| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 12:21:40 PM
Ok girls! I'm starting to plan for my pumpkin party and I need all your great farmgirl ideas! I would like to have everyone go and pick pumpkins at the local pumpkin patch and come back to carve. Also thinking of doing a pot luck. Going to be kiddos, so need to come up with games. Also, need to come up with really great, but inexpensive decorations for the house (we have a porch on the front that would be adorable to decorate). It's a new house for us, we bought it last November, but is an old house age-wise (1829) so I am still trying to get a feel for what I can do with it!
So, any recipes, decorating tips, games, or general pumpkin ideas would be fantastic! Thanks!!
Lynn
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| La Patite Ferme |
Posted - Sep 16 2006 : 9:28:30 PM
Just got my Sunset magazine today with a great craft section on making a cat-o-lantern by stacking two black painted pumkins, cutting out eyes for candle so they glow in the dark. Very cute. We're gonna try it. Also, same issue, recipe for squash spice cake. I plan to try it with pumpkin and top with a spiced cream cheese frosting for our October 4-H meeting. Can't wait. I love fall. |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Sep 16 2006 : 7:03:52 PM
Lynn -
Try going to Sunset.com. This is a regional magazine (western region), but this latest issue had a cute idea on how to make pumpkin/kitties. It also has recipe ideas - like spider devil eggs. When you get on the site, just click home and there is a small teaser for halloween, click that and it will take you to the rest of the halloween ideas. I too have porch that I decorate every year. I have black crows that I perch on some of the potted plants, I usually have a headless guy sitting in one of the porch chairs, hold his jack-o-latern head. Some years I use fishing line and hang down rubber bats, just low enough to sway in a breeze and touch most taller adults heads. I also have a small decorative wheel barrow I fill with pumpkins and gourds, and I carve a few small pumpkins to sit in that and light them up with Christmas lights. Just some ideas.
Anne in Portland,OR
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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| Libbie |
Posted - Sep 05 2006 : 2:39:32 PM
I have so many ideas, now! I think I might try to have a neighborhood Halloween/Autumn/Pumpkin party. There's a U-Pick pumpkin patch that's just down the road from us and the farmer who "runs" it gives tractor rides, too - so we could all trek down there, pick out own pumpkins, haul them back to our farm and have at it! Thanks, all, for the ideas and inspiration!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Sep 04 2006 : 11:39:30 AM
We used to have a pumpkin carving party each year when my oldest sons were little and I did daycare..would invite everyone and their kids and we provided a pumpkin for each person (not huge ones) and then everyone brought appetizers (I specified finger food) to share and I provided punch and water to drink and the paper products. we always had ribbons (homemade sometimes) for giving each child an "award" on their pumpkin..some we had to really REACH to decide (we would have an "official" judging commitee of about 3 moms) like "happiest looking pumpkin" scariest, funniest, fanciest, silliest, and so each child got a ribbon on their pumpkin. It was so fun. If it was cool out we did hot cider with apples and spices floating in it..and barbqued linguisa or another spicy sausage to pass as an appetizer too..and usually had pumpkin bread or cake for desert. We have so many great memories of those big parties...and always had them the Saturday afternoon before Halloween. Gosh..we should do that again!!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| Lynn B |
Posted - Sep 04 2006 : 11:21:34 AM
Tia that Pumpkin and Soup party sounds so cute! What a great day that must've been!
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| Boxbreaker |
Posted - Aug 31 2006 : 2:43:44 PM
We attended a "pumpkin and soup" party last year that was soooo fun! All the families came with a crockpot of their favorite soup to share. The hostess provided appetizers and desserts. Out on the carport the kids all carved their pumpkins and then we had a contest with superlatives: "most scary", "looks most like Donald Trump", "prettiest", etc. We also had a "pumpkin chucking contest" where a few boys build catapoults of different kinds to see who could launch a pumpkin the farthest. We sat around and listened to guitar music and chatted and laughed and the weather was perfect. What a great night!
But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people because they enact their dreams into reality with eyes wide open. |
| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 31 2006 : 07:12:26 AM
Oh, I almost forgot...a friend of mine told me about making pumpkin "jack o lanterns" by using empty plastic milk containers. Cut the top and back (where the handle is) off and then paint orange, let dry, then paint a face. I tried this last year and it was really cute. I also made ghosts in addition to the pumpkins. Just stick in a little tea light candle and you're ready to go!
