Party Guide
Festive Place Cards
- Cut a slit across the top (in front of the stems) of miniature pumpkins. Write the name of each guest on a small card, and place it in the slit of each pumpkin (the stem will help hold it up). Or instead of cutting slits in the pumpkins, secure each card to the pumpkin with a T-shaped pin.
- Place each place card on a pressed leaf near each place setting.
Fall Harvest Centerpiece
- Scatter colored leaves down the center of your table, and place votive candles in glass containers on leaves.
- Arrange small and miniature pumpkins and gourds (from roadside stands, garden centers or grocery stores) along with whole nuts and fruits, such as apples and kumquats, down the center of your table.
Dazzling Pie Decorations
Decorate the apple pie with colorful apple pastry cutouts.
- Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the pastry dough before rolling out crusts. Roll the reserved dough 1/8 inch thick, and cut with a small apple-shaped cookie cutter.
- Just before baking pie, brush the bottoms of the pastry cutouts with egg white, and place them on the top of the pie. Beat an egg, and divide between 2 small bowls. Add a few drops of red food color to one bowl (for the apples) and green food color to the other bowl (for the stems). Paint the colored egg mixtures on the pastry cutouts with a clean small paintbrush.
Dessert Sampler
- Suggest a sampler of pie (half pieces of each kind) to those guests who can't make up their minds!
- Make dessert a showstopper by serving the pieces pointed in opposite directions atop plates drizzled with caramel sauce. Top the pumpkin pie with a dollop of Vanilla-Cinnamon Cream.