It’s pretty obvious that I adore Halloween.  This year I want to give you readers a few of the parties I have thrown or catered in the past.  I hope you enjoy and that it inspires some party throwing of your own.

I have some pretty amazing friends in this quaint town of Ashland, none better or more fabulous than Paul and Amara.  They are the type of people who are always down for a few cocktails and a game of Cards Against Humanity or a fancy night out.  They have been my guinea pigs on many an occasion for blog posts and I simply adore them both.  Paul, an amazing audio book narrator, has superb taste in glassware.  There is not higher compliment from Paul than getting something poured (usually aged for at least 10 years) into one of his fantastic glasses; absolute heaven.  Amara, a copywriter for Harry and David, seems to always be on trend; rocking the coolest jewelry or a fantastic blouse or (my favorite) her neon Christmas décor, complete with blazing white Christmas tree, I mean what could be more awesome?  I love everything she styles and everything she does.  I find her haute-ness to be particularly amazing since this quaint little town is frozen in either the year 1901 or 1971; it’s weird but true.  Now that you have the back story, you will understand how perfectly ecstatic I was when asked to co-host a Halloween Party with them.  They thought of the most fantastic theme (no surprise), Mad Scientist!

This party was AMAZING.  Sadly my pictures are not, this was before I had the fantastic camera I now use and the lighting was low and spooky.  I hope you my avid readers will forgive the spotty shots, but the ideas and execution can still be seen, I hope.   Paul and Amara outfitted their home with sheets of plastic covering almost every space and converted a spare room into a photo booth “kill room” where you could be wrapped up a la Dexter and have portraits taken of killing or being killed.  They even had a friend dress as Dexter himself to stand in the shots!   Let me just say, there are some pretty epic shots of me as Mary Poppins going on a killing spree.  They completed the look with beakers and jars filled with colored water and dry ice.  They even stuffed sweet looking stuffed animals into mason jars with glow sticks and yellow water to give the whole place a formaldehyde feel.  One word: GENIUS.

This party theme is killer for a Halloween Bash but could be just as fun without the spook for a kid’s party or cocktail party!

I took care of the food, getting extremely creative with the theme.  The menu included:

Savory

• Sterile Crudité – all white veggies served in a shiny metal pan
• Surplus monkey legs – my mom’s famous rosemary marsala drummettes with the bones exposed
• Penicillium roqueforti (blue cheese) with Salami and Crackers served in petri dishes
• Lobotomized Brain – made with shrimp and a spicy lemon horseradish gelatin

Sweet

• Coagulated Candy Corn – made with red food coloring
• Blood Slide Lollypops
• Periodic Cookie Table of Elements – Each element hand piped onto a square cookie frosted white and arranged in order

Libations

• Ta-KILL-Ya – Served with lime and salt
• Redrum Punch – Spiced rum with blood orange juice
• Nuclear Reactor Cocktail – Midori, homemade sweet and sour, vodka
• Glass Cleaner with Ammonium D – Crème de Violet, bitters, and sparkling wine

It’s a mad mad world!

Marcella Rose

Mary Poppins Killing Dexter – photo credit to Paul Garcia

Mary and Bert – photo credit to Amara Waterman