A Hoot of a Halloween Party!

Piggy Bank Parties shared her inspiration, creative menu, and lots of DIY ideas!

“I was inspired to create a lil’ party for trick-or-treaters before they headed out to gather goodies. Using the artwork from our Lil’ Hoots Collection as inspiration, I attached ruffled streamers in the same hues as the background to a black plastic tablecloth with double-stick tape. It didn’t have to be perfect since the night sky doesn’t have perfectly straight lines. A fun $5.00 backdrop for the buffet table. The backdrop was flanked by 10 lil’ owls with kooky eyes! To create them, I traced our Lil’ Lanterns Template on black cardstock, punched green, white and black circles and cut out a beak from orange cardstock. A few adhesive dots later and a lil’ owl appeared!

The backdrop was finished off with “HOOT!” banner. I’m excited to share our first “Create-Your-Own Phrase” Banner. The font, font size and font color are all set up for you. All you need to do is open the file in Adobe Reader, type in your text and print. The banner also includes a panel with our Lil’ Hoots on it.

To match the buffet, I added a paper lantern moon lit with battery operated lights. The two owls from the Lil’ Hoots Halloween Paper perched themselves on an ivory wire tree which had been wrapped with black crepe paper. The table was covered with a black plastic tablecloth which I’m honestly not a huge fan of since they show all the folds and you can’t iron them. I had a few leftover from another party so I added a black pashmina scarf down the middle for a little texture. (And to hide all those folds!)

The menu included easy-to-fix foods that were kid-friendly, warm and relatively healthy to make sure lil’ bellies were full before heading out into the night. The menu included: Full Moon Sandwiches, ChickenHoot-tle Soup, Apple Tree-ts, Wise Crackers & Cheese, Lil’ Owl Cupcakes, Hoot-sie Roll Branches and Harvest Moon Juice. Sandwich bread and cheese were cut with round cookie cutters to create fun shaped food. Even apples are special when displayed in cupcake wrappers.

It’s not always easy to incorporate warming dishes onto a buffet table but there are times it is necessary. The soup was kept warm in a Crockpot so I turned it around–mine has lots of buttons on the front–and attached Lil’ Hoots Halloween Paper to the back to match the décor perfectly. I also used the paper to line serving trays and make lids for the drinking jars.

Even though the lil’ guests are about to venture off to gather sweet treats, I couldn’t resist having one sweet thing on the table. I made a simplified version of owl cupcakes photos I found while searching the internet. I also added Hoot-sie Roll Branches and Lil’ Hoots Cake Stakes to some of the cupcakes. I was inspired to create the branches after learning a trick from Kim of The Celebration Shoppe. Microwave Tootsie Rolls or Starbursts for 8 seconds and you can mold them into fun shapes. I made several cuts in a Tootsie Roll and shaped them into tree branches. Simple. Easy. Fun.

Caramel Apple Tree-ts were the perfect way to say, “Thank Y-HOOT!” I printed the Lil’ Hoots Halloween Paper on white glossy full-sheet labels and cut the labels to fit over the name brand label on the caramel apples. A tag and a black sheer ribbon bow completed the packaging.”

Design, Styling, Photography and Printables: Piggy Bank Parties