Our Halloween Party, Costumes and Spread

Our party Saturday evening was so fun. We had over 100 people show up but fate was on our side and it was a gorgeous night, so the squished quarters were immediately remedied by opening the back door and people chatting out there, too. Next year I'll have to remember to string some lights in the back so it feels a little more festive.

We don't always do themed costumes as a family, but this year we were all characters from Peter Pan. Even Charly joined in the fun and let me put a bonnet on her for a few minutes to be Nana. She was the perfect Nana, too!

A simple blue ribbon (and some elastic for good measure) attached to half of a small tissue paper pom pom made her costume world's easiest. She's such a good sport.

The last few years we've done a variety of dips. Last year I went the extra mile and carved out pumpkins to house the dips. But this year we did something different for the food. We decided on a caramel apple bar and soup shots.

For the caramel apple bar, we sliced 3 different kinds of apples (we soaked them in water and lemon juice so they wouldn't turn brown) and melted caramel staying warm in a crock with a slew of toppings. Sprinkles, Heath toffee bits, chopped almonds, crushed Oreos, mini m&ms, chopped Snickers, Reese's pieces, and crushed Butterfingers. We also decided to add pretzel rods and melted white chocolate to the spread since they paired perfectly with our selected toppings but added a nice, salty dimension to things. It was such a hit! And you could easily make it as healthy or decadent as you'd like.

For something savory, Chris made butternut squash soup and tomato basil soup. To keep it no fuss, we served it in 4 oz "shots" (read: no spoon required). We sliced up some bread for dipping, as well.

There were definitely some hiccups at the party; 2 pictures fell off the wall and broke (!!) right before the first guest arrived--spooky; we forgot to have people vote in the costume contest and there was a good 30 minutes where my camera would not work at all so I didn't get photos of some of our guests in their costumes--but even with  those things, it was our best party yet. The food and friends were just what we hoped for. Anyone else hit up, or throw a halloween party this weekend? Would love to hear about it!