i'm pretty sure that the last time i carved a pumpkin, i had a lisp, a bowl cut, and probably handi-snack cheese all over my face. i also wasn't old enough to use a knife, so by "the last time i carved a pumpkin," i mean, "the last time i was in the presence of someone carving a pumpkin for me."

obviously i have celebrated pumpkin many many many times recently, i even threw a b.y.o. pumpkin party with my roomies in brooklyn, but carving a pumpkin is not something that really crossed my mind until i found these pumpkin terrariums.

i mean, tell me that is not the coolest thing ever. (well, don't. because if you do, i'll throw pumpkin guts at you.) it's fun, it's a way to use up the last of this season's wildflowers, and a reason to buy more succulents. also the whole white pumpkin thing conquers my dislike for the color orange because somehow i've become an orange-aphobe.

so i gathered up the troops, bought some cute little pie pumpkins, and picked flowers, herbs, and chamomile from my garden. we used nail polish to paint little designs, leftover house paint for the white part, and some of my friends even made little flower crowns. adorbs, i tell you. adorbs.

here was our menu:

for pre-carving noshing // a ton of little bites including baked ricotta, focaccia, prosciutto, grapes, nuts, brie, spicy honey, babka, and pigs in blankets (!!!!)

for sipping // kendall-jackson vintner's reserve cabernet sauvignon

for post-carving noshing // curry spiced toasted pumpkin seeds!!!