Magical Samhain Night | Bohemian Cottage

We made these enchanted candles to give a magical touch to our festivities.

One of our favorite holidays to celebrate is Halloween or Samhain. Sometimes we get a little carried away with decorations and treats, but it sure is fun! More is more! We had fun making some crafts, spooky flying fairy skeletons, enchanted candles like in Harry Potter and ribbon garlands to hang over doorways in Halloween colors and patterns. Food. We also made lots of tasty food. Spooky food. Ok, maybe not so spooky, but creative and festive for the occasion. I got lots of ideas from magazines and pinterest. Check out my Halloween board to see some of the inspiration. I discovered ways to take the inspiration and make it my own, and in some cases improving on the ideas.

I got the idea for this calzone snake from AllRecipes.com. I wish I would have captured a better picture!

We made chocolate truffle mice, calzone snakes, graveyard dip, cheddar cheese pumpkin ball, chili and biscuits and of course witches brew punch. We had fun with the headstones for the graveyard dip.

Graveyard dip is a 5 layer bean dip. The grave dirt is just crushed blue corn tortilla chips,

Looks like someone took a bite out of one of the branches of the tortilla tree! The pumpkin cheese ball doesn’t really have any pumpkin in it at all. Though that might be tasty to make it more sweet than savory and serve it with graham crackers…

Easy pumpkin cheese ball

These chocolate truffle mice are really quite easy to make. The recipe is from Allrecipes.com. I have since come up with a better recipe for white mice since the powdered sugar tends to soak into the chocolate and the brown color starts to show through. Just substitute white chocolate! Tah dah! I used red candy beads for the eyes on them.

These chocolate truffle mice are so easy to make, and adorable.

We of course created an All Hallows Eve soundtrack for the evening that you can listen to here…

White Chocolate Truffle Halloween Mice. Bohemian Cottage.

Use red candy beads for the eyes on these white truffle mice.

Then there is the other side of Halloween, or Samhain. The side that is dark and mysterious, honoring our ancestors and loved ones who have passed. Death, such a grave and serious subject, is somehow turned into fun making, taking a joking and light hearted approach with zombies and ghouls. I do like the tradition, whether it be neo pagan or ancient tradition of honoring the dead, and the traditions that accompany it. Or today’s take on it with trick or treating, pumpkin carving and dressing up in costume.

We decorated the house for our little party.

The tradition of Samhain (Sow-en) is said to be an ancient Celtic tradition meaning “Summer’s End”. It is also thought to be the beginning of the New Year for the Celts. This was a time when the veil was thin and a time to communicate with those who had passed before, welcoming the spirits of loved ones to join in the festivities. During this time when the veil is thin between living and dead, sometimes malevolent spirits would cross over, and that is said to be where the ancient tradition of dressing in disguises or costume would help to trick these feared spirits.

Coda dressed as a Doll.

The girls and I love to get dressed up. Most of the time I get to dress up as a witch, my favorite! Makayla joined me, and Coda dressed as a Doll.

Makayla wearing a favorite skull necklace of mine that was a gift from my good friend Alisa.

I borrowed Rosie’s lovely purple witch hat.

Me wearing Rosie’s witch hat.

Our good friend and neighbor Jami came over and she was dressed fabulously as usual. She goes all out every year for Halloween, decorating her yard with lights and spooky decorations.