Ghoulish Game Night For a Spooky Sunday Supper
I had so much fun with this tablescape! The palette of various shades of orange with the black is so festive, We love to play games or cards on Sundays…and I like to do a little theme whenever I can! I set the table with the centerpiece not in the middle. This suited being able to have room to play cards as we ate.
Orange Gerber Daisys sit amongst a Halloween garland ( my mom painted from a kit) and decorations
Go big or go home is often my philosophy when doing tables. I wanted to have lots of layers in this centerpiece. I began with the striped runner in Halloween colors and added a handmade mat that my aunt did for me. The adorable Halloween garland with candy corn, pumpkins, stars and witch was painted by my mom. She does an incredible job with whatever she paints. She also painted the cat and pumpkin ghost. The chenille mustard colored pumpkin is from a shop called Details 2 Enjoy.
This photo shows a more close up view of the table. It also captures a bit more of the centerpiece
I’m kind of proud of coming up with the concept of this jack-o-lantern made of dishes that held layered dip. The idea was to use all the elements for the dip including the chips to make the design. It took a bit of engineering and thinking outside of the box. Thankfully, I have a love affair with dishes! This gives me lots of them to work with. All the dishes used for this came from one of my favorite stores, Crate & Barrel. I used a large circular dip bowl with a flat bottom for the “face.” The inside of the “face” was made from a section of a circular dish set I have that was made to put around an umbrella ( there are 3 pieces exactly like the one used for the “smile” and when they are placed together they make a circle). Obviously, most people don’t have this kind of dish, but can use what you have. A series of small dishes can be placed in an arch to create the smile as an alternative. This piece was as deep as the dish used for the “face” so it was perfect for holding the chips.
Top photo is the “face” of pumpkin…bottom one is the “smile”
I stacked appetizer size plates to place the “eyes” and “nose” on. Those dishes weren’t as deep and I wanted them at the same level. It didn’t matter that these plates had a design on them as they would be covered up. I used two upside down heart bowls for the “eyes” and a ramekin for the “nose.”
These series of photos show the progression of building the rest of the facial features. Top photo are 4 appetizer size plates stacked to use as base for “eyes” and “nose.” Second photo shows the plates inside the “face” dish. Third show the 2 “eyes” which are upside down heart bowls and the “nose” which is a ramekin.
The last part of my jolly jack-o-lantern is the stem. Below shows that and it all together and ready to fill with dip!
Top photo is the “stem” a square dish placed on a few wood slices to make it level with rest of pumpkin. Bottom photo shows the jack-o-lantern already to be filled
I had such fun coming up with this concept. I knew I wanted to have a dip and wanted it to be presented in a festive way. It was a bit of a puzzle figuring out the design and how to fit the pieces together, but I enjoy that creative process. In the series below, I show the layers of the dip and the finished look.
Top photo shows the first layer of the dip which was refried beans. Second photo shows the next layer of a guacamole salsa. Not pictured (but you get the idea of the layering) are layers of sour cream then finally the cheese. Bottom photo shows the ingredients added to the facial features and the stem.This photo also gives you a great view of the whole centerpiece end to end
I put the heaviest ingredient of dip on bottom. It served as the “glue” ( I’m picturing Dr. Evil, from Austin Powers, doing the quote mark sign right now….lol) for the dishes to stay in place, too. The next layer was a store bought guacamole salsa…this layer really made the dip. It gave it a ton of flavor. The third layer was the sour cream. The last layer was the cheese which gave the jack-o-lantern his orange look. The “smile” was filled with blue tortilla chips ( Trader Joe’s makes a good one.) The “nose” had whole black olives. The “eyes” held sliced black olives. The “stem” was filled with green diced onions.
The mummy mutts as they were getting their “bandages” on and when finished complete with mustard eyes
The mummy mutts were inspired from Pinterest. Here is a link to the one I used to make these. Click to view:
They were pretty straightforward. Only three ingredients are needed: hot dogs, crescent rolls and mustard. Cut the crescents in strips ( see link for more specific directions.) Wrap around the hot dog in a haphazard way. Leave a spot between the bandages for eyes. Bake according to directions. The last detail is to add mustard eyes using a toothpick. Serve with mustard and ketchup or whatever sauce you like.
This series shows the layers to the Tarantula Trifle. Top photo is of the first layer of chocolate pudding . Second photo shows the crumbles of sea salt brownie layer. The third photo is a Cool Whip layer. The last photo shows chocolate syrup spider web.
I got the design idea and elements for the Tarantula Trifle on Pinterest from the site ( link below), but I didn’t follow the recipe. I chose to use ready made ingredients. Click to view:
Inspiration for Tarantula Trifle
The three layers were first chocolate pudding ( another Trader Joe’s ready made item,) sea salt brownie I crumbled ( Trader Joe’s again …I love that place!)and last a layer of Cool Whip. I did this layer sequence twice. On last layer of Cool Whip, I drew circles beginning in the middle making them bigger as I went. This was the trickiest part. The chocolate syrup was a bit thin and drippy which made it challenging to “draw” with. Sometimes when you’re learning something new you have to just be happy with what you’ve done. These certainly didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to, but I had fun doing them and still liked the effect. I think I’d experiment with what to use the next time…perhaps opting for something a little thicker. The “tarantula” I made with a chocolate covered peanut for the “body” and cut up brownie pieces for the “hairy legs.”
My tarantulas on the trifle
I made these trifles in individual portions. Even though this time it was just my husband and I, it’s kind of fun to serve things this way when you entertain where you can. Everyone gets their own little themed desert. I kept these chilled in frig til we were ready to eat
It was jack-o-lanterns all the way in the place setting.
Layering makes a place setting. This one began with a shiplap charger which I got from Details 2 Enjoy (the tile place cards are also from there.) Next comes the paper jack-o-lantern napkin. A salad sized pumpkin plate is the third layer. It’s from Crate & Barrel. A small pumpkin shaped plate (from Target Dollar Spot) is the final dish layer. Last a fun festive favor. The chocolate jack-o-lantern is from the wonderful See’s Candies. The divided dish ( Crate & Barrel) above place setting holds the mustard and ketchup for the Mummy Mutts.
Ghoulish Games were played while we ate our Spooky Supper ….Lady looks like she is about to break into Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler”…you gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them, lol
We love to play 45s. A card game that our Uncle Bob taught us. My husband Bob (there are a few “Bobs” in his family lol) has played since a child. It’s meaningful to carry on the tradition. It gives us a chance to relive some very happy memories with our uncle. I themed it Ghoulish Games. Our Pirates of The Caribbean cards seemed the perfect deck to use. We enjoyed our spooky super while we played. The letterboard came from a company called Felt Nook. The Halloween Disney icons for letterboard came from a company called Believe.Dream.Imagine. The Mickey jack-o-lantern came from Jim Shore.
By the way, in case anyone was interested ….I came from behind to win
A few more photos of the table
Celebrating holidays is a passion of mine. I like to plan little times like these to make them sparkle. How do you like to celebrate Halloween? Thank you for coming along on our Ghoulish Game Night For A Spooky Sunday Supper. My next blogs will be to celebrate a certain mouse who is having a very special birthday this year. Come back to celebrate with me!
Jack was enjoyed with lots of leftovers…love leftover party food
