Friday, October 30, 2015

The Many Faces of Halloween


I just can't help it!
Maybe I was dropped from my broom as a child -
but I just have to dress up and have fun at Halloween!!


Our home has had a long standing tradition
of being scary at Halloween.  We thrive on it!
Hubby gets involved, and we never ever let it
out what is happening at our house until
the day of!!!



Even at work, there is Halloween fun!
(Hubby does his own makeup, which he learned
as a Scout leader!)


We try to infect our little ones with Halloween
Spirit.




It's a generational thing!

(Disneyland's Halloween Party)
We love going to Halloween Parties

 (Riverwoods Halloween Party)

(Grand America's Tea with Witches)

(Gardner Village's Breakfast with the Witches)


And we love throwing them ourselves!
(Zombie Apocalypse)

(A family dinner party invitation.)


Edward and Bella's wedding reception
(over 30 years of Halloween parties have been thrown)

This year was our biggest as we turned 5 acres
of wooded land into a Haunted Hollow for about 200
Young Single Adults, complete with fog machines,
water guns, animated spiders, a chain saw,
and best of all Art City Donuts food truck.


(I was a 9 foot alien, but no one got a picture of 
me as it was dark!  This is another alien that I was one year.)



Usually we choose to be creepy and scary (just a little as the
grandkids and neighbor kids are small!)



But sometimes just cute and fun,
(Yes, Linda from Life and Linda, who created my
blog design, actually used a real picture of my
witchy self for my header.)


And last year, even Disney fun, (although as Olaf,
I still made little ones cry - just because I told
them I liked warm hugs!)


 I encourage friends and family alike to get in on the fun.


We have been dressing up for a long, long time.

 So if you are in the neighborhood this year,
stop by and see what we are cooking up this year.

Just remember we always stay in character,
so I probably won't stop and chat.

We will even give you a king size candy bar if you
tell me who you are!!

Have a fun and safe Halloween!!

Well, I had better fly!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Disney's Haunted Mansion Table


There is one place that we love to go during
October, and that is Disney!

We adore what they do to the Haunted Mansion
at Disneyland.  It is transformed.  This lovely hearse
that we found at Home Goods this year just reminded
us of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and as we
would probably never see this piece again, we
just had to grab it right away!!  They actually had
two, so one for us and one for my daughter.


Another trip to Home Goods, just recently, produced
these treasures - white and gold haunted house plates.

We knew right away they were the perfect companions to our Haunted Mansion Hearse.  These were love at first sight.


Who would imagine elegant gold and white
china with a haunted house!  Some designer 
was having too much fun.


So to our table - all black and elegant gold.  What a stunning
Halloween table.


The layers consist of a metallic gold placemat,
a heavy gold ceramic gold charger, and three layers
of the Lux gold Haunted House dishes.  Yum!


The gold and cream napkins remind me of
iron work fencing and they are topped by fun
haunted house fence pieces found at Dollar Tree this year.


Here's another fence piece from Dollar Tree.  They normally
have been surrounding my Dept. 56 Castle Blackstone,
but they were thrilled to be part of the Haunted Mansion Tablescape.


This is a mansion, mind you, so the best gold
goblets came out of the cabinet.


There is something scaly about this gold flatware,
when you showcase it on a Halloween table.


Even Mickey can look a little scary.
(We purchased a fun acrylic canister at Wal Mart
and I added Mickey's scary head with a little vinyl.)


Let's have a little dessert too.


Some lovely tombstone marshmallow peeps - 
perfect for the Haunted Mansion.




Just like Disney, for Halloween, the magic begins
after dark, when the candles are lit.


We can't forget our Ghost Host!  Some more vinyl fun
with my new Cricut, on a blackboard.  We are loving the
black and bright gold theme.



Two fun metal haunted houses fill the center of the table,





along with our golden candelabra, our treats and of course
our hearse.



Makes me wish we were in Disneyland right now for
Mickey's party, but this table is a fun reminder.


As the ghostly female guide says as you leave the Haunted Mansion
"HURRY BAAACK, HURRY BAAACK!"

We hope you hurry back to 
visit us at
Purple Chocolat Home.

I will be posting this with 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Spiders In A Jar Cookies




Everyone knows witches love to eat spiders,
so we have caught some in jars, ready to serve 
them up to all of our witchy friends!


Beaulah and I were watching one of our
favorite Halloween movies the other night -
Hocus Pocus
and Sarah Jessica Parker is outside gobbling
spiders!  Yum!!  (She is just so funny in this crazy
Halloween movie.)

That got us craving some of the little creepy crawlies,
but we like  the sugary kind, that can't move.
(Araneae dulce)


A couple of weeks ago I told you that my father paid us
10 cents each for spiders 
that we found in the basement - his way of ridding the
house of those pesky little critters.

We would put them in mason jars to bring them to him -
showing our captured spiders.  I can still picture them.
Well, that part of my personal history was the true
inspiration for the Spiders in a Jar Cookies.



They do seem to attract other spiders - probably
trying to help them escape!


Wonder how much Dad would have paid for these
spiders?

Beaulah and I would probably give him some 
for free!!

You've never had such tasty spiders before!

Glad you stopped by to see what
fun is happening in our
Halloween Purple Chocolat Home.

Click here for cookie and frosting recipe.

I will be posting with





Monday, October 26, 2015

Put On Your Witchy Shoes


Feeling a little Witchy lately?

We have something that will help.


These cookies are going to make your toes curl!
But if you are a witch like me, they curl anyhow,
so you need curly toed shoes and boots, and we
have them here for you!


We love to go witchy for Halloween here at
Purple Chocolat Home.


Hubby even surprised me with these fabulous boots
one year for Christmas!  So you know we are all
about witch boots and shoes here.




We decorate with them,



We tablescape with them,


We eat them,



We welcome people to our witchy home with them!

So of course, we had to whip some up to get ready
for Halloween!



Beaulah and I had a cookie making day this past
week and we were stirring up all kinds of 
Halloween Cookies in our cauldron.

There are cookies, candies and treats
on every surface of Purple Chocolat Kitchen!

 You can see why we witches have so
many missing and rotting teeth!


We snagged these fancy schmancy witch boots
last year at Cookie Con.  They are large and
fun to decorate!


We were also swept away by these 
Witchy Shoes, which we also purchased
 at Cookie Con.  

These fun copper cookie cutters were designed
by Susan Carberry and can be found on


So share in our love of shoes and boots -
they always fit, not matter how many cookies
and candies you gobble down for Halloween.

Beaulah is willing to share the recipe
 for the easy cookies and frosting-

 Hope you enjoyed
seeing our Witchy Fun!

Now go put on your witch shoes and let's party!
Only 6 days left to prepare for Halloween!!!

I will be posting on

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