Untitled design-4.png — Table of Concoctions…

**Brew I** - October Daily Celebration Calendar
**Brew II** - Kids and Family
**Brew III** - Mama and Friends
**Brew VI** - Halloween Micro-Party Ideas
**Brew V** - Trick or Treat Alternatives
**Brew VI** - Ultimate Halloween Movie List
**Brew VII** - Keep em’ Busy: Resources & Freebies

October Daily Celebration Calendar

Celebrate all month long with little crafts, recipes, movies, and traditions. It will be something to look forward to every-day! Here is an example of my own personal October Calendar (also listed in the resource section for printing).

Activities for Kids and Family

Step by step instructions for tons of activity ideas throughout October!

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy.png — Harvest Moon Walk by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Easy Effort
Budget Friendly $
Total Time Prep: 1 hour
Total Time Activity: 1 hour
When: Full Moon October 2nd or 31st

Overview: gather up the kids and go for an evening walk during the full moon. Themed cocktails for mom beforehand and mocktails to-go for the kids turn this into a tradition you will repeat. You can also use this walk as a learning opportunity by using the Harvest Moon Fact Sheet (listed as a resource at the end of the blog).

Prepping for the Activity:

1. Check your local sunset times and make sure to plan the walk at dusk.

2. Map out or have an idea of where you will walk. You may live in a neighborhood with sidewalks making it easy to take a stroll or you may need to get creative with finding a place.

3. Do a little scouting leading up to the walk – check out some spots in your neighborhood that have a clear and pretty view of the moon.

4. Order or go shopping for any of the recommended supplies.

The Moonwalk – Cocktail for Mama

This cocktail was invented to commemorate the first moon landing in 1969. A combination of grapefruit, orange liqueur, rosewater and champagne – this cocktail was the first thing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin drank when returning to earth!

Ingredients for one:

1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz. Grand Marnier
3 drops Rose Water
Champagne

Combine first three ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a champagne flute and top with champagne!

SilverDiscoBallDrinkTumblers_1024x1024@2x.jpg — **Moon Juice – To-go Punch for Kids**

You can have fun with this one depending on how old your kiddos are. You can tell them this is special juice from the moon! Make the juice ahead of time and pour into themed to-go cups (these are from Ellie and Piper Party Boutique). This will be a memory your kids love.

Ingredients for one big batch:

2 cups white grape juice
2 cups grapefruit juice
4 cups Ginger Ale

Combine all ingredients and serve cold! You can even freeze ahead of time and take out about an hour before the walk for slushies.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 2.png — Crafts and Crafts by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$
Total Time Prep: 3 hours
Total Time Activity: 1 – 2 hours

Overview: Kick-off October and the Fall Season with this fun family weekend activity. Perfect for the first weekend of October, it can also double as an Oktoberfest. Adults try different popular fall craft beers while kids do fall crafts!

Prepping for the Day:

1. Order or gather all supplies for kids crafts.

2. Scope out a good spot in your yard or on a porch to do this activity.

3. Go shopping for local seasonal beer.

4. Order or round up supplies for beer tasting.

5. Setup craft table.

6. Setup beer tasting table.

Crafts for Kids: Candy Bag Decorating or Halloween COloring Sheets

Kids have fun decorating a brown bag, which they can then use for trick-or-treating (or trunk-or-treating this year)! Or you can opt for Halloween themed coloring sheets (see resources at the end of the blog).

Supplies Needed:

1 outdoor table and chairs
Brown Paper Bags
Coloring Sheets and Themed Confetti: check out this Etsy Shop by Festive Fetti
Assortment of Markers/Crayons
Assorted Halloween Stickers, Stamps, and Stencils
3 buckets or baskets for craft supplies

Instructions:

A very informal activity; kids get a bag and decorate as they see fit. No need for glue, tape, scissors, etc. This activity is meant to be easy and safe. Setup a table and chairs (or use an existing table as shown above) where you have enough space. I suggest close to the parents, so that they can watch. Put one bag at each seat. Split up the craft supplies into baskets and put down the middle of the table as a “centerpiece”.

Budget Friendly Hack: Don’t have a folding table and/or extra chairs? Throw down some blankets on the lawn, put the craft supplies in baskets, and call it a day.

Craft Beer Tasting for the Adults

Setup a beer flight station that samples local seasonal beers. Adults sip and chat, while kids do their crafts. The best part about this activity (besides drinking), is that you get to visit a local store and pick out fantastic seasonal beers.

