Tomorrow is September 1st, which is kind of the unofficial start of fall… and you know what that means when it comes to parties: Hooray for Halloween! It may be 2 months away from today, but it’s never to early to start planning your big spookfest, and and I am SO EXCITED to kick off our Halloween inspiration this year with a truly FANTASTIC, vintage-style Haunted Halloween theme from Anders Ruff Custom Designs.

There are so many spooky-meets-stylish details to be found here – from a fabulous tea-stained cheesecloth and bat drape to antique chocolate skeleton keys. And 2 things I’m definitely serving at our own Halloween bash this year now: Toxic Bat Juice (LOVING the creative presentation of this drink!) and mason jar layer cakes topped with chocolate spider webs! (P.S. Chocolate spiderwebs are easier to make than you might think, utilizing the same method shown here.) And as always, you can purchase all the paper printables in their etsy shop… this Halloween collection is currently on sale for $12!

Read on for LOTS more fabulous images, comprehensive party details, and cameos from some of the cutest little mummies and witches/draculas we’ve ever seen…

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Anders Ruff…

“For this year’s Haunted Halloween party, we wanted to show a spookier side to Anders Ruff!  We used a mix of antiques – books, cameras, medicine bottles, paper documents from the early 1900s, an old clock & typewriter, shutters and window panes – to give that haunted house feel.

Since we didn’t want to scare our little gobblins away, festive treats such as hanging bat cookies, pumpkin & owl cookies, mummy-mallows (mummy-head marshmallows), boo-meringues (meringue ghosts), white chocolate drizzled caramel apples, & chocolate skeleton keys were displayed.  These treats gave a kid-friendly feel to the setup while still showing unique ideas for desserts.

A side bar was perfect to display our bat-juice (apple cider) and other small treats. Throughout the display we used hues of burnt orange, olive greens and natural creams & browns.

Our printable graphics included modern polka-dots, skeleton stripes, vintage bead-board stripes, and classic tweed patterns.  We also used some Harry Potter inspirations for witch spells and potions in addition to the real haunted house photography for our main banner.

Here are some key elements from our shoot:

Dessert Table Details:

• The backdrop was an olive green silk that had embroidered tree branch looking detail. (it was the perfect fabric to give a haunted forest look)
• We tea-stained cheesecloth (DIY) to drape over the table for depth and interest.
• The old columns were the perfect side decor to anchor the table because they reminded us of the columns of an old haunted house.
• Bat sugar cookies (From Firefly Confections) were hung from the ceiling as if they were swooping through the air.
• Our focal point of the main dessert table was an antique typewriter where we displayed pumpkin and owl cookies, plus witch’s spells from our printable collection.
• Old medicine bottles wrapped in our graphic designs were used to display the Mummy-mallows and Boo-meringues (DIY made by Maureen of Anders Ruff).
• We made inverted book displays (DIY) out of old beat up books and used varying sizes to add height and dimension.  A vintage ammo box was used to hold caramel apples and an antique door knob was set up to hold the chocolate skeleton keys (DIY – we will be showing how to make these on our new website soon).
• We made these chocolate skeleton keys from key molds and the printable key template that is included in the printable collection.
• We also made the caramel apples (DIY) and drizzled white chocolate horizontally to carry through the same “look” as the wrapped mummy treats (and model!).
• We used accents of old-school cameras to accessorize the table and flowed well when it was mixed in with the haunted house photography/banner (in the printable package).
• We wanted to show a more eclectic way to serve cupcakes so Got What It Cakes layered the cupcakes in mason jars topped off with chocolate spider webs.

Side Bar Details:

• We used old shutters and a window pane for our backdrop – a simple prop that gives a bold statement.
• More antique books, cameras and medicine bottles were displayed to hold our treats.
• We added some Spanish moss for another spooky element.
• Our drink tray was wrapped with old paper documents (DIY).  This was so easy to do and gave one of our modern trays a new look.
• The bat juice (cider) you see is in mini canning jars with an old fashioned candy stick straw.
• We created a square Trick or Treat banner to offset the scene.
• Popcorn cones (made out of our printable patterned papers and embellished with a printable party logo) were filled with fresh popcorn and strung along the table with mini-clothes pins, so the kids could easily take them off to eat.
• We piped chocolate cobwebs (DIY) to add to the tops of some of the popcorn cones as well.

Other Accents:

• We displayed a wooden box filled with candies that were packaged in cellophane bags and sealed shut with our printable bag toppers.
• Mini-candy bar wrappers embellished the tiny chocolates. (The kids loved passing this around – and what a great way to pass out your trick or treat candies)!
• The kids dressed up as the classic witch and mummy.  – The costumes were made by Morgan of “Made by Morgan”.
• The kids enjoyed classic Halloween Party game of bobbing for apples.

They also enjoyed having a popcorn fight and chasing the black cat around.

We are offering our complete Printable Haunted Halloween Design Collection in the shop – on sale for $12!”