Oh frou, I'm glad you shared your Halloween pics! Your table is so darn cute! Are the mummies hot dogs? I saw that idea for hot dogs somewhere...yours turned out way cute! Those bone cookies look like alot of work! Great job! Love your special decor on the table ...for your special little ones! And I still love the combo of your plates with the checkered linens! TFS! Jeanne S. (ewwwww...that pumpkin is certainly 'gross' ...I am sure your T&Ters loved it!)...nice idea putting on top of the old painted milk can.

Oooo...another Halloween party enthusiest! Enough to make me come out of lurkdom for awhile... Great theme! We have a themed Halloween party every year, themed costumes are required (I think it actually makes it easier for people, because they have an idea to start with). And no, our guests don't seem to have a problem with it, we just give helpful hints in our invitations, and we normally have next year's theme picked out ahead of time. This year we're doing a pirate theme...all of our guests were informed of that at last year's "Hollywood Academy of the Undead Awards" party. Our 2009 them is going to be a medieval theme - we get a little ahead of ourselves sometimes. ;-) Some great suggestions so far, and don't forget to start saving cardboard boxes to make pyramids with (a large one out on the lawn that you have to walk through to get to the front door would be very striking and mood-setting)! I guess it depends on what you prefer...my hubby likes "scary" better, so our decorations normally have some sort of gore factor to them. If you lean towards that, you need some clear jars for "canopic" (spelling?) jars...to hold the organs of the dead (in the pyramids). Otherwise opague jars labeled will work just as well. Heiroglyphs on the walls would be a nice touch, along with eyes watching from behind things (think glow in the dark paint). As for your costume, how about you going as a mummy! Tear up some old sheets, stain them with tea (and a little fake blood, if you like), and have your hubby wrap you up. Or "wrap" some old clothes to make them a "mummy suit", then just make yourself a head piece and booties to match. You could be one of Egypt's animal gods too...a bird, or a cat, something they worshipped. But don't let your size stop you from finding a great Isis costume or something - those flowing dresses make anyone look good, really. Sandals, a head piece and some jewelrey would finish it off. Food...I'd probably go with some organ molds & jello and/or cakes, but like I said, we do "gross". Our normal halloween fare is a "serve your own" chili bar, with all the fixings, lots of desserts (witches fingers, chocolate eyeball truffles, etc), and a full bar with a "signature" drink. Last year's was the martini (since we were all supposed to be TV or Movie stars or characters), this year we'll pick something to fit with our pirate theme (a rum-based drink). I normally have punch with dry ice in it to fog it up too. I'd do a search for "Egyptian Halloween" and see what pops up. Go through web sites and see what everyone has to offer for egyptian theme parties, and you'll be surprised at how many ideas you'll end up with (too many to pull off, no doubt). If you have a basement, perhaps you'd want to decorate that as if you were descending into a pyramid, with treasures and a large sarcophogus down there? We used fake torches to light our basement stairs for our goth party one year, so it was like descending into a vampire's lair... Just a few ideas - can't wait to see what you come up with! Fun theme! :-)

Thanks, Diane, the kids are sure growing, aren't they? Makayla is now officially 3 inches shorter than me, and only 1/2 an inch shorter than my Mother. It's crazy, and Bud is going to be bigger than all of us, I think! Dcarch, I don't have an age cut off for trick or treaters, I figure you're never too old for free candy. (grin) Rusty, the brains are made with a silicone ice cube mold. I just melted some pink Wilton candy melts, smeared it up the sides of the mold, let it set, filled it up with cake, then smeared some more candy on top (bottom?) to seal it. Let it sit for a few minutes to get firm and pop it out of the silicone mold. Voila! Brains. The only problem is that the mold only makes 4, so you have to repeat the process as many times as it takes, so it gets a bit time consuming. Sharon, Makayla looks more like her mother all the time, it's always kind of surprising to me. Yes, things have changed a lot in the last 11 years or so, haven't they? Makes me kind of soppy too..... Heck, Ashley was only 14 then, now she's out of college, married, working, has two kids. Dad was still alive and so was the WonderWeiner. (sigh) And I was still married to the ex, so good and bad, LOL. Where has time gone? Annie

Bob - there is no need to explain your variation on Swedish meatballs. Even if you used a pre-made meatball the sauces can vary greatly. One of the Scandinavian cooking sites I read lists a number of variances on the sauce. Some include a red wine, some sour cream and even one that is a sauce of sour cream and shredded gjetost. I'll pass on that one. And Beatrice Ojakangas a well known Finnish Minnesota author of several cookbooks lists many variations of the sauce adapted over the years. Just because someone has not heard of it does not mean it is not correct or wrong. I think your variation of the recipe used for a large group sounded good and one I will save for future use. The recipe for meatballs I use includes beef and pork, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, a couple Tbsp of red wine or sherry, nutmeg, allspice, garlic, white pepper and salt. The sauce is a cream based sauce, using cream or sour cream, beef broth, nutmeg, sometimes dill weed, sometimes sherry and sometime white wine. The Scandinavians (Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Finns and Icelanders) were very creative with this recipe. They used what they had on hand. I believe they are all based on the same concept. A meatball with a sweeter taste and a creamy sauce that could include a variety of ingredients. It's kind of like meatloaf or chicken soup. Many variations - none are "correct". Different recipes work for different people. I bet your party was wonderful - not so sure about the banana suit!