Halloween At Home : Dinner and a Movie – 2019
Hello hello! I hope those of you who celebrate Halloween had a good one.
Our friends Leslie and Niall came over for a casual evening of drinks, dinner and movie watching, but more than anything, we enjoyed each other’s company.
Here are some photos (and plenty of chat which you’re totally free to ignore!) …
↑ We began with some crackers and cheese (Camembert, Herbed Goats, and White Stilton with Mango and Ginger), served with pickled greenbeans (a new item in Nick’s pickling repertoire this year) and some Cape Gooseberries. ↑
Stay tuned until the end of the post to see what’s in that nicely wrapped package!
↑ I’ve only ever had these as garnishes on desserts at fancy restaurants, so it was a treat to have a whole bowl of them. ↑
↑ Vintage Halloween decorations are notoriously hard to find, so I treasure my one true vintage piece : The scarecrow head is an embossed cardboard die-cut from the 50s, which I attached to a framed piece of black felt. (The Biestle company have begun making these again, though, so you don’t have to find a rare vintage one to get the same effect!) ↑
↑ We had warm cocktails – Sinners’ Tea Recipe. (The amber glass mugs and tray were thrifted.) ↑
↑ The Lava-Lamp is the reason for the very orange light, which was unintentional but in hindsight, good for Halloween! It was a gift to Nick from a colleague. ↑
↑ While this wooden jack-o-lantern decoration looks vintage, I just got it new at Winners last week! It originally had a “Happy Halloween” sign hanging from it (which you’ll see further down), but one of the chains that attached it was broken, so they’d put it on the sale rack and I got it for $4! I would have taken the sign part off anyway, because it has a modern looking font and I prefer the vintage look. A happy find, indeed. ↑
↑ You may have seen my post about crocheted Halloween Wreaths last week (found here). To decorate one of the wreaths I used a string of skull and crossbones beads which I cut from a costume necklace that I found at Dollarama. The skull on the handmade skeleton above was also part of that necklace. (I’ll pop a little DIY for the skeleton at the end.)
Now, into the dining room and dinner …
↑ Our Halloween Tablescape : The cotton tablecloth is one I found on Amazon and I made the black place-mats. The napkins and napkin rings were thrifted and the dishes and cutlery were gifts. The tray is vintage from ebay. ↑
↑ The first course was a tossed salad, topped with (thematically appropriate) pumpkin seeds. ↑
↑ Nick made individual turkey pot pies with whole wheat pastry. (It was Thanksgiving here in Canada a few weeks ago, so we had left-over turkey in the freezer.) ↑
↑ We also had some homemade cranberry sauce in the freezer. ↑
We weren’t sure if people would be able to eat the whole pie so offered doggie bags, but they were absolutely unnecessary. The pies were delicious and not a bit was left!
We moved to the adjacent living room for movie time …
↑ The vintage wooden and glass bookcase in the right-hand photo is new to us. We’ve placed it on top of a dresser we’d gotten from our friend Barb when she moved. We got the bookcase from Craigslist, primarily to keep a collection of first edition books written by Nick’s Aunt Lucy, which until now, we had stored away in boxes. The books only take up one shelf, though, so now I have some extra display space, which makes me very happy. ↑
↑ If you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ll remember our dear cat Eddie. We had him for 15 years and he sadly died a couple of years ago. Anyway, this cast-iron cat, who we call Stu, was Eddie’s buddy. He used to sit and talk to him all the time. It was hilarious. Eddie was adopted from the street and there was no way that he’d allow us to have another cat, but Stu he could handle. (See them interacting in this post!) ↑
↑ We have another cast-iron cat to keep Stu company. I’m kidding … unlike Eddie, we understand that he’s not real so he doesn’t need a friend. This jack-o-lantern and the plate above were thrifted. ↑
↑ I made the little black tree from three picks I found at Michaels. They were intended to put in vases with silk flower arrangements but I just lined them up and attached them together with black twist ties, to make a tree. The jack-o-lantern ornaments were made with these beads, also found at Michaels. ↑
↑ The felt cat was a DIY from years ago, “How To” found here. ↑
↑ There’s one of the crocheted wreaths I made this year (referenced above, pattern here).
The scarecrow is something I got from my mom who is a retired primary school teacher. She used to have this fellow in her classroom at Halloween.
The skeleton keys on the wall are real and once opened doors. One was from my grandparents and the other is from Nick’s aunt (the same one who wrote the books in the bookshelf). ↑
↑ Ready for movie time! ↑
↑ Cueing the film. ↑
↑ Dimming the lights! ↑
We watched an old one from the 70s called “Phantom of the Paradise”.
We had dessert during the movie, which I didn’t get a photo of, but it was Key Lime Pie that Nick made.
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Follow Up :
Here’s the wonderful gift we received from our beloved guests, who had no idea we’d added a black tree to our decor this year! They’re perfect …
Easy DIY Skeleton “How To”…
↑ This is the necklace I found in the costume area of Dollarama. I used the beaded part to decorate the wreath above. (Also, there’s the “Happy Halloween” sign mentioned above, that was originally attached to the wooden jack-o-lantern decoration.) ↑
↑ Supplies : Plastic skull, two sticks, some string, some ribbon or rope, two pieces of cheese-cloth, a teabag.
Method : Soak the cheese-cloth in strong brewed tea (to dye it and give it an aged look). Allow to dry. Tie sticks together into a cross with string, to form body and arms. Thread “neck” through cheese-cloth to form a cloak. Tie a belt with ribbon or rope. Add the head onto the neck. Display in a vase or a potted plant. ↑
Thank you very much for reading, xo Loulou
