Even though we cancelled our annual party this year, I still felt the need to exercise my Halloween crafty impulses. Luckily there are a couple other people at work who like the holiday, so we combined forces to throw a party on Friday. (It was also our end-of-the-month drinks, so that worked out nicely.)

Throughout the week, I brought in Halloween decorations to liven up my corner of the office. I also made a pilgrimage to Sugar Fix to get candy corn and mini Reese’s Cups, which I put out in bowls on my desk. (Want to be popular? Free Reese’s Cups are the answer.) Thursday night I made a batch of my traditional Witches’ Finger Cookies. I went with a shortbread recipe this year, which helped retain the details a little better. They were a huge hit! I also broke out my brain mould and whipped up Igor’s Pickled Brain. I’ve done panna cotta before, but this one is basically a giant White Russian set with gelatin. I kept in the fridge all day at work and unmolded it at the end of the day. For sauce, I just poured on some stewed berries from a can, which looked suitably gross. People went NUTS! At one point there were like six people around it taking photos. Very gratifying! It was tasty too, with a strong coffee flavour. Quite a kick, too. My co-worker Gemma brought a lot of other snacks, including some excellent sugar cookies, chocolate crackles, and decorated cupcakes. Most of the office was on a sugar high all day long.

My costume was very last minute. I’d been toying with a few different ideas. In the end, I pulled out my Lucy dress from Halloween 2008. This was sewn from a pattern that was actually intended as an Alice in Wonderland dress. So, why not be Alice? Unfortunately there was a problem as soon as I pulled it on – this thing was WAY too short for wearing at work. So I worked late into the night Thursday cutting up an old bedsheet to make myself a petticoat. I also made a small pinafore/apron to wear over the top. The Snook lent me his little white rabbit and made a tiny pocketwatch for him to wear. With a pair of white knee socks and an Alice band, I was ready. I changed just before lunchtime on Friday, and the reaction was great! In fact, at the end of the day, my boss announced they were giving a bottle of wine to the best costume… and I won! That was pretty awesome, especially considering just about all of it was homemade.