Last year, I shared with you about my pap and gram’s (Floyd and Lois Liddick’s) amazing pumpkin parties. This time of year, I can’t help but think of these precious memories. Both sets of my grandparents gave us the best childhood memories. I am so beyond thankful for grandparents who wanted to be with us and made special plans to have those memories they knew we would forever carry with us. My grandparents were seriously the best of the best.
When our son Tyler was born, my momma bought him his first pumpkin. I remember her saying how she couldn’t wait someday to do the things with her grandkids that her parents did for my brother Luke and me. Now, Ty was only three months old at the time of his very first pumpkin. We didn’t carve a face but just cleaned out the center and stuck him in it. It was the cutest thing ever! It’s probably one of those pictures to be pulled out at his high school graduation party. He was a little butterball, but Grammy bought him a big pumpkin so he could fit right down in there.
The years that followed were more and more pumpkin party nights. Momma would get the pumpkins, and my grandparents, brother, and his girlfriend (now wife) Loren would all come join us. I have so many photos of these wonderful nights together.
Even though my pap is now gone, and my gram isn’t well enough to join, we still carry on these pumpkin nights. Momma now takes her four grandkids to the pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins, and then everyone comes to “Uncle and Aunties” (our house) for a pumpkin party in late October.
This year, we had to cancel our big annual hayride party because our best friend was getting married and having a destination wedding. There was just too much going on, and we couldn’t pull it off. My niece Lexi was bummed when she found out but asked, “Auntie, are you still having the pumpkin party?!” Oh, that made my heart just melt.
I told her, “Of course, we’ll still have our pumpkin party!!” She has been coming to Auntie’s and Uncle’s pumpkin parties since she was a baby. She was five months old when she came to her first pumpkin party, and we stuck her in a pumpkin just like Tyler and Kenzy. She is now seven. Her and Leah love being with their cousins, Tyler and Kenzy. Tyler is now fifteen and still loves the pumpkin parties. He gets pretty hardcore with cutting his pumpkin and takes it very seriously.
We love hosting our annual pumpkin party, and every year, I love finding fun little spooky treats to surprise the girls with. Last year, I made them grape Kool-Aid Halloween popsicles — a bat, tombstone, and ghost. Oh, they loved them. I ended up getting pizza last year but made sure to have cute haunting side dishes like my spooky salad, which is shown below.
This was the side dish from last week that we didn’t have room to put in. I’m sorry!
I got other little fun things for this year to surprise them with, and Loren, my sweet sister-in-law, always makes her eyeball punch. A sweet, frothy drink of 7up, sherbert, and juice topped off with plastic eyeballs and even dry ice some years for that smokey touch! Grammy always brings the Halloween donuts from Dunkin, and everything always seems to pull together so well each year. I think us “big kids” look just as forward to it as the little ones.
It is the things like this we will always remember. Just a simple evening of being together with family. A tradition that started down with my grandparents and has continued through generations. A night of spooky foods, Halloween music, laughs, pumpkin carving, and sweet little haunted surprises for little guests. A night I will continue for as long as I live. I mean, do we ever get too old to carve a pumpkin while dancing along to the monster mash, sipping on eyeball punch? I think not! Make the best out of this time of year and have a SpOoKy good time.
*Enter a coyote howl here*
Spooky Salad
Throw together your favorite salad and top with these adorable spooky touches for any Halloween gathering! Last year, I got pizza for my pumpkin party and had to add some spooky treats to the table. I came up with this spooktacular, simple idea.
Cut faces into thick cucumber slices with a sharp paring knife.
You could use other veggies, like small peppers or carrots.
I used Halloween cookie cutters to cut out shapes into American cheese slices.
It’s super simple! Just be creative. It doesn’t take much to add sweet special touches for little ones (and us adults!).
