the "Pop" theme we served:

Strawberry Spinach salad with POPPY seed salad

POPcorn Chicken

POPovers with Strawberry butter

Crab Ragon POPs

Assorted Soda POP

Cake POPs

Rice Krispie POPs

Nutella Banana POPs

Mini cupcake POPers

And we had a POPcorn bar with Kettle and Buttered popcorn, along with sweet and savory toppings  

Adorable, right?

On the front door we hung this wreath that I created for Nat and her new little man. The "T" is for "Tantinarawat" (her last name) since they haven't decided on a name for the little guy yet. 

Our popcorn bar - Trihn made the popcorn stand by wrapping a shirt box and cutting holes in the top. 

Yummy treats made by Mylien

Who says you can't have Chick-fil-a on a Sunday? Delish!

Topt tier of the diaper cake that Mylien made.

Trinh made these adorable party favors. The mini bottle of champagne was for Nat to celebrate with once the little man arrives!

Fun "Pop" themed treats inside!

Lots of ladies in stripes...

The fruit punch was a big hit...and it was good with champagne too

The guest of honor requested donations for the Genesis Women's Shelter in lieu of gifts. What a great idea especially this time of year! 

We wanted to make sure she got to take some things home so we had guests fill out "Wishes for Baby" so she could save for the little guy. We also stocked a basket full of goodies for Nat & Baby T and made a game "memory" game out of it. I carried it around the room and then guests had to recall what they could remember - its pretty hard if you aren't a mom....lots of crazy things in there! haha. It was a cute little game and a way for us to "sprinkle" Nat with a few things. 

Party planners with guest of honor. I had so much fun planning this party and love how it all turned out!  Can't wait to meet Baby T in February!

Gender Reveal Party

Yay! We had our baby reveal party on Saturday and found out we are expecting a little boy!! So excited! Now we are working on the name....my vote is for Ryan! Just waiting on Kevin to commit.