The party was a lot of fun, but we didn't use 100 candles. Too many little kids. Instead I baked two round and one square cake, cut out the middles of the rounds with a glass, cut the square in half, used the second half of the square as an exclamation point with one of the middles of the rounds. We lit candle numbers on sticks - 68 and 32. I had a lot of batter left over so I made a jillion tiny cupcakes that the GKs loved - their eyes lit up almost like 100 candles at the site of so many tiny cupcakes! It was very cute, but I wish we had lit 100 candles. Thanks for all the inspiration! Sherry

For our big halloween party we usually have 50 to 80 people. I usually make a crockpot of meatballs (amongst other things), but make a Swedish meatball type sauce for it. Just yesterday a friend contacted me for the recipe for the sauce for a party he's having this evening. Bob's "Swedish" Meatball sauce Ingredients: 1 stick of butter 4 medium onions chopped fine with food processor 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup medium dry madiera 3 cups strong beef stock 2 cups half-and-half 1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce Melt butter in large pan over medium low heat, add onions and cook and stir for 15-20 minutes until onoins are nearly caramelized. Add flour and stir until the flour is absorbed into the butter, and cook for another minute or two. Next stir in the Madiera, then the beef stock, and heat to a simmer for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. Next use a stick blender to puree the sauce smooth, and add the half-and-half and Worchestershire sauce. Pour over heated meatballs in crockpot on low.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Great topic! My 92 year old mother recently, peacefully passed away. In her eulogy, I mentioned one of her prized treasures...notebooks full of mimeographed dinner menus. In our area in the 1950s, General Electric wanted to sell their appliances on TV. They sponsored Florence Hanford, who I believe was a first TV cook. She broadcasted an hour show where she made an entire meal...from salads to desserts. Following the show my mother would send my older brother to the post office with a penny postcard. In a few days, my mother would receive a sheet with all the recipes for the meal. Then we would be her taste testers! In her teenage years, my mother worked as a domestic for a well-to-do family. There she learned proper table settings, etc. and she learned to cook a variety of meats. (Her family was extremely poor so meat was rare). Growing up, our table always had tablecloth and cloth napkins, manners were stressed, and table conversation was expected. Although our finances too were somewhat limited, my mother was a bargain shopper, frugal, and never wasted anything. She canned and cut-up whole chickens and no "boxed" food was used. She"did" healthy before it was popular. Thought was given to "eating with our eyes" so color and texture was apparent at our table. Waldorf salads, Ragedy Ann salads, and plain iceberg salads were among her offerings. Scratch desserts of all kinds....what a lucky woman I was!! Many of my memories focus on mealtime and holiday feasts! Thanks for the thread...memory lane☺️.....Wendy, in SEPA

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” ~ Samuel Adams