All Treats And No Tricks

CELEBRATIONS | by JANNA LUFKIN

ANYBODY WHO KNOWS ME knows I love Halloween. For some, it kicks off the holiday season; for me, it’s my childhood memories  of my Amuma.

© JANNA LUFKIN

Amuma is the Basque word for grandmother, and mine was the best. We would finish our trick-or-treat evening at her house with homemade pies and those BIG candy bars. It was a tradition.

Years ago, I started hosting my own Halloween get-together for family and neighbors. It’s casual and the menu is always the same: homemade macaroni and cheese, tomato soup and Parmesan bread sticks. Our family’s tradition.

I have fun with the table while keeping it simple. Often I’ll come up with something fun for guests to take home. One year I made these crepe-paper pumpkins and filled them with a variety of candies and trinkets.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Orange crepe paper
• Scissors
• A variety of candy and trinkets
• Green florist tape
• Green florist wire
• A pencil
• Velvet millinery leaves, or leaves from your garden

Here’s how to make them:

1. Cut crepe paper into freeform round shapes. Different sizes make the display more interesting.
2. Place candy and trinkets in the center of round and gather loosely to form the pumpkin shape.
3. Twist the paper at the top to form the stem and wrap with florists tape.
4. Wrap florist wire around a pencil to make tendrils, wrap tendrils and leaves around the stem a few times and secure with a bit more florist tape.

Use them as party favors, pile them up as a centerpiece, or as place holders.