Well, it may have been a bit more subdued and thrown together, literally, within a couple of hours, but yesterday we celebrated our 4th Annual Fall Festival.
If you were to check out our previous fall festivals…
…then you’d see that this year is hardly even close to the others. Unfortunately, there were a few last minute cancellations, combined with other friends having plans, so calling this Fall Festival may be a bit of a stretch. In actuality, it was more just like our Mexico crew hanging out for the day with lots of good food.
As you can see, we definitely had lots! And for having thrown this together within about 4 hours, I’d say we did pretty well, wouldn’t you?
- Chips, salsa, and homemade healthier guacamole
- Crackers and apple cinnamon cheddar (same as two years ago)
- I threw together the veggie tray with PUMPKIN hummus (yes, it’s amazing)
- Pumpkin Bread
- Apple Cookies (courtesy of Mal, but you can check out my variation of the recipe)
I also wound up coming across a recipe on Pinterest for Candy Corn Popcorn Balls. I already had all of the ingredients on hand, so I quickly threw these together before heading over for the festivities.
They really were super easy to make – pretty much like a rice crispy treat, but with popcorn and candy corn. I think everyone liked ‘em!
Of course, there was also plenty of seasonal beverages…
I enjoyed a pumpkin beer towards the beginning of the afternoon but then just decided to stick to water. Oddly enough, I wasn’t really feelin’ it yesterday…crazy, right?
The boys, on the other hand, were having fun experimenting with all sorts of fun girly drinks martinis. All of a sudden, my husband became a skilled martini maker…who knew?
He was making pumpkin spice martinis, chocolate banana martinis, appletinis…I couldn’t believe it?!
The funny part was that the boys were the ones enjoying them all afternoon, while the girls were drinking beer.
Just look at those characters and their girly drinks.
Of course, even if it was impromptu, if it was even slightly dubbed Fall Festival, then that meant there was one mandatory component…
Mal’s Chili. It would never be the same without it…soooo, sooo good.
We all spent most of the afternoon just hanging out and snacking, and a little later in the evening we broke out the games.
A few rounds of Scattergories and Taboo are always surefire ways to get in some good laughs. We were all talking about how we really need to bring back game night. We used to have game nights so much more often, but we got out of the habit.
This winter, we’re bringin’ it back! (hopefully)
*****
Breakfast
This morning, Jay and I slept in for a bit before getting up for some breakfast. I asked him if he’d “pretty please” make me one of his amazing omelets (<—old school post alert! Complete with a shot of the old kitchen), and after my incessant begging and pleading, he finally caved. Mission accomplished.
I ordered a one egg + 2 egg white omelet, filled with red peppers, onions, tomatoes, spinach, and feta cheese. He jazzed it up with all sorts of yummy spices and whatnot, but I have no idea what they were…all I know is that they were scrumptious.
On the side, I toasted us up some whole wheat English muffins – mine with half peanut butter, half raspberry jelly.
And then I also proceeded to leave the toaster oven on all during breakfast, so now our house smells like burnt toaster oven scraps and Jay is convinced that I was trying to burn the house down. Woops.
How’s everyone else’s weekend going? Today Jay and I have to finish up some stuff house work (aka, raking leaves…shoot me now) and then we’re off to my parents’ house to watch the Jets game. Hey, at least I have something fun to look forward to after dealing with the leaves.
Catch ya’ll laterrrrr!
Kim@hungryhealthygirl says
Looks like lots of good food! I’ve been wanting to try some pumpkin hummus.
Stellina @ My Yogurt Addiction says
Those popcorn balls are so cute! What a good idea for an easy fall treat. Also those cookies look fabulous as well! Have a great Sunday :)
Amanda @ .running with spoons. says
Ack good luck with the leaves! I had to do that last weekend and it just wiped me right out. I highly suggest refuelling with some apple pie, though. My mom baked me one as a ‘sorry-for-making-you-do-manual-labor’ treat and the pain in my arms was quickly forgotten ;)
Hope you’re having a great Sunday!
Alicia says
That still looked like a fun fall festival! Those Martini’s looked so good. Good luck with your Jet’s game…mine isn’t looking that great so far!
Astro Gremlin@induction cooking says
Good food, good drinks, good games, and good friends — it doesn’t get any better. Enjoyed the photos of your fantastic fall festival!
Julie @ Sweetly Balanced says
That looks like such a fun night!!! So much good food, I love nights like those!! I had a great weekend, my fiance went out of town so one of my best friends from upstate came down with her doggie to spend the weekend with!! It was a great girls weekend so much fun!!
Michelle@Peachy Palate says
That’s such a cool tradition!!! Yummy eats, friend and board games..can’t go wrong! I’m a scrabble girl myself, so damn competitive!
Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries says
Yum! Lots of great eats here! I absolutely LOVE Taboo! It’s easily my favorite game. Scattergories is another really fun group game. We try to do game nights pretty regularly throughout the winter since the weather is no good!
Sana says
Yikes, glad that the house did not actually burn down!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
I used to LOVE playing Scattergories as a kid. That was our go-to game to play as a family. Every time my extended family got together, that’s what we’d play. Sometimes it got pretty CRAZY.
Brittany @ Proteinandpumps.com says
Pumpkin Beer – My Favorite!! Looks fun! I’m not a fan of candy corn but I love the idea!
Joy says
We had a Halloween party yesterday and I did all te set up and clean up sooooo hubs is in charge of the leaves (hope he doesn’t mind)
Kristen @ notsodomesticated says
OK the picture of the guys drinking martinis with their pinkies in the air is absolutely priceless. That’s some awesome blackmail haha! ;)
Erica @ For the Sake of Cake says
Pumpkin spice martinis?! Yum! I love Scattergories!
Natalie @ Free Range Human says
Looks like a ton of fun!
Shari says
Scattergories is the best!
Hollywood Healthy says
Get Jay to give us the recipe for his appletini Yum!!
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says
Sounds like you had a great weekend!! :)
heidi kokborg says
Gosh! That breakfast looks sooo good! I love English muffins with pb and jam :)
Hope @ With A Side Of Hope says
All of that food looks great! Sounds like such a fun weekend :)
Bek @ Crave says
Sounds like fun! Haha, love that the boys are drinking ‘girlie’ drinks and the girls are sticking to the hard stuff- beer ;) Oh and h2o for you :P