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!