easy Fall entertaining with friends . . .

We welcomed Halloween with COOL temperatures and light rain (ahhhh) . . . the perfect kind of evening for a cozy and casual dinner with friends before trick-or-treating.

It's a family tradition to have chili on Halloween, so I prepared a dinner very similar to this one, here.

Given the high energy of the evening, I kept our dinner low-key and served home-made traditional chili in a big cast iron pot right from the stove top, along with a toppings bar that I set up on our kitchen island that included three cheese, fresh avocados, sour cream, tortilla chips, and fresh cilantro.  

Since I didn't decorate for Halloween this year, spooky decor for our evening gathering was scarce. Instead, I opted for lighting tea lights . . . and placed them around the kitchen and dining room for an eerie twinkle.

I also lit upwards of 20 tea lights and placed them around our entry room, along with our glowing Jack O'Lantern, where we greeted trick-or-treaters.  I loved the eerily glow . . . something that I will absolutely do next year. I shared a few photos on Instagram.

"H" is for Halloween!

Here's a photo of our toppings bar. Sorry for not including the food in the photos. I didn't add the toppings to the bowls until just before our guests arrived, as I wanted everything to be as fresh as possible.

These sweet corn cakes were a HIT, along with the chili! YUM! I always serve them with chili. Their tender sweetness is amazing on top of warm spicy flavors.

Orange CRUSH made for the perfect Halloween bubbly!  

And there's nothing like offering your guests a warm drink to take on their way out trick-or-treating with their little ones. I offered Hot Cocoa, Apple Cider, and Pumpkin Spice coffee. 

One of the highlights of our evening was the rain! It added to the fun and excitement. We had a wonderful evening . . . and hope that you did, too!

Two of my little ones 

with their Halloween make-up on.

  

 

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