Halloween: how we roll at home

If you visited our shop in the last month or so, you'll know that one of us is really into halloween. Let's call him Robert. He loves to dress the whole place up in the spookiest, creepiest things we can find. Just before halloween, we take a lot of it home to add extra ghoulishness to the house... and to prepare for our little October 31 shindig.

For the last couple of years, we've lived in a neighborhood with lots of kids... with lots more arriving in droves for trick or treating on halloween night. So we bought 450 pieces of candy from Costco. And some specimen cups, vodka, and Baileys. Oh. That last part was for the adults. Robert set up a mini bar on one side of the driveway, where he served little Newt Brain shots (*recipe after the photos) to all the moms and dads; the kids had to enter our porch area through a tattered curtain to get their treats. Friends came for dinner; our dogs were running around inside and outside; a couple of dogs (and a few kids) just ran into the house... a good time was had by all.

I daresay we had the wildest display on the block, with lots of severed doll parts hanging from branches, buried in our (unraked and very leafy) garden berms, or dancing from shredded black umbrellas. Inside, I filled old pickle jars with more doll parts, and piled candy corn into a vintage dentist's tooth model (which was my absolute favorite find at our flea markets this last summer). A few little extra touches were all it needed: vintage magnifiers, an old hydrochloric acid bottle with some glass doll eyes at the bottom, bedsprings with more dolls stuck inside... We switched out bulbs in the entry way to amber, stuck a boom box outside with scary halloween sounds (which might have frightened the kids more than anything), put out lots of battery-operated candles, and uplighted parts of the garden to highlight some of our displays.

The final touch: Jilly had to wear her red tutu, which – after awhile – she hardly noticed, what with all the doggy treats and attention from kiddies.

I think my favorite part of this is that aside from a few fun decorations from our shop, we didn't buy anything at a traditional halloween store. The doll parts we've been collecting for years, usually from garage sales or flea markets in the summer (when your mind is furthest from halloween). Some came from the dollar store, and we liberally added staples, nails, and grease pencil "makeup." There are some interesting haircuts, too. Fabrics are old lace, muslin, or scrim (like mosquito netting) that we dyed (either black or tea dye). Robert made the wood "gravestones" some years ago from shingle-thin pieces of old wood, with 19th century epitaphs (found online) printed on yellowed paper and stapled to the top. It has all pretty easily (and cheaply) come together, piece by piece.

* recipe for Newt Brains:
What you'll need: 1 oz specimen cups (from Cash & Carry); 3 medicinal droppers (Shopko); some lab glass beakers for pouring and storing (Pomegranate or antique stores); a lighted area so your guests can see the gross thing they're drinking; and a mad scientist outfit for the bartender (lab coat from a medical supply house, pocket protector, glasses taped together in the center).

For each drink, pour:

3/4 oz. chilled vodka into specimen cup
an eyedropper full of Roses lime juice
an eyedropper full of Bailey's Irish Cream, shot into the bottom of the cup
a few drops (from eyedropper) of Grenadine (also shot into the bottom)
optional: you could use flavored vodka, or mix a bit of flavored (maybe ginger or cranberry) with straight vodka for the base

The fun part: the lime juice and Bailey's coagulates in the cup and looks, well, like brains. Tiny little brains. It actually tastes pretty darn good, but you have to gulp it down.