Pumpkin Patch Kids' Halloween Party

1. Bake two Bundt cake using your favorite recipe.

2. Put one cake upside down on a platter, and frost the top surface

using canned frosting. Place the other cake on top, and you’ve got a

basic pumpkin.

3. Tint white, canned frosting orange, and ice the cake.

4. Use prepared fondant, a sugar clay available at many craft or

baking supply stores, to decorate the pumpkin and turn it into a

Jack-O-Lantern. Choose brightly colored fondant, such as yellow for the facial features and green for the leaves.

5. Roll out the fondant and use cookie cutters or a knife to cut out the shapes and apply them to the cake.

For other goodies on the buffet table, check out The Popcorn Factory's adorable pumpkin patch tins, full of 3 popcorn flavors: rich butter, robust cheese and sweet, secret-recipe caramel corn. Or you can get the Spider Jar of Frankencorn, which is filled with sweet, Halloween sprinkled popcorn clusters, and topped with a big goofy spider.

Hay bales, autumn leaves, and pumpkins galore are all you need to create a pumpkin patch in your backyard:

• Mini hay bales (@4 inches high x 8 inches long) are a popular fall decoration this season. I've even seen them on store shelves in my local pharmacy! Place mini bales in the center of your buffet or craft table, and scatter autumn leaves around the base.

• If larger hay bales are available in your area, place a couple in your backyard. As an alternative, you can create the look of a hay bale by turning a sturdy, hard plastic milk crate upside down, and covering it with burlap or rustic fabric.

• Pull apart a mini bale and pile the hay on the covered crate along with autumn leaves.

• Place groups of pumpkins in the yard on beds of large green silk leaves to give the illusion that they are popping up all over!

• Purchase or make wooden yard signs such as "Scarecrow Crossing."

• To top it all off, rest a silly scarecrow against a tree, with a bushel of apples in his lap.

 

Halloween always puts me in a crafty mood. There are so many ways to be

creative!