Hi Friends!! I am so sorry if you had trouble viewing the blog on butterflies  last week. Our website totally crashed but it has been fixed so you can view it here. With Fall trying to approach in Houston, I thought it would be fun to share my Halloween dinner party, I had last year with my girls.  Right before Halloween I got a text from my daughters, asking if they could bring their boyfriends over to have dinner with us.  Well for those who have teenagers up through 20 something kids, you know that when they ask to be with you–yes is the answer!  This would be the first time my husband John would have met one of the boys so I wanted to make it a fun event! Being Halloween weekend, I thought a themed tablescape would be perfect!! I searched through my dinnerware to see what I had and decided to use my china (which I rarely do) and some orange glasses I had. But what for the rest?

Well my first stop was Trader Joe’s. If you arrive at 8 in the morning they have a fresh shipment of flowers everyday! I purchased white roses and green and lavender hydrangeas.  I wanted to put miniature pumpkins in the water, but seeing an entire bag of clementines for 3.99 , I felt those would infuse a bit of Halloween into the vase for a fraction of the cost.

When I was at Costco I had bought two huge mum planters for $10 each to put outside my front door.  Wanting a bit more orange I snipped some stems and added them to the arrangement. The cute little skulls with succulents were from Trader Joe’s as well and the masks, pumpkins, little witches boots and hats were from Pier 1!!

While I was there I purchased these the fallish napkin rings knowing I could use them for Thanksgiving as well.  I do always wait till the last minute, but have found its perfect timing.  The selection may not be as good but the prices are rock bottom!! There was a Marshall’s Home Goods right next door so I popped in. I saw these placemats-16 for $20 and dishtowels what were different patterns of black and white.  I love using dishtowels for napkins because they wash well and are so soft and priced well!!  I was all set.

I used my gold wine glasses purchased from the Segreto boutique a while back to finish off the look.

When googling Halloween tablescapes, many had candelabras painted in black.  I had this beautiful silver one that my aunt had given me which I thought would do the trick with leftover gold candles.  Scattering the unused napkin rings, a small vignette was created.

Wanting to give a spooky feel, I spied these led spider webs at Pier 1 for 75% off.  John helped me hang them.  They really didn’t look like spider webs but certainly made the room fun, especially at night with the lights off!  With the table set, it was time to start on the meal.

Last year I wrote about some easy Halloween inspired recipes, see here, and there was one I really wanted to use.

I loved the idea of using bell peppers as jack-o-lanterns in some way, so I decided to use them as the salad bowls!  They are so easy to make.  Just cut the tops off and clean out the seeds.  Then use a sharp small knife to make the faces.

They just take the top off and eat!  Trader Joe’s makes a wonderful harvest salad mix in a bag! It is one of my holiday favorites!!

Here are the cute couples!!  Dylan and Sammy to the left and Kirby and Jason to the right!

We all had so much fun and I really enjoyed setting the table!! Send me any of your tablescape tips!! And have a spooky Halloween!! xo Leslie