Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Hocus Pocus ~ It's Halloween


Hello, my little lovelies. 
 Glad you've stopped by for a visit.
We have a recent dinner party to share.

The dinner was for a group of girlfriends 
who have been getting together for over 30 years.

Each place was set with a stack of fall favorites.
~ Courtly Check, by MacKenzie-Childs ~ 
~ Wexford Orange Plaid, by 222 Fifth ~ 
~ Country Estate Autumnal Traditions, by Juliska ~

Plaid napkins in the colors of autumn 
were purchased at World Market twenty years ago.
The unusual napkin rings were found on my fall trip to France?
Each of these are sterling antique baby teething rings.
All but one was purchased from a variety of venders
at the Chatou Antique Market just outside of Paris.



This is the one that prompted my new collection.
You all know I have an affection for bees and bee related items.
Can you see that this is a bee hive with bees buzzing about?

I knew I had my own baby teething rattle tucked away at home.
All I would need to do was polish it, and I'd have two to use
as napkin rings, one for "my chef" and one for me.
You can see my 1940s' version, on the left, 
has a flat ring with a belt motif clasp. 
The French pieces, date from late 1800s, 
are more ornate, and often have clasps that 
attach directly to an ivory or bone tubular ring.
Once I began to notice more at various dealer's booths, 
my new obsession / collection was spawned!
Small and easy to pack, they were a perfect souvenir to bring home.
What do you think?  Would you use these as napkin rings?
Did you have one of these when you were a baby?

By the time everyone arrived the table was 
filled with party favors for each to take home.

 The mug filled with old fashioned candies like those from
our youthful Halloween days was a favorite.

An appetizer of trout spread served on sweet potato crackers
and lively conversation was enjoyed in the sunroom before dinner.

 Dinner was individual crustless chicken quiche
served with a side salad and roasted tomatoes.

 ~ Dessert was a visit to the buffet ~
Courtly Check, vintage style paper maché 
Halloween containers, and lots of sweets.

~ Skelton Gingerbread Men with Ice Cream ~

~ Halloween Candy Treats ~

~ Chocolates from Paris ~

It was indeed a sweet evening 
spent with treasured friends.

Wishing each of you a Happy Halloween
filled with all your favorite treats. 

Joining
Sarah
Sarah

The summer we married, my husband was in graduate school, and I was employed as a teacher. We took a portion of our savings that summer and purchased a sailboat. We christened our Catalina 22, “Hyacinths For The Soul” after Saadi’s poem. Our "Hyacinths" provided years of pleasure.

32 comments:

  1. Sarah, Your use of the antique baby teething rings is brilliant...what a wonderful memento from your trip and fun collection! I love your wonderful plate stack with the Courtly Check, plaid and Juliska. Your Jack O'Lantern treat mugs must have put a smile on everyone's face! Dinner looks delicious and I love the crackers served in your witch's shoe. Your buffet of sweets makes me want to start a collection of paper maché Halloween containers. Happy Halloween to you, Sade and the Chef. ♥

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  2. It all looks great Sarah. Happy Halloween!!!!

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  3. Bonjour chère amie,

    Une superbe table à l'occasion de la fête d'Halloween !... Des petits biscuits qui riment bien !
    Gros bisous

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  4. Loved all your decoration are so cute
    Happy Halloween!!!!!
    Isora

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  5. What a find! You are so good at finding treasures:)How festive everything is!

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  6. What a pretty setting for a party! The baby teething rings as napkin rings are genius. I love them!

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  7. What an amazing collection of teething rings Sarah - I've never seen any such as these, they are just beautiful and make perfect serviette rings. Your party favors are delightful - know your friends went home happy. The skeleton gingerbread men are definitely 'to die for' - sorry couldn't resist that!
    As for your table - people must be fighting to come eat at your house! I love the witch's shoe holding crackers.
    Enjoy Halloween, and yes, thankfully Blogger/Google seems a bit more friendly today.

    Hugs - don't eat too much candy!
    Mary -

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  8. What a unique and special collection of something I have never seen (they certainly wouldn't be a safe thing for a baby nowadays!!) Your dinner party looks like it was an amazing evening, that is one of my favorite meals!! And I would have loved to take a trip to your dessert buffet! Happy Halloween!

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  9. What a charming table. I love the teething rings and have never seen them before. What a great collection and so cute as napkin rings!

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  10. Love your tables and what a fun idea to use baby teething rings for napkin rings. You have a beautiful set of them. Happy Halloween to you! Hope you only get treats and no tricks!

