Thursday, October 30, 2014

How to DIY Your Halloween Dessert Table + FREE Printables

Halloween has never been big with my family.  I already wrote about it here how our celebrations are usually limited to DIY costumes whenever the kids are invited to go trick or treating with their friends. But this year, OREO made Halloween special for all the SoMoms and the SoKids!

Since Halloween is really all treats and more treats, it's the perfect holiday for a dessert buffet table! When my fellow SoMom, Mish asked me to collaborate with her by designing graphics for our dessert table, the design lover in me couldn't say no. So for this OREO Halloween Trip & Treats event, I teamed up with the talented home-baker/party-planner/tablescape-stylist Mish Aventajado, and with creative paper-decorator/Paper Chic Studio owner, Cai Sio to create a Halloween dessert table filled with everyone's favorite Spookie Cookie, OREOs.
Here's Mish, Cai and Me posing beside the finished dessert table.  Photo courtesy of Mish Aventajado.

I am still having a serious case of design-crush with the centerpiece I designed. I love how it pops out from the black background, and how it creates a different level of visual interest.


Of course the star of the Halloween dessert table were the OREOs!  Look at what Mish did with them:
So creatively done, di ba? I love baking, but I haven't tried baking this large number of sweets - for a single event. When we were still conceptualizing everything, and I saw her list of things to bake, I already knew she took Halloween very, very seriously.


Here are some more of the scrumptious sweets and treats:
Photo courtesy of Michelle Lim

Mish also made sure there were lootbags for all the kids to bring home!
This lootbag topper I got here.


How cute are these mummy milk bottles made by Cai!!! She made sure the color of the paper straws match with the theme, too!
Photo courtesy of Michelle Lim

Custom-made BOO! sign made by Cai entirely out of OREOs.
Photo courtesy of Michelle Lim


Didi of Candishhh Tales also brought Halloweenn-themed sugar cookies from the commissary of her sister-in-law who supplies S&R all the cookies and cakes.
Photo courtesy of Michelle Lim

Here's the SoMoms' resident master party planner, Mish, putting the final touches on the table.


Everyone knows that in a party people always look forward to the dessert table, so here I am sharing with you a few ideas for an easy to do and inexpensive DIY Halloween dessert table:
1. Don’t do it alone. Ask friends and family to help out. This could mean breaking down the tasks like what we did - Mish took care of all the sweets and treats, Cai did the paper buntings and decors, while I designed the graphics used for the dessert table. But let me just stress that "collaborate" is a term I use loosely here because it was really Mish who created the moodboard, designed the table vignette, and baked ALL the sweets! She has the most amazing ideas for the dessert table, and it was really her enthusiasm that rubbed off on everyone else.
2Set a realistic expectation. DIY is really about finding your boundaries, what you can and cannot do. Be prepared to order your sweets if you are not an expert home-baker. You can order cupcakes from your favorite neighborhood bakery and print out some Halloween-themed cupcake toppers to make it all tie-up together. Lucky for you that I am sharing some FREE printables here! You can find them at the end of this post.
3. Decide on theme & colors. We decided to focus on the Halloween colors of chartreuse, orange, purple and black, so all the graphics I designed just used those four colors. Sticking to a color scheme will help make your design look cohesive. Make a mood board to help you keep your ideas together.
4. Make food tent cards. Dessert labels are not only necessary for your guests to distinguish the sweets, it's also a great way to get creative and personalize your dessert table. You can download the custom-designed printables I made to save costs on printers. Just download and print on board paper.
5. Style Your Table.  When you design your table make sure to get creative and use crates, boxes or cake stands to create different levels and areas of interest. Add any decorative item that matches with your theme, or even some custom signs like the witch centerpiece featured below.

The centerpiece is one of the first things people see on the table, so make sure that the desert centerpiece is standing high on the table to make it visually powerful.

Spooky eats and sweet treats? Yes, of course!

FREE PRINTABLES!
Here are some of the Halloween graphics I designed for the SoMoms' Halloween Dessert Table, and I am sharing these printables right here!
{ Download Witch Buffet Centerpiece 11" x 17" }



You can still DIY your own Halloween dessert table! Just download the printables in this post to make your table preparation easier. If you are really pressed for time, nothing bad with ordering ready-made sweets, too!
Photo courtesy of Mish Aventajado.
For extra inspiration, head over to Momma 'N Manila as Mish shares more of how she did the sweets and her inspiration for the tablescape.  Then get the how-to for the paper decor from Cai in her blog, Apples & Dumplings.

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16 comments :

  1. I love love loved everything about putting this themed dessert table together with you, Cai, and Gia. It totally was a collaboration because we did it all together :-) And we know with Oreo...it's always BETTER TOGETHER...Thank you Tina for designing such cute and fun printables to go along with our theme. I had so much fun putting this all together.

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    1. Collaborations are so much fun, and I find that working with creative individuals always pushes me to strive and work much harder! Thank you also for this opportunity to share my love for design!

      Till the next one!:)

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  2. We were all blown away by the final product -- from table to decor to the food! Well done, ladies!

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    1. Thank you, Michelle! Next time, come on board! You the expert party planner kaya!:) Let's go mag partner na tayo sa baking project natin this December.:)

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  3. OMG. I die. Hindi ko kay. But kudos to you ladies for doing an amazing job!

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    1. Thank you, Rowena! Team work talaga, kundi di kaya!:) It was worth all the effort when we saw the final outcome of the dessert buffet and how everyone appreciated it.:)

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  4. I love your DIY decorations.It is so cute and not scary. :) DIY din ba yung cake stands?

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  5. Amazing! Very creative! Ang cute pa ng mummy milk bottles! Ah basta lahat ang ganda! Kudos to all of you! You did a good job!

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  6. Congratulations for a job well done Phenomenal Mama! Everything was cute! I hope I can be as creative as you are.

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  7. Tina! I've been trying to comment on this post but I keep getting distracted by your other posts and SoMoms. It's my first time to hear/read about it and you guys look like you have so much fun! Hindi ko na aambisyuning maging SoMom sa ngayon. My blog is literally months old :p Hehe...anyway, you guys are so creative :) Thanks for sharing your ideas and the printables!

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  8. You all did such an amazing job. I'm sure all the kids and kids-at-heart were blown away. I wish I can be as creative as you ladies. :)

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  9. Yay! Everything is awesome! I want to do this next year. Thanks for sharing, you're so talented :)

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  10. Did you manually cut the intricate frame? Amazing!!! :-) Thanks for sharing cool tips, Tina! :-)

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  11. Wooow! Ang gandaaaaaa... Sana I have the creativity to do things like this. :)

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  12. Everything looks super cute and yummy! Thanks for sharing these awesome tips. :)

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  13. Ore push pops are sooo FANTASTIC! Where to buy those?

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