Happy Halloween All! I’m ending this Halloween season with a tour of the Halloween Dinner Party I hosted this weekend. Luckily I found a few moments to photograph the table and some of the projects I worked on in preparation for the party.
Let’s start with the focal point… the table. I chose a lace spiderweb table runner… I knew I was planning to fill the center of the table, so little hints of lace peeking through would be just the right touch. Towards the center of the table I created a floral arrangement using a greenish black urn I picked up at a thrift store. I love urns… they are so useful to decorate with! I arranged various black floral stems and twisty brown twigs to create a tall arrangement.
On either end of the table I added tall domed birdcages. I placed a white skull on a candlestick that I painted black inside of each cage, and filled with moss. Moss always gives a good “dead” feeling to a gothic or Halloween table. Black centipedes and spiders were tucked into the moss. To fill the spaces between, I added a few craft pumpkins I had painted black, and one cream colored one.
Then I took two matching urns that I picked up from a thrift store. The urns were cream in color, so I used a black matte spray paint to paint them. Because they were stone, the paint soaked in leaving a perfect aged finish. I added more moss and a candle to each of them.. No dinner table is complete without lots of candles, so I mixed in more black pillars, and black votives. I happened to have some small bowls held by skeleton hands in a box of old Halloween decor, that matched perfectly with my place card holders, so I used those for the votives. Of course I had to add skulls, skulls, and more skulls to the table.
For height, I spray painted a bunch of thrift store candlesticks, and used those for both the skulls, and the pillar candles. I always preach to buy up candlesticks when you find them at thrift stores… this was a great example of how handy they all came in! For a final touch, I tucked black spiders and black rats into any open space.
I decided to go with the Skeleton Hand Place Card Holders , I featured a few weeks ago, for my place settings. They topped a Black on Black Striped Napkin
The chairs were covered in creepy cloth, and I had a special guest seated at my head chair. I had picked up this skeleton from a thrift store last year. It wasn’t the most realistic skeleton I’d ever seen… it had a weird shaped skull, the proportions were off, I don’t know what to say about those strange hands, and it was missing its bones from the knee down…. Despite it’s host of issues, I had a hard time turning down an almost full size skeleton. It wasn’t until this year that I found a use for this ugly thing. I have gold framed head chairs at my dining room table. The chairs inspired me to paint my ugly friend gold, and I’m quite thrilled with the transformation! Imagine what a good looking and well proportioned skull could look like!! Regardless, he made the perfect guest for my table!… didn’t even need those lower legs!
I draped a thin layer of cobwebs on the chandelier hanging above the table. A little goes a long way when it comes to cobwebs…. and no other Halloween decoration can compete with it’s haunted vibe. It is by far the cheapest but most effective Halloween decoration out there!! A large raven was perched atop the chandelier, and a few bats hung below.
I added a drink table to the room so my guests wouldn’t have to go far for refills… My DIY Pumpkin Wine Dispenser definitely came in handy for us ladies… and the gentleman kept a few brewskies on hand in the Cauldron Ice Bucket (purchased from World Market). And my DIY Ouija Board Tray fit right in!
Once my guests arrived, I admit, I started having a good time, and my camera went by the wayside, so I didn’t get any great shots of the food I served. Here’s the menu for the night, and eventually, I plan to bring you each of the recipes that were mine.
To start the evening, I put out a dark cheeseboard. I filled an antique silver tray, and various silver pedestal bowls with dark or veined cheeses, black crackers, dark fruits, herb encrusted meats, dark red peppers, and a fiery olive mixture. For a look at another dark cheeseboard offering, check out this Studded Lazy Susan post.
For dinner I served a Pork Loin Roast with bones Frenched. Roasted Acorn Squash, Brussels Sprouts Gratin and Bloody Mushroom Pasta were the sides. To finish the night on a sweet note – Black Caramel Apples, Spider Egg Cookies, and Coffin Brownies.
Well, that wraps up Halloween 2017. It’s been fun! Sad to see it go… but until next year… stay tuned for plenty of Gothic, Macabre, and Rock n Roll projects, events, and recipes… a little something all year long for those of us who celebrate Halloween everyday! 🙂
Can’t wait to see what your 2019 table looks like! I lave this and your 2018 table.
Kathi… Thank you! I can’t wait either!! Haha! Right now it looks like it’s under demolition!! But I have a vision… all I can do is keep plowing forward! wish me luck… I’m hoping to have the entire thing set and ready within the next week or so! 🙂