Supplies Needed:

1 Table for the bar
1 Festive Linen on the bar
Beer Flight Kit or 16 Beer Flight Glasses
Beverage Labels or a flight tasting sheet
4 packs of BEER!
1 beverage tub (to keep the beers cold)

Instructions:

Parents each get their own flight of beer, meaning 4 glasses per parent. Line the glasses up into rows and place corresponding beer bottle with each corresponding row. This is just a sample, so fill each glass about ¾ full, you should only need 1 six pack of each beer. After the beers are poured, go at it! You can be informal and taste nonchalantly or talk about the beers as you taste them. If there is still beer leftover, save your favorite for Halloween night.

Budget Friendly Hacks: Don’t feel like spending money on beer flight or juice glasses? Just round up as many small glasses as you can. The mismatched glasses will work for this party. Line the glasses in trays or just lay in groups on the table.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 3.png — Glow Night by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Easy Effort
$$
Toddler Friendly
Total Time Prep: 1 hour to setup
Total Time Activity: as long as you need to preoccupy your kiddos!

Overview: Deck out a dark room in your house with blacklights, disco balls, and glowsticks! You can even add some glow in the dark Halloween décor for extra effects. Then turn on some Halloween music and surprise your kids with an impromptu dance party.

Prepping for the Day:

1. Order all needed supplies ahead of time.

2. Create your Halloween playlist with all your favorites.

3. Setup blacklights, disco balls and glowsticks during a nap time!

Décor and Supply Links:

Overview: This is another great activity idea for kids and parents inspired by this party from @partieswithacause. You can find an entire Mad Scientist party on her blog . Here are a couple details for a fun themed Friday night “happy hour” for you and your kiddos.

Set the Stage:

Dress up your kids (and you) in fun lab coats and make your own doctor name tags.
Use a kitchen island or table as your “lab”. Make sure to have bowls, cups, beakers, spoons, and any type of science lab mixing equipment you want!
Use beakers for fun drinks for kids and shooters for mom (wink wink).
Use grapes and toothpicks to create a grape molecule building snack (from @partieswithacuase)
Bonus: Get a strobe light and half way through the party, take a sip of a beaker and pretend to go MAD!

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 11.png — Neighborhood Ghost Tour by Events Full Circle

Research history on your neighborhood and create your own walking ghost tour. Choose a nice night, invite some neighbors, and go for a socially distanced tour around the neighborhood.

Overview and Story:

Nothing gets me more excited than a spooky ghost tour on a chilly night. I have kind of been obsessed with ghosts my whole life – don’t think I am crazy, please keep reading my blog posts! But seriously, if you are not into the whole ghost thing then this activity is probably not for you. I am going to dive into how to create a ghost tour for your own town.

I got into ghost tours after I went on my first one in Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the country and my family used to vacation there every summer. It is a lovely little beach town, not too far from Maryland and right on the tip of the Delaware Bay. Because of its location, it was one of the first pieces of land to be inhabited by Native Americans and it was one of the first beach towns on the East Coast. It was particularly popular during the Victorian era and that is where most of the history comes from.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 12.png — The first ghost tour I ever had in Cape May left a big impression on me! It was a walking tour hitting all of the most haunted restaurants, hotels, and houses in Cape May. It was at night and led by a person holding a lantern. The stories were great – not too scary but just spooky enough to give you a little chill.

There was something about standing in front of the places where the story was being told that gave a sense of excitement. Would I see a ghost?? This spawned my love of ghost tours and making sure to check out any tour I could during travels. I also started making it a tradition on my birthday to check out local ghost tours.

Through this hobby, I also realized that I just love historic towns – ghostly encounters or not. I love the look and feel of historic towns. I love thinking about walking cobble stone streets at night with flickering lamp posts. Or never needing a car and walking everywhere on foot right in your little town. It made me want to live in a historic town on a Main Street! I still have that hope and desire to one day live in a historic house in a historic town.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 13.png — I currently live in Beltsville, Maryland, which is just your average modern town. Normal roads and sidewalks, modern businesses and shopping centers, brick ramblers and a few new developments.

It wasn’t until I had my first child and started taking walks/drives around my town that I realized there were a few historic houses I had not noticed before, hidden behind new houses or in woods. This sparked my interest and I started researching the history behind Beltsville.

I started uncovering so much right in my own backyard (literally on my land), not to mention all of the history behind route 1 and Beltsville as the middle point between D.C. and Baltimore. It was enough that I was able to write a little story about my neighborhood and presented it for Halloween to my friends one year. It also got me thinking that I could totally arrange a walking neighborhood ghost tour.

