Witches' Brew Party

Last year, Kirsten had the fun idea of having a Witches' Party! She made the most yummy food and had such cute ideas. We decided that even though we couldn't do one together, we'd each still do one. It turned out to be a blast!

I couldn't have done it without the help of my mom or Jon. I called my mom a day or two before asking about root beer extract and chicken soup base and she knew just what to do! She even helped a ton by making soup for the dinner. Then, the day of the party, Jon spent hours making carmel popcorn for me - and cutting down branches (keep reading to see why).

I spent ALL day last Friday getting ready! It was so much fun though! I made broom sticks (thanks to Martha Stewart for the idea) out of brown lunch sacks and a stick. I filled them with Jon's carmel corn. I lined our inside steps and entry way with them and then each witch got to take one home with her.

Then, I made two types of soup. My biggest fear was putting the wrong ingredient in the wrong pot. (I burned a hole in my cookbook earlier in the day, so I knew that it would be a good possibility). When the "witches" arrived, they had each decorated a witches hat. Emily and Lindsey took the hats and then the witches could eat their dinner. We had bread bowls (aka cauldrons) and they could fill it with the soup (the brew). We also had a bubbling cauldron of homemade rootbeer.

After dinner, each witch was to vote on the hats. I had come up with 8 different categories (Cutest Hat, Most Wicked Hat, Most Unique Hat, Scariest Hat, Glinda the Good Witch Hat, Hat You're Most Likely to Steal, Most Creative Hat, and Hat That Would Most Likely Start A New Trend). We all gathered for the results! Each witch had to get up and tell why they decorated their hat the way they did and something about themselves that others didn't know about.

Then, we had dessert and just chatted. It was a lot of fun! It was so much fun to visit with a lot of cousins that I haven't seen very much over the last 7 years and just to be with a fabulous group of women!

I'm already coming up with ideas for next year's party.....

Jon making his carmel popcorn

Table full of hats

Dinner

More dinner

All the witches (minus Kelsi who was taking the picture)

I found these cute bags at Pier One - they lined the stairs outside and had candles burning in them.

Also a find at Pier One (thanks to Kirsten's great advice!)

bubbling brew

These were my favorite - the party favors!