Pumpkin Carving Dinner Party

i love surfing the internet and getting ideas for parties, crafts, food and all kinds of fun stuff. i always save the pictures i find and some info about the project. since kyle got my sewing machine fixed for my birthday, i have worked on a couple of my sewing crafts and i used my cousin chantell's bridal shower as an excuse to make another craft.

above: the key hanger i made for chantell last month. one of the first craft things i done since i started searching them out.

some of the most exciting ideas i have collected have been themed dinner dates. some are for friends and family and others are just for my hubby and i. i came across one of these themed dinner parties that centered around fall which i loved. because halloween was just a few days after my party, i decided as an activity, we would carve pumpkins.

i planned for a set number of people and made individual servings. the main course was white bean and sausage stew served in pumpkin bowls. there were many ingredients - some of which i had never heard of or used, but it was fun to try and it turned out so good. i thought using pumpkins as bowls made the dinner much more fun, but that's just my opinion.

see the pumpkin centerpiece in the above picture? i made that too. it was my second attempt - my first was way too ugly to use as decoration so it's a dry board eraser now.

above: L to R. chantell and chad page, nathan and aleece martinez, michelle and jesse woodbury, and of course kyle and i at the end.

two of our guests brought the sides - a yummy salad and rolls while the other helped me out making some of the pumpkin bowls. kyle set the table - kyle has an eye for decorating sometimes, funny huh - and bought IBC root beer and cream soda. after we ate, we started the pumpkin carving. we had lots of laughs while we carved and ate candy. addison even came out and helped kyle and i with our pumpkin carving. she's too cute. right before everyone went home i brought out individual pumpkin pies with homemade whip cream - so good. i forgot to take pictures of the pies, but it's okay because the decorations i made out of dough and put on top of them didn't turn out. when kyle asked me what the clump of dough on top of the pies was, i told him it was suppose to look like a witch's hat and he laughed. it was that pathetic. all well, it's the taste that counts and i think it got an A+. i had so much fun doing my first themed dinner party. i'll have to think what my next one will be about - after the baby comes of course.