Here are some tips and tricks for finding out all that you can to create your own hometown ghost tour…

Start with Old Houses – take a drive or walk around your town and note the addresses of older homes. Google the addresses and see if anything interesting comes up. Take it a step further and get in touch with the current owners to see if they have any spooky stories. If you find anything good, add it to your ghost tour!
Research the town and founder – you can google just about everything these days. You should be able to find information on when your town was founded and by who. Dig deeper on who was the leading person of your town, where they lived, what happened to them. Add that to your ghost tour!
Check out your local historical society – PG county (where I live) has historical markers all over the county indicating historical sites. There is one within walking distance of my house marking a “meeting house” and graveyard back in some woods that have never been disturbed. See if you can find anything interesting and add it into your ghost tour.
Research local farms – anyone who owns a significant amount of land has probably had it in their family for a few generations. You may be able to trace back the history pretty easily just by visiting the farm and asking questions. You should be able to find out what most of the land was used for back in the day, which may give you more clues and stories to chase for your ghost tour.
Google other people’s ghost stories – I usually do this last just because I like to have something concrete to reference first. But once you have got a pretty good handle on the history of a certain place or area, you can start seeing what other people have experienced. It’s up to you whether you believe them and add it into your ghost tour!

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 14.png — This can become a fun tradition for October if you are into this kind of thing, possibly even a traditional pre-Halloween activity. You can invite over friends and neighbors for a simple cocktail hour followed by a walking ghost tour.

Food can be simple like cocktail meatballs, franks in a blanket, and fruit skewers. Come up with a fun specialty cocktail and have to-go cups available (I am all about the roadies). Ask guests to bring a flashlight or lantern to accompany them! Then go out into the chill of an October night and create a magical experience.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 15.png — Deadly Homecoming by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$
Total Time Prep: 2 hours to setup
Total Time Activity: 2-3 hours

Overview: celebrate “home-coming” this year with a Halloween themed dance party with close family.

Activity and Food Ideas:

Make a playlist of all of you’re favorite high school jams and have a mini dance party.
Setup a prom like photo booth.
If you actually have a homecoming game to go to this year, I dare you to go in costume! If not, you can also plan this party around a Sunday football game.

A twist on the classic homecoming foods by giving them a Halloween names.

Chips and Dip becomes “Brain Mash”
Deviled Eggs become “Zombie Eyes”
Cheeseburger Sliders become “Bloody Bites” with lots of ketchup!
The traditional cheeseboard can be swapped out for a Halloween themed Apple and Caramel Sweet Grazing Board (featured here) @hostesshelper
Chili becomes “Chilly Night”

Halloween Pizza Night inspired by Joy in the CommonPlace

Snap Shot Deets:
Advanced
$$
Total Time Prep: 2 hours to setup
Total Time Activity: 1 hour

Overview: Take a regular pizza night and turn it to a Halloween theme! Keep it simple by ordering pizzas to be delivered, but elevate it by making a fun Halloween themed tablescape. Surprise your kiddos with this impromptu party and be the coolest mom on the block!

This modern Halloween tablescape by @joyinthecommonplace is perfect for a Kids pizza party.

You can find her entire blog post and more ideas on how to set up this cute table on her website. Plus ideas for a dessert buffet, decor, and printables.

Supplies:

Black disposable dinner plates
Teal blue disposable dinner napkins
Spider Bombs
Spider cut-out name cards
Milk bottles
Black and white paper straws
Mini pumpkins spray painted in black, white, and teal
Various blue and teal vases

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 16.png — Hallolympics by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$
Toddler friendly
Total Time Prep: 2 hours to setup
Total Time Activity: 2-3 hours

Overview: Think of this as a Halloween themed field day for your kiddos. Perfect for a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Setup Halloween games in different sections throughout your entire backyard. You can even keep track of who wins the most games. I instead of handing out medals, you can spray paint pumpkins bronze, silver, and gold!

Game Resources from Oriental Trading:

Spider Ring Toss
Candy Corn Bowling
Ghost Darts

Overview: take a spooky stroll with the family on a nearby trail in the woods at dusk. Take lanterns to light the way and to-go drinks for mama. This may even become a weekly activity as the chill crisp autumn air becomes your favorite Friday night friend!

