Hosting a Fall Crawl

A couple of years ago, we got several neighbors together for a fall crawl. What is that you may ask? A progressive dinner done in the fall with a fun name! Of course, you could fashion this however you want. It could be a Fall Crawl just for different signature drinks and nibbles at each house, or a wine and cheese pairing at each house. We chose the progressive dinner idea. On our couple blocks, there were probably 10 to 12 homes. We chose 3 of the houses to host everyone. The first stop was appetizers, second stop was main course and third stop was dessert. All hosts had wine and drinks. You could ask everyone to contribute different food items to each host or have each guest bring a bottle of wine.

I hosted the main course with was soup - one of my family recipes of Pasta Fagiolo - pronounced "Fazool." It is a hearty Italian soup made with sausage, pancetta, and beans. Silly me only took a picture of the sign and not the soup!

Here is the sign again sitting next to a soup tureen which was purchased for $3 at a thrift store. I so enjoy doing the pretty of events. Give me a choice to cook or make pretty and I will make pretty every time!

pomegranates, sunflowers, and mini pumpkins make this festively fall...

Here is another pretty play for a candle display. Green beans to me symbolize bounty or harvest which ties into the fall theme. The orange ribbon dresses it up a bit.

Along with the hearty soup were these rolls that are made to look like pumpkins. The dough is not made from scratch. Rhodes frozen rolls did the heavy lifting. After they are baked, brushing them with butter makes them not only shine and but taste delish. The stems are little pieces of pecan.

I saw this idea on Pinterest somewhere to make a bouquet out of napkins. The middle is made of rolled sunflower napkins and the outside ones are plain green which gives the feel of leaves. There is a drawback to this though...guests did not realize they were the napkins!

Welcome to the signature drink station! Pour yourself a salted caramel bubbly and don't forget to enjoy those yummy garnishes. I particulary love the decanter "lid" of a Granny Smith apple with a chalkboard tag clipped onto the stem with a mini clothespin. Doesn't get much cuter! I also thought the caramel apple garnishes screamed fall. I also took into consideration the color of the drink - I like this nice amber color. Blue and purple would be a no no and totally wreck the vibe!

I hope you feel inspired to host your own Fall Crawl and make it your own. It was great fun and a great way to not burden any one person with all hosting. Lets be honest, we all want to see the inside of our neighbors homes, what projects they have done, what colors they have painted and this is a perfect opportunity to enjoy that neighborly camaraderie!

Happy brisk air, sweater wearing, Starbucks pumpkin latte sipping, apple picking, crackling fire listening Fall!

Here is our fall crawl neighborhood and our fall crawl home...