Beadboy2's Party

Because Beadboy2 was born a week before Halloween, we have a ready-made theme for him every year. Our parties are pretty simple; we invite a bunch of local families and serve pizza (the really good kind), sort of healthy/sort of sophisticated snacks, juice for the kids and wine and beer for the adults, and cupcakes. I plan an activity for the kids (last year it was painting pumpkins, this year a ring toss game involving a witch's hat), but mostly they entertain themselves by running amok through the house while the adults hang out and are just as noisy as the kids. Poor Beadboy1, not a fan of big noisy parties, often retreats to his room, venturing out only for food and a little quiet play with one of the more reticent children.

For the cupcakes this year I got the idea of topping them with ghosts from a Halloween magazine put out by Gooseberry Patch (I knew the name from cookbooks but otherwise I am unfamiliar with the company). My plan was to top chocolate cupcakes with large marshmallows, cover them with white frosting, and add mini chocolate chips as eyes, but apparently, marshmallows are a summer food and my local markets no longer carry them. Instead I had to use lots and lots of "whipped" frosting, which resulted in rather squat ghosts:
Mr. Beadgirl says they remind him of wampas.

The favors came from the same magazine -- "Trash Mix with Worms," a bowl of dried fruit, pretzels, candy, and popcorn with gummy worms. I put some into little muslin bags to hand out:

Finally, I managed to finish just in time a growth chart from the kids. I got the pattern from a 2010 issue of Stitch Magazine, with the intention of starting a new tradition where we measure the kids and mark their heights each birthday. With almost a year to plan, of course I did not start cutting fabric until the middle of October and I finished the sewing Sunday morning (the day after his birthday, oops), but that's pretty good for me.
The fabric is linen, plus scraps with a gear/robot motif I originally used for a bag for myself.