Specialty Cocktail:

Little Red Riding Hood

Ingredients:

2 oz 100% pomegranate, juice
1 Lime, juice of half
1 Lime, wedges or slices
1 Mint, fresh
1 Pomegranate arils
4 oz Ginger beer
2 oz Vodka

Combine all ingredients into a shaker and add ice. Shake well and pour into a to-go cup! To make this virgin for the kiddos, skip the liquor and substitute regular Ginger Ale or Sprite instead of Ginger Beer.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design.png — **Bonus Activity: Tin Can Lanterns**

Recycle old tin cans by making them into lanterns. Spray paint the cans and have your kids create patterns with a marker. Take a nail and hammer holes into the pattern. Add twine to the sides to create a handle. Pop in an LED tea light and you have custom lanterns!

Neighborhood Community Contests and Ideas

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$
Prep time will depend on if you ask for help or take on all the organizing yourself!

Pet Costume Contest

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Zombie Run

Front Stoop Content

Pet Costume Contest - Invite neighbors to dress their pets and have a safe socially distanced neighborhood pet parade. Ask all the kids to vote for their favorite!

Pumpkin Carving Content - Invite neighbors to carve pumpkins for their porch or windows. This contest can last for the whole week of Halloween so that all the neighbors can walk the neighborhood on their own time and cast a vote. It’s also fun to see everyone’s pumpkins lit up at night for the whole week of Halloween.

Zombie Run - Organize a neighborhood zombie run around a local trail or the neighborhood block. Everyone dresses as zombies! There is a first place winner for best costume and a first place winner for the run. This contest should include a panel of judges!

Front Stoop Content - You know how people get competitive about their Christmas displays - why not do it for Halloween!? Have a little neighborhood competition and ask anyone interested to deck out their front stoop or yard by a certain date. A panel of neighborhood judges will judge each display with criteria that you come up with (creativity, scare-factor, most original, etc.)

DIY Backyard Pumpkin Patch

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$$
Toddler Friendly
Total Time Prep: 2-3 hours
Total Time Activity: 2 hours

Overview: instead of going to a pumpkin patch this year, create one at home for your kids. Buy some pumpkins in various sizes and spread out or hide in your backyard. Let the kids find and pick them. You can even add in elements of your kids favorite parts about going to the pumpkin patch like apple picking, bobbing for apples, hay rides, or bonfires.

Sample Backyard Layout:

For help with designing layouts and setups for your own home, book a virtual coffee date with Steph! Whether you just started planning something and don’t know where to begin, or you are a week away and have no clue how to lay out your activity or p… — **For help with designing layouts and setups for your own home,** **book a virtual coffee date with Steph**! Whether you just started planning something and don’t know where to begin, or you are a week away and have no clue how to lay out your activity or party - Steph can walk you through the process and get you un-stuck. Consider her your party coach!

BOOtiful Brunch inspired by Pixels and Pop

Snap Shot Deets:
Advanced Effort
$$$
Total Time Prep: 2-3 hours
Total Time Activity: 2 hours

Overview: A fun small upscale Sunday brunch for family or friends that is Halloween themed. This is great for friends with older kids, particularly girls! Host an all-girl Halloween Sunday Boo-tiful Brunch.

Menu Ideas from @FoodNetwork:

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

Sausage Mummies

Candy Corn Waffles

Apple Pumpkin Muffins

Monster Smoothie Bowls

BOO-tiful Brunch Tablescape Ideas from @pixelsandpop

The little details make parties so memorable…
Dress Champagne flutes or tie napkins with ghost place card tags.
You can’t go wrong with a black and white color scheme for Halloween. Adding pops of pink in this design makes it perfect for an all-girls brunch. But you can choose almost any color pop for Halloween!
Placesetting 101 - Charger (or base plate), dinner plate, utensils that are needed, glassware, and napkin.
To see more ideas on this tablescape, check out Pixels and Pop’s blog here.

Virtual Halloween Activity Ideas by Events FUll Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Easy Effort
$ (split between friends)
Total Time Prep: 1 hour
Total Time Activity: 1 hour

Overview: Organize a virtual Halloween date with some of your kids friends. The best part about virtual events is that they can really happen anytime - daytime, weeknight, or weekend depending on what works best for everyone! They are typically very low cost and just needs someone to organize and bring everyone together.

3 Virtual Halloween Activity Ideas for Mom and Kids:

Virtual Costume Contest

Virtual Fortune Teller

Virtual Face Painting Class

Virtual Costume Contest - This can be done a couple of ways, you can host just for kiddos to dress up, or you can ask families to dress up as a family theme! Invite a few other people with some “authority” to be judges - friends who are super into fashion, makeup, art, or designing!

