How To Design A Spooky, Elegant Halloween Tablescape, Plus A Harvest Lunch Menu

 

For me, Halloween is all about celebrating the spooky season but with a bit more of a glamorous tablescape and hallway greeting than the usual gourds and orange pumpkins.  

I was looking to tell a twinkling, autumnal interpretation of a happy trick or treat holiday. 

I wanted it to be more about the art of tablescaping for this most favorite holiday.  

(Did you know that, in fact, Halloween is now only second to Christmas in terms of popularity?) 

Given that Halloween has, at its core, dressing up in costumes, it only seems apropos to “dress up the table and noteworthy home spaces with some inspired, seasonal masquerade. 

Especially when the harvest season screams out for luncheon, dinner, and cocktail parties to celebrate the abundance we enjoy and share this time of year. 

So let’s delight in dressing up.

Learn How Susan Ungaro Navigated Career and Family with Style, Humor & Networking

                                           

Learn how my special guest, Susan Ungaro, managed scandal, change, and her own family ~ while helming the Family Circle Magazine and later, the James Beard Foundation. 

Not surprisingly, I received so many delighted Comments and happy Feedback for this Ladies Who Lunch Conversations feature, calling attention to Susan’s “invigorating, inspiring, and empowering” persona. 

Susan is surely a dame who knows how to keep moving forward; hand on the tiller, while always keeping the other hand open to help others.

Susan is that rare human who manages to be like a best friend ~ very nurturing and understanding while also being a very commanding leader.

People just can’t help being drawn to her.  It’s that high likeability and accomplished manager that is a potent one-two punch.

How does she do this?

Drink With the Seasons ~ Autumn Cocktails to Make Your Happy Hours Brim With Love, Spice & Fun

 

Last year about this time, I’d just completed trialing a few creations for a couple who was soon to wed and wanted some bespoke cocktails for the celebration.  

I have long advocated for eating ~ and drinking ~ with the seasons, so as author of Art of the Garnish, I couldn't wait to whip up a few drink designs based on two of the best ingredients: Fall and Love.  (Or should I say, “falling in love?!”)

Mums the Word: NYBG Kiku Chrysanthemum Art Celebrates Japanese Royalty; Kiku Cocktail Garden-to-Glass Garnish!

 

Don’t you love Kiku?  It’s even fun to just say it: Kiku, Kiku, Kiku! 

Kiku is, in fact, the Japanese word for “chrysanthemum” ~ the most celebrated of all Japanese fall-flowering plants. 

For me? I so often “rescue” chrysanthemums from suburban cast-offs left on the street for pick up near our country house and guess what? They rebloom gloriously.  The variety of colors and bloom types are a perfect way to mark the season.

I also feature the blossoms as a pretty Garden-to-Glass, Kiku Cocktail Garnish! 

But for the real chrysanthemum art, running now, is The New York Botanical Garden’s unforgettable presentation of Kiku, painstakingly trained to grow in a mesmerizing variety of forms and sizes, that pays homage to hanami, the traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the ephemeral beauty of flowers.