12 Years of Halloween Fun!

My sister and I are getting ready to host our twelfth annual Halloween Party next weekend! It's something we look forward to each year and normally have the next year's theme picked before we have even hosted the current party. Looking back through the photos makes me smile as it offers a snap shot of our lives each year for the past twelve years. Some faces have changed, the locations have moved and we've all gotten a little older. With each year's photos, you can see changing relationships, marriages, births and moves. I love reminiscing by looking through the photos - I don't think I could pick a favorite party!

Our themes for the past twelve years

2016 - Drive In Movie
2015 - Glow in the Dark
2014 - Rehearsal Dinner Trick or Treating
2013 - Dinner in the Apple Orchard
2012 - Dracula's Wake
2011 - A Celebration of Phobias
2010 - Starring Vintage Horror Films
2010 - Kid's Mad Science Lab
2009 - Dracula's Ball
2009 - Kid's Monster Mash
2008 - Candy Inspired Soriee
2007 - CSI Dinner
2006 - Day of the Dead Gathering
2005 - Harry Potter Ball
2004 - First Halloween Dinner

The first small party crowd (all still attending except for Amy who moved back to California from New York making the distance too far to commute)

We all look so young! Our youngest guests in particular show the years passing. Bella attended her first party in 2006 at just a few months old. She is now 10!

 

As relationships started, new faces have became regular guests at each party.

The first few years, the parties were mostly adults, but then new babies started appearing each year!

  

We have celebrated in Hampstead, our condo in Merrimack, Katie's condo in Epping and this year our house in Nottingham. We also took the party on the road ... an indoor mini golf course, an apple orchard and even our wedding venue.

We love integrating the theme into invitations, decorations and menus. Our guests even related their costumes to the theme some years!

 

 

 

  

So many great times with wonderful friends! Here's to 12 more parties and all the things that the next 12 years bring to our lives. 

Shake, Rattle and Roll

We celebrated our daughter's first birthday party with a musical celebration. With over 65 friends and family, the party hit all the right notes! Decor include primary colors, musical notes and instruments and photos of our daughter's first year.

The two main tables had themed backdrops. The food table had a backdrop covered in records and the dessert table was covered in sheet music. The poster of photos and giant film strips were ordered from Social Print Studio. The dessert table featured the cake made by Popovers on the Square.

 

The favors were a "Build your own band" bar. Fabric bags were filled with kazoos, flutes and tambourines. Desserts included cake, musical note lollipops, themed sugar cookies, pretzel drum sticks and record licorice wheels.

We hosted the party in our barn - it was our first celebration in the space and it worked great! The space allowed room for tables, mingling and activities. The front doors let people roam in and out.

 Children could make their own shaker with plastic spoons, Easter eggs and assorted fillers.

We had a music station with cymbals, drums and chimes that the guests loved banging away at.

 

 

The birthday girl enjoyed her own mini smash cake!

 

Young guests could also decorate their own guitars to take home.

 

The hosts and guest of honor!

Halloween Orchard dinner

This was the 10th year Katie and I have hosted a Halloween Party together - we are honored to share the holiday with so many special friends. This year we headed to a local orchard for an apple themed dinner.

We contacted a few orchards and made arrangements to host the party at Carter Hill Orchard in Concord, NH. Hosting a party off site is lots of fun but definitely involves a little extra planning. We chose a beautiful row of trees. Invitations were ordered from Bee and Daisy on Etsy.

 Before and After

The orchard provided the space and we brought the rest. We were very happy with the transformation. Three long banquet tables, hay bales and folding chairs were festooned with maroon, orange and green themed table clothes and plates.

Centerpieces included bright, festive flowers in apple barrels, apple candles and fresh apples. Cheese platters, crackers and a charcuitere plate were on the table for snacking as guests arrived.

 A peak of the table through the trees! 

Each place setting had an adorable sewn apple made by Wendy. Traditionally at our parties, the place card is something that can be taken home and used as a Christmas ornament.  

The temperature was on the cooler side so the hot apple cider served in mason jars was a big hit and great hand warmer.

We all sat down to enjoy an apple themed dinner: Apple pumpkin soup with bread rolls and apple bread, salad with apple cider vinaigrette, savory apple tarts with beets or onions, and apple cookies and bars for dessert.

Our guests in their great costumes!

 

 

Guests headed home with homemade apple pie (baked with love by Wendy) and their fabric apple.

We can't wait until next year!