It’s official: The 3rd Annual Fall Festival was a success!
Despite the fact that we had a few less attendees than last year’s fall festival, we all still had a fabulous time doing lots of our favorite fall festival things. Jay and I had to pass on the apple picking this year, but we still had a blast taking part in the other festivities, such as…
Carving Pumpkins!
Every year, we all somehow manage to do a killer job on our pumpkin carving.
Luckily, my pumpkin wasn’t all that messy this year AND it had a bunch of seeds that I made sure to put aside for toasting with some cinnamon-sugar. Can’t let those babies go to waste.
We all obviously take our pumpkin carving very seriously, don’t we?
Usually, I feel like I’m pretty much the last one to finish, but this year I was second so I had some fun moseying around and watching everyone else.
You like my bat punkin’?
With Fall Festival, there is also never a shortage of good food to eat. We started out with some snacks, which were enjoyed before and during the pumpkin carving shenanigans.
Jeff even picked up some mini frozen pizzas which, you’re right Sarah, he was rather excited about, wasn’t he? As amusing as the random purchase was, I don’t think there were any pieces that went unaccounted for!
I tried not to go *too* overboard with the snacks, because we had a very delicious dinner planned…
Mal’s Easy Chili + homemade pumpkin dinner rolls
Andrea made the pumpkin rolls from scratch and they were seriously amazing. If there wasn’t dessert waiting for us, I totally would have grabbed another one. So, so good!
But, of course, there was dessert waiting for us, in the form of my Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes (you can mark me down for one of those…)
and Mal’s apple cookies (and two of those).
These cookies are awesome (along with everything else that Mal makes) and I even have the recipe for them, so I’ll have to share that with you guys sometime soon. Remind me, mmmkay?
Now, with another Fall Festival successfully under the belt, it’s about time to wind down and get ready to get back to the grind tomorrow. Did this weekend fly by for anyone else or is just me? Sheesh!
Oh yes, I almost forgot! Let me show you all our final pumpkin carving products…
My Punkin’
Everyone’s all together!
Pretty snazzy, right?
Hope everyone had a fun weekend, whatever you were doing!
Question for the Evening:
Do you have any “annual” events that you hold/attend every year with friends and/or family?
Maria@La_Piattini says
Aww what a fun time! I told my fiance the other day that I want to have a pumpkin carving party- I don’t think he took me seriously ;)
Your pumpkin came out awesome!
Bethany @Bethany's Befuddled Brain says
Oh I love the witch! They are all really creative. I have a hard time carving pumpkins because the smell and feel of pulling out the “guts” makes me gag. However in past years I’ve let my dad pull out the innards and I rinse them to make pumpkin seeds. Then I’ll supervise the carving. After nearly cutting off a finger when I was in middle school I’ve become hesitant in carving pumpkins.
Lindsey says
Great pumpkin! We are doing ours Friday! I haven’t decided yet if I will carve mine or paint and bedazzle it ;) haha
We always have birthday parties for ourselves, seems to be the two times a year everyone can get together! I want to start having a annual Christmas party too though!
Sylvia @ Frolic Through Life says
I love carving pumpkins! They all came out great! Two of my pumpkins are already rotting and I didn’t even have a chance to carve em yet. :( Hurricane Irene really messed up the pumpkins this year.
Kat at Balance & Spice says
wow, your recipes look absolutely amazing, as does your bat pumpkin! Looks like such a fun party!
Emily says
What a fun tradition!! I am really starting to love all things fall and am looking forward to pumpkin carving later this week! Our big family thing is a cookie bake near Christmas time. My mom, aunt, and grandmother all round up their best recipes and we make a bunch of batches and split them up to give out to people. Love this time of year :)
Mandee @ Mandeelicious says
Like your bat pumpkin!!! I’ve never eaten pumpkin seeds. I couldn’t stand the feeling of pumpkin Gook on my hands when I was little, so that memory makes me not want to try them!
Do you have the recipe for those pumpkin dinner rolls?? That sounds so good!
Heather B says
Ohhh my family is in MA and I’m in GA, this post made me miss our annual pumpkin carving contests!! All your pumpkins look awesome. Any chance of the pumpkin roll recipe too?!? I’m a sucker for bread…and pumpkin!!
Lindsay @ The Lean Green Bean says
we have an annual gingerbread house making party with our friends. we use graham crackers to build the houses and give out prizes in different categories. everyone brings a bag of candy to decorate with!
Brittany says
I love pumpkin carving! So much fun. The bat is adorableeee. I definitely would love those cookie recipes! Looks like you had a fun night :D
Julie H. of Spinach and Sprinkles says
You all do some pretty good work! :) What a festive night?! AWESOME!
Lena @ Fit on the Rocks says
Wow…those pumpkins are awesome! I usually end up with an ugly pumpkin that has a tooth or something nearly falling off because I cut it in the wrong place hahaha. I’m dying to try that chili recipe because it looks so good (in addition to all the sweets).
Khushboo says
I’ve never carved a pumpkin but I am super impressed with all of yours- so artsy! Given my ‘artistic’ skills, I am sure mine would just end up with a standard smiley face!
Jackie @ That Deep Breath says
I am terrible at carving pumpkins…all of yours look great though! Roasting the pumpkin seeds is my favorite part :)
Kristin Mac says
Those are some impressive pumpkins!! I always use stencils to carve mine, but this will be my first year carving a pumpkin free-hand, since the stencils don’t seem to exist over here in England. So I’m guessing mine is going to turn out to be a googly-eyed goofy looking Jack-O-Lantern :p
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
What a fun night! We always have a fall party with our family – it was yesterday actually! We always go for a hayride, carve pumpkins, eat soups and chili, and just relax!
Hope says
That looks like such a fun time! Those pumpkins are impressive! I’m so late with getting a pumpkin to carve! I can’t believe Halloween is next week already. I better get a move on! :)
Erica @ For the Sake of Cake says
This looks like such a fun day! I made that chili last week & it was awesome!!
Colleen @ Jimmy Choos on the Treadmill says
Those pumpkins look awesome! I have never attempted to carve anything too detailed into a pumpkin, but I might have to try this year!
Ashley @ My Food 'N' Fitness Diaries says
How fun! All the eats looks great too! My husband and I don’t live close to family, but we had a pumpkin carving party this year with our friends. I am certain it will become an annual thing because it was so fun! You can’t beat a good time with friends while carving pumpkins and eating delicious fall foods!
Katie @ Plates and Paste says
Wow! You all are pretty darn amazing at pumpkin carving! Seesh, I can barely get my triangle eyes to look right ;)
Sarah Maddalena says
Courtney, You need to tell them about our FAKE pumpkins we carved for the people who don’t like carving the real one because of the guts inside! All three pumpkins on the bottom of the picture are fake but carved with the same carving kit as you would the real ones!!
We only did the fake ones because the place we went to didn’t have a good selection. But now we have them forever!!
Courtney says
Good point! I’ll mention that this afternoon my dear :)
Shannon says
I absolutely love those pumpkins! All of you seem so creative; I could never do something complex like that. :(
I usually go up to Ticonderoga to visit my mom’s side of the family around Christmas time every year. Other than that, that’s pretty much the only “Annual” thing I do with family.