Virtual Fortune Teller - Book a virtual fortune telling reading with some friends and their kids to do over Zoom with a real fortune teller! If you aren’t into fortune telling and have younger kids, you can look into booking a character to chat with over zoom (like Spiderman or Cinderella), or just ask a friend to be a good sport and dress up!

Virtual Face Painting Class - This is like paint night for families! Book a face painter or a friend who can teach face painting, and hold a virtual class over Zoom. You can test out and learn face painting on your kiddos for their Halloween costume!

Themed Halloween Movie Nights inspired by Suburban Soiree

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$
Toddler friendly
Total Time Prep: 2 hours
Total Time Activity: 2 hours

Overview: This can be a fun weekly activity throughout October. Pick out family friendly movies (or check out Free Form’s Schedule and plan a themed desserts to serve during the movie. Bonus points to serve at the perfect moment in the movie (if they are serving something similar!)

3 Halloween Movie Night Ideas and Desserts by @suburban_soiree

Hotel Transylvania

It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Maleficent

More Movie Night Ideas:

Suburban Soiree has so many fun movie night printables including this Circus “Show Time” theme. Simply print, frame or laminate, and bust out for movie nights every week!
Order a bunch of old fashioned popcorn boxes to use for movie night each week, it’ll feel like you are really at the theatre.
Keep a bundle of Suburban Soiree’s Movie Night Napkins !

Halloween Cookie Swap inspired by Maple Place Bakery

Snap Shot Deets:
Advanced Effort for Cookies
$$
Toddler friendly
Total Time Prep: 2 hours
Total Time Activity: 1 hour or less

Overview: We are all familiar with a Christmas Cookie swap, why not try out a Halloween Cookie Swap this year! With trick-or-treating taking on a new role this year, this could be a fun alternative as well. Organize a few friends to partake. Everyone creates Halloween themed cookies, packages them, and adds a recipe card. Then each person delivers the cookies to one another and leaves at the doorstep.

**Cookie Tips from** **@mapleplacebakery**:

Use parchment paper or a silicone mat on your cookie trays for easy cleanup.
After you cut out your cookies shapes and put them on your tray, place they tray in your fridge for about 10 minutes. The cold cookies will hold their shape much better as they bake.

You can make all of your icing in advance to save time on decorating day. This will also help the darker colors like black, brown, and orange deepen in color. Just keep it in air tight containers, at room temperature, with a piece of plastic wrap pressed onto the icing.
If you want to try piping icing, pipe a border first, then flood it in.
Check that you have the right consistency by running a knife through your bowl of icing, and the icing should blend back together in 15 seconds. Add more water or more powdered sugar until you hit that 15 second mark.

Packaging Ideas:

Create cute baggies with printables like these from Pixels and Pop
Combine a BOO-tiful bouquet with cookies tucked in as decor like this display from Giggle Living
Create a Boo Basket like @kelseyklos but with cookies and wine, then do a Ding-Dong-Ditch!

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 18.png — Lighting of the Jack-o-Lanterns by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Easy Effort
$
Toddler friendly
Total Time Prep: 1 hour
Total Time Activity: 1 hour or less

Overview: An Events Full Circle favorite, the lighting of the Jack-o-Lanterns is a 3 day tradition! On the days leading up to Halloween, pumpkins are carved and kept inside. On Halloween Eve (the night before Halloween), you host a grand lighting ceremony!

Timeline and Prep:

October 27th

Make sure you have enough pumpkins to carve or decorate. I recommend at least 5 big ones and then a few smaller ones to paint or make patterns.
Collect supplies such as newspaper, spoons (for guts), paint, brushes, carving tools, candles, and stencils or patterns for the pumpkins.

October 28th

Carve or Decorate at least 3 pumpkins while watching a Halloween movie! I recommend Sleepy Hollow or Monster House if kids are helping!

October 29th

Carve or Decorate at least 3 pumpkins while watching a Halloween movie! I recommend Practical Magic or The Haunted Mansion if kids are helping!

October 30th

Finish up any more pumpkins you want to decorate and set them up on your front porch or stoop.
Once it gets dark, take everyone outside and have a grand revealing of the pumpkins! Light them all!
Sip warm apple cider under blankets while sitting out on the porch and telling ghost stories.

October 31st

Light your pumpkins before dinner.
After the kids are in bed and the Halloween festivities are over, put on the original Halloween movie and watch while your jack-o-lanterns burn into the night.
Happy Halloween!

Activities for Mama and Friends

Adult only tricks and treat - enjoy after your kiddos go to sleep!

