today i am preparing for our second annual Halloween party. well, i did that yesterday as well, but today is all about baking some treats (we like them fresh) and the finishing touches on the decorations (a few fell down through the night).
we plan to have a mummy wrap (lots of toilet paper) a costume contest (everyone wins), and a few sweet treats (hopefully everyone will bring their sweet tooth).
Of course their will be plenty of photo opts and we will go out trick-or-treating after we fill the kids (and ourselves) with plenty of sugar!
The other night we carved our pumpkins. I came up with the grandest of ideas to make the entire process so simple. you see, my kids like to come up with the most complicated (for me anyways) of faces to carve.
I sketched the face from a picture of their choice of pumpkin faces on a piece of copy paper. then I taped the paper onto the already gutted pumpkin. then using an exacto knife i cut and traced through the paper into the pumpkin with just enough pressure to press through the layer of skin.
Once i finished that i pulled off the paper and tape and proceeded to cut out the shapes with a plain ol' steak knife.
in the past my experience with pumpkin carving tools has been not-so-good. the tools usually snap in half leaving me with no choice but to rely on my kitchen knives and spoons.
anyhow, i thought my idea was worth sharing with those of you who may have trouble with pumpkin carving like i do and really aren't that hung up on being a perfectionist, whilst still wanting to please eager, pumpkin carving loving children with your most talented pumpkin carving abilities (insert slight sarcasm here). What would Halloween be without a saggy faced Jack-o-lantern?
I must add that if you happen to be so talented (like me) and happen to accidentally cut out a part of the eye that was not supposed to be cut, you can always improvise my using a stick pin, a broken kabob stick, toothpick or other sharp object to stake the part back into it's proper place. *see photo below*
i promise you will barely notice, especially when it's dark outside and your forgiving children will be so understanding because at least their Jack has an eye now (really they will think you are only slightly insane for sticking needles in it's eyes!
Have a happy, happy, happy
and safe halloween!
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