Southern Lady Halloween The Ultimate Party Guide 2011

Well, it is Halloween again. Last year at this time, our office decided to hold a costume competition. had forgotten about it until the morning of and was frantically trying to come up with something different. I consulted with my firefighter husband. His idea didn’t win me the prize, but when I showed up in his gear, it “sparked” some interesting conversations. I turned many heads coming into the office as some people thought we had a problem. But when they they knew I was dressed for costume day at Hoffman Media. (Neal’s gear weighs a ton, so by the end of the day, I felt like I had run a mile.) W o I w saw my purse, I loved Halloween as a child. I remember the homemade costumes with…

As you can see in the photo above, our team is ready for fun. And that’s what we’ve planned for you in our Halloween issue. When our team—Brett, Jenny, Sidney, Breanne, and me—plans an issue of Celebrate, we brainstorm ideas and talk about some of the favorite parties we’ve attended or hosted. Discussions get lively when we share what we think will make a perfect event, and we are always looking for new ways to celebrate what might inspire you, our readers. In this issue, we feature a Mustache Bash for friends of all ages, along with a Ghostly Gathering for kids that shows the friendlier side of spirits. There’s a Mystery Book Club Dinner for Mom, a birthday party for your not-quite-over-the-hill dad, plus lots more. Feel free to use…

Table One Silver jack-o’-lanterns and sweets galore provide a great treat for kids. Silver spray paint: Carve pumpkins or Funkins, and then spray-paint them silver for a fresh take on classic jack-o’- lanterns. Silver works well with a black light to provide a scary atmosphere. Clear vases: Fill deep, wide vases to the brim with brightly colored Halloween candies as treats for the crowd (we ordered our sweets from Hammond’s Candies, hammondscandies.com). Votive candles: Use several votives throughout the tablescape to cast a warm glow. This will keep the black light effect from feeling overwhelming. Tulle: Weave this mesh material around the vases, candles, and jack-o’-lanterns for a misty appearance that does not require the use of dry ice. Table Two Guests are sure to feel their spines tingle when they sit down to this creepy setting. Black…

Gene Granata’s family and friends were always impressed with his elaborate pumpkin carvings. But when they encouraged him 20 years ago to turn his Halloween hobby into a business, he was skeptical. Who’s going to pay me to carve a squash? he remembers thinking. Everyone wants to carve their own, right? It turns out, no, they don’t. Transitioning his once-a-year tradition into a business resulted in “a hobby on steroids,” he quips. It’s a year-round job (he carves about 200 pumpkins from January to December), as well as a creative respite from his full-time occupation of technical support manager for a software company. His friends and family were his first clients, but once he launched his Web site and put his portfolio online, his talent went international. Now his work is seen on…

Johanna Parker has always loved October 31—it’s her birthday! When she was growing up, her day was celebrated with cheery costumes, pumpkin carving, birthday cakes decorated with cats and jack-o’-lanterns, and trick-ortreating. That may have been the inspiration behind her business, Johanna Parker Design, where Johanna, now 35, spends about 10 months of the year crafting Halloween-inspired, vintage-style papier-mâché sculptures of laughing pumpkins, grinning black cats, darling witches, wide-eyed owls, and the like. She illustrates Halloween (along with a few other holidays) the way she sees it—full of whimsy and playfulness. “I fell in love with the innocent side of Halloween,” she says. “The sense that allows you to be whomever you want to be for that special day. It’s a day of no judgment, a time when people tap into their creative…

Gather supplies from the grocery store, and use wooden birdhouses and faux-cottage façades found at the crafts store. Then, make up several batches of royal icing in a plethora of colors. Set out bowls of colorful candies in different shapes for decorations. Tile your houses using miniature cookies, graham crackers, and rolled pirouette cookies. You'll be tempted to eat your building supplies. Royal icing is used as mortar to attach the pieces of the structures together. Let guests use their imaginations to come up with lots of colorful embellishments. Bakery-supply shops will have plenty of icing decorations to add that are appropriate for the season—ghosts, bats, pumpkins, and other Halloween icons. Line up the finished houses, and have a fun contest to see who takes home the prize for Best Haunted House. What did…