Spooktacular

Our Halloween party was fun and I think everyone had a good time. Everyone came dressed in costume, even the parents, and we had a nice potluck dinner together before heading out to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. A wore her genie outfit from last year and E put on a princess nightgown and slippers and declared herself "princess and the pea". I threw together a gypsy outfit and C wore his orange hunting cap, plaid flannel shirt and combat boots and called himself a hunter. We had witches, a vampire, a bunny, a geisha, the devil, Medusa, a shark, a Ninja, Buzz Lightyear, and others I forget right now. The haunted house got it's finishing touches to great effect. We had the Grim Reaper, spiders and webs, flying bats, and a mummy at his dinner table, digging in to Roast Brain, bones, guts, witches fingers and black blood wine . Spooky music and sound effects played in the background. The Phantom of the Opera