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  11. All I can say Sarah is your guests are pretty darn lucky! Your table is magazine worthy! I love every sweet detail especially the darling antique teething rings! So precious. Hope you and Monny are having a wonderful Halloween!xx

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  12. Hi Sarah, I love your latest idea for collecting. The baby teething rings are a great idea not to mention easily packed for bringing home. I’m sure you guests were pleased with all the fun Halloween vignettes and pretty sideboard. Love the table settings and especially the stack. What a fun theme for your dinner party with girl friends.
    Hugs sweet friend, found a sweet card in the mail yesterday........

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  13. Charming treasure Sarah. Yes, they make a darling napkin ring. You went all out with this Hocus Pocus. The table is filled with cute accessories and those chocolates from Paris is ooh la la!

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  14. Sarah, you certainly do up a great party. Your dishes, napkins and all the sweet treats are just perfect and those baby teeth napkin rings are wonderful. I didn't even know there was such a thing as those pretty little places to keep baby teeth. I'm sure all of mine got thrown away..Hope you had a Happy Halloween..Judy

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  15. Sarah! How I LOVE your teething rings as napkin rings - brilliant! I did not have one but yes, I have seen some beautiful ones, and what better souvenir for you from your trip - small and totable. Love them. Your entire feast is a feast not just for the belly but for the eyes. I know your friends had to be oohing and ahhing over it all. Sublime.

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  16. Dearest Sarah,
    Lovely post and no doubt this has been a feast for the eye and was equally delicious as your Chef is great at that.
    Those French rattles are lovely, looking similar to the silver French teething ring I have with an angel inside.
    Sending you hugs,
    Mariette

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  17. Ooh I love this dish mix! I have a similar fall colored plaid pattern but hadn’t imagined it mixed with the courtly checked pattern. The Juliska piece topping them couldn’t be more perfect! Love those teething rings from France- how elegant!!
    I am glad you dropped that google+ option. Many times I’ve not been able to leave a message because of that with various bloggers.

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  18. Sarah, Teething rings --- who knew??!!! How clever! Lovely Halloween tablescape and what fun to have girlfriends who get together -- 30 years -- wonderful! Love the skeleton gingerbread men. Very clever.

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  19. Sarah, I thought of you when I was in London and saw the most marvelous Mackenzie display for the holidays (Christmas, that is!). I'll be doing a post on it when we get closer to the season! This table is adorable!

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  20. OH Sarah I want to be on your guest list!! Everything looks so fabulous and fun! All your MKC pretties and wonderful folk are pieces dance together to provide such a wonderful atmosphere for your dinner party! I hope you'll share that crustless chicken quiche recipe, sounds divine!
    Jenna

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  21. What a charming tablescape, Sarah. Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm! Pinned!

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  22. Your table setting looked fabulous and I just love your napkin rings! So colourful Halloween decorations you had. Happy MM.

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  23. The teething/napkin rings are super, I've never seen any at the fleas I go to but I'll be on the lookout from now on. Gorgeous Halloween dinner and table setting, so stylish & so very you.

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  24. Wow! What a wonderful party. And I love your napkin rings. I have never seen teething rings like those. :) Kit

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  25. Sarah - your post is a sweet confection for MM this week - thank you! This style of teething ring is new to me; I am pretty sure that my teething ring was a plastic ring filled with water that could be frozen … I strongly prefer your style for a napkin ring!!! This is one of the many aspects of MM that I love - you learn so much about what people choose to collect. And now I am going to see if I can find some of those skeleton gingerbread men!!!

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  26. I love the baby teethers used as napkin rings. Adorable.

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  27. What a brilliant idea to use the baby teething rings for your napkins. That's recycling in a very fine way. Your table looks lovely and the menu sounds delicious.

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  28. So much fun! I always get a message saying my comments are blocked - every time I post a comment, and Linda couldn't figure it out, so tell me if you get my comment.
    Everything looks so fun and festive. It happens too fast and then Thanksgiving is here in a blink and the Christmas - ahhhhhh! Give me a panic attack!

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  29. I love those baby teething rings. They are so lovely. Please stop by Over The Moon Party since you are being featured.
    https://eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com/2018/11/over-moon-linky-party_11.html
    Hugs,
    Bev

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  30. Oh my goodness, antique sterling baby teething rings!!! I just love seeing new purposes for beautiful things. I'm sure you had a lovely time with your friends!
    Karee

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  31. The colors and decor of your table are sensational, and the silver napkin rings are pretty, and nice to hear their history, where purchased etc.

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  32. This is beyond cute. You made everything sooooo festive - just adore this post!!!!

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