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.

This year’s party photos are finally up! As always, I spent way too much time running around and took far too few photos of the actual guests. The food is well-documented though! Thanks to everyone who helped out, especially Eileen for pitching in with all the prep work. See you all next year!

Happy Halloween from Kenny and Dolly!

Islands in the stream, that is what we are…