The One with Prepping for Fox's First Birthday

I feel like I've waited 26 years to throw this party! Ever since I can remember I've loved Halloween to (Reese's) Pieces. Pun intended ;) Last weekend I sat down and started flipping through all my Martha Stewart Halloween magazines, Pinterest, random papers I've collected through the years, the internet, so on and so forth, and pillaged and pilfered my favorite ideas to bring to life. I'm sooooo happy Fox was born in October so I have a major excuse to have a Halloween party! God must have had this in mind when we didn't get pregnant the first couple months ;) I love having an October baby! So, the following is my inspiration, things I want to create, bake, make, and more for Fox's first birthday/Halloween party.

This is the "patch of grass" where the party will take place. I hope I can transform it into how I envision it in my mind's eye!

It seems like everybody uses e-vites now, but if I were a really ambitious person, I'd love to make these for the invitation:

Halloween party inspiration:

Then comes the food! Here's a clean and classic food table:

Jars filled with candy decorated with cute tags seems easy enough:

Candy corn pizza! Genius! Start with mozzarella in a circle in the center, followed by a ring of dark cheddar, finished with a ring of lighter cheddar:

Clear gloves with candy corn in the tips and filled with popcorn:

Candy shishkabobs:

These plastic bag/black pipecleaner spiders should be pretty simple and cheap to make:

Bring on the pumpkin cookies and bread!

Guacamoldy with Ghoulish Dippers! Fuuuuun! That Martha thinks of everything...

Oranges gutted and filled with orange sorbet:

To hold the dark brown, orange, purple, and green colored drinks - a large carved out pumpkin filled with ice:

Chocolate carmel pretzel rods (but use Halloween colored sprinkles and such) - Alisha - I need your recipe!!!

Witch's fingers!

Spiderweb eggs:

The perfect Halloween sugar cookies:

If people have to come inside to use the bathroom, they'll have to come to the front porch which I want to look like this:

Then they'll have to walk up the stairs so the banister should look like this:

And then maybe they'll see our fireplace, in which case it HAS to look like this :)

Next: decorations! I want to make spooky gravestones and line them around the patch of grass:

I'm still debating whether to just make or buy them... here's a great tutorial for making them:

The table centerpiece: a styrofoam head wrapped like a mummy:

Dangle "moth-eaten curtains" (aka tattered cheesecloth) from the trees and over the chairs/tables:

Make dozens of shrunken apple heads and dangle them from the tree and use as decoration:

Wrap white pumpkins and candles with black lace:

In addition to the tattered cheesecloth, place fake spider webbing with fake plastic spiders e'erywhere.

Games to play: Bob for Apples. And that's all I have for now in that department... game suggestions welcome!

Other: Paint my nails like this:

And print this:

Last but certainly not least: this is what I want Fox to be for Halloween (what do you think Dald?) And, I can't decide if the party should be costumed or not? I say YES :) At least for the little kids.

I am soooo counting down the days until October 15th! (Fox's birthday is on the 14th, but that's a Friday so the hubbies will be in school and there's a Relief Society activity that night. I better send out invites soon eh? Gotta save the date!)