Mummy’s and Mimosas inspired by Just Add Confetti

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium effort
$$
Total Prep: 2-3 Hours
Total Activity Time: 2-3 Hours

Overview: This one is for the moms. Invite a couple of your mama friends over for a social distancing chat over mimosas. Best for groups of 4 or less so that you can spread out easily around a common area like the dining room table, living room or patio. This is a simple party with a DIY mimosa bar, light snacks, and lots of catching up!

Prepping for the Day:

1. Purchase ingredients for Mimosas

2. Purchase some light snacks (premade crunchy party mixes, fruit tray, mixed nuts)

3. Order festive champagne glasses or check out these DIY glasses from Just Add Confetti

4. Decorate a bar cart or bar area with the “Mummy” theme - the sign show above is FREE from Just Add Confetti.

The Pharaoh’s Wife – Mimosa for Mama

You and your gal pals can have a laugh about this one. Everyone will create their own mimosa and pour in as much champagne as needed. Print out a sign and frame it for your bar area to explain the joke.

Ingredients:

Champagne

Fresh squeezed orange juice

Festive Bar Cart (or area) Ideas:

1. Spread cobweb over the entire cart or bar area.

2. Turn champagne bottles into mummies with gauze and googly eyeballs.

3. Add lots of candles for dramatic effect.

4. Print and display the “Pharaoh’s Wife” sign.

5. Purchase festive cocktail napkins.

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 19.png — Whiskey and Cider Tasting by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Easy Effort
$$
Total Time Prep: 1 day to make cider, less than an hour to setup
Total Time Activity: 1-2 hours

Overview: This is just a fun and relaxing activity for the adults. Great for a nice Fall Friday or Saturday night after the kiddos are asleep – test out some different whiskeys over homemade Apple Cider on your porch or patio. Make sure to gather up plenty of cozy blankets and candles.

Prepping for the Day:

1. Go grocery shopping for all the ingredients.

2. If you can, visit a local orchard for fresh apples.

3. Pick out a few local whiskeys to try (3-4 is usually good).

4. Make the crock-pot apple cider (preferably the same day you are doing the tasting).

5. Gather up glasses for tasting the whiskey. It’s nice to have one glass per whiskey per person.

Home-made Apple Cider Recipe

Once of the BEST smells you will ever have wafting through your house!

Ingredients:

10 apples (cut into quarters)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
5 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tsp allspice
10 cups of water

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into a crockpot and cook on low for 3 hours.

2. After 3 hours, use an immersion blender or masher to mash up the apples.

3. Cook for another 3 hours.

4. Strain the liquid through a strainer covered with cheese cloth.

5. Serve warm with a cinnamon stick and orange slice!

Optional Fall Cider Snacks:

Cheddar cheese slices and Ginger Snaps
Candied bacon
Sugared walnuts

Copy of Copy of Untitled Design copy 20.png — Midnight Margaritas by Events Full Circle

Snap Shot Deets:
Medium Effort
$$
Total Time Prep: 3-4 hours
Total Time Activity: however long you last!

Overview: Inspired by the movie Practical Magic. Decorate a little corner of your yard to mimic a gypsy tent or witchy dwelling. It doens’t have to be perfect, just get it as close as you can. Invite a couple of close girlfriends over later than usual, about 9 or 10pm. Watch the movie Practical Magic and then at midnight, venture out into your backyard for Midnight Margaritas in your fun tent!

Unique Invitation Ideas:

The perfect unique invitation can make all the difference. It sets you guests up for excitement before the party even begins! Here are some invitation ideas to knock the Midnight Margarita Party out of the park…

Buy small tequila bottles and leave the invitation plus the bottle, “on the porchhhhh!” (hopefully you all get that reference).
Mail a simple hand written invite with a Tarot Card for dramatic effect!
Create a script and leave a message on your friends phone (text them first and tell them not to answer). Make it sound like you are calling on them for “casting a circle”. Tell them to come after dark, around 9pm, stay quiet and bring a broom!

The Ultimate Halloween Night Micro-party

Haunted Mansion
Micro-Ball

Snap Shot Deets:
Advanced Effort
$$$
Total Time Prep: 1 full day plus planning
Party Time: Hosts Choice

Overview: Inspired by the Addams Family Ball for Fester - host a micro-party at home and turn your house into a spooky mansion. With halloween being on a Saturday this year and trick-or-treating is cancelled, hosting a micro-party with a few close friends and family members is a perfect solution. Create new memories with your loved ones and celebrate!