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 11:26:57 AM
Better Homes and Gardens has a Halloween issue out now that I picked up the other day. It has some really neat ideas if anyone is interested!
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 30 2006 : 11:25:40 AM
Liz, Holy Macaroni!! Went on your website, those portraits scared the living begeezes out of me!! Creepy!!
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| zilzirk |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 7:07:50 PM
I absolutly love Halloween! My favorite cheap decorating things are:colored light bulbs- really creat a spooky mood with blue, purple and green. For general ambiance decorating, softeing the dges and adding some mystery, I use netting (buy at the fabric store for $1 per yard or find some on sale). It can be used for 'curtains' and table cloth and wrappng around stair banisters. It works outside or inside cause it's nylon! Black for a web look and white or cream for ghosts...hang some in the trees or cut out ghost silhouettes. Martha Stewart came out with a great idea book about 5 years ago. She is over the top but some things are fun.
I also have a halloween business. So here is my plug...
www.halloweendirect.com
we do have some cool (but gross- hey it's halloween) jell=o molds...of a brain and hand and heart. I like to make the brain with orange jello and vanilla pudding! Looks nasty and tastes like a 50/50 bar!! lol
a city girl with farm roots |
| sunshine |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 11:58:43 AM
If you use all these ideas you are going to have to invite your whole neighborhood to get enough people to do them.
Should be a great party I hope everyone has tons of fun.
have a lovely day and may God bless you and keep you safe
my web store www.sunshines.etsy.com my blog http://sunshinescreations.blogspot.com/ my google page http://sunshine.harbaugh.googlepages.com/home |
| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 11:48:04 AM
you girls are getting me so excited! I love the idea, Nancy, of lining the lit pumpkins up on the porch. We don't have a railing, but I think it would still be cute along the edge.
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| Luzy |
Posted - Aug 29 2006 : 07:48:03 AM
You can make a big spider out of a big black trash bag. Cut accross the bottom portion about 1/3 up from the bottom. This will be stuffed with newpaper and will be the body. Cut the rest in strips for the legs, make a knot for the "knee" area. Save a little too for the head area, stuff with newspaper too. I just connected all the parts with duct tape/staples. I made scary eyes out of construction paper and used those store bought spider webs. I put mine on the ceiling and one in the corner. They are pretty big and everyone seems to like them. Hope you can follow my directions. Clear as mud??? Best part....You can make them with stuff ya already have on hand. Ok, now I want to put up my Halloween decorations!!!
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. |
| daffodil dreamer |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 9:28:06 PM
Hi Lynn,
I read a great article about a pick your own pumpkin farm in England where once a year they have the pumpkin olympics. A few of the ideas were:
instead of the egg-and-spoon race, the pumpkin-and-garden spade (or coal/snow shovel) race
pumpkin croquet
pumpkin bowling or skittles
pumpkin football
I guess it depends on how much room you have and whether you were looking for more indoor or outdoor activities.
Also guess how many seeds in the pumpkin before they start to carve - could keep them busy for a while counting them after they have finished!
Sounds like it will be a great day,
Jayne
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| Nancy Gartenman |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 4:15:18 PM
If you don't want to carve all the pumpkins, remember they can just paint faces on the outside, and then they last longer because they don't rot away. Maybe you could make a bunch of cupcakes with plain frosting and the have them decorate them. Get some face paint and have them decorate each other. If you have a porch railing, maybe the smallest pumpkins lined up all along and lit would be pretty. I don't know when you are starting your party, but the kids could maybe build a scarecrow type figure, but scary for Halloween, have some old clothes and a base of some sort and straw and let them go at it.
NANCY JO |
| Lynn B |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 3:44:54 PM
thanks sunshine, those are some great ideas! I just read the Autumn/Halloween decorations thread, some good ideas there too!
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
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| sunshine |
Posted - Aug 28 2006 : 12:26:05 PM
hot cider as a drink. traditonal games bob for the apple, fall sort of pinyata might be fun doesn't have to be filled with candy can be toys or scavenger hunt clues that have to be arranged in the right order by the whole group before they can go on the hunt. pie eating contest pumpkin of course.
have a lovely day and may God bless you and keep you safe
my web store www.sunshines.etsy.com my blog http://sunshinescreations.blogspot.com/ my google page http://sunshine.harbaugh.googlepages.com/home |
