Our Couples Halloween Party

We hosted a Halloween party for the first time this year. That means we had to start from scratch with decorations. And now I think we will probably be hosting from now on...now that we've got the goods.

 This part was the most fun for me. I used a sparkly red decorators gel and just squeezed it out of the tube onto the rims. Let it dry and you can pour your drink over it without it smearing. I decorated the inside of the glasses, but the outside of the punch bowl. This stuff is sticky so I only did half of the glasses so guests wouldn't end up eating it.

This is my favorite section of our halloween party! We used cheesecloth dyed in tea to make my jewelry mannequin a mummy. And these cobwebs are fantastic. They are really improved upon them since I was a kid. This is just one long continuous piece. The chandelier I got from hobby lobby for everyday decor in the bedroom. And the branches are part of our winter decor.

 I found this snowman's tophat at Michael's and was inspired to give our pumpkin a dashing makeover. Just paint.

Got this little tree uber-discounted at Michael's.

We had to kind of decorate two rooms. Here's our mantle. These candlesticks I got from Pottery Barn years ago on clearance from their Halloween section. I still love them.

This mummy was inspired by a recipe in Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate which I found on Hostess with the Mostess. I used my own recipe creation for this using cream cheese, goat cheese and spinach. It was better than I thought it would be for a made-up recipe! It was great!

Birdhouse decor

We still need salt and pepper shakers since we haven't decided on any. How awesome are these salt and pepper shaker sets? I really want to buy this silver one for someone, but it's out of stock right now. Whimsical, but not tacky since it's all in silver. Affordable too! There's also a cute and casual one by Pottery Barn. I just love the idea of having these as a simple and functional centerpiece.

Photo by Godinger

Photo by Pottery Barn

Grand Lux Cafe in downtown Chicago

To celebrate my birthday, we went downtown Chicago this weekend. Our first stop was the Grand Lux Cafe that apparently everyone knew about except for us. We got the beignets, which were amazing! And the decor in this place is really stunning. They have these really creative light fixtures. I looked like a dorky tourist while taking these shots, but that's alright. We will definitely go back there again. They had great service as well, but when you go there be prepared to wait for a table. And even if there's an empty table (or two!!!) in the really spectacular sunroom they won't let you sit in there because it's reserved for the rich fancy people. They also have more than one location, in different states: Grand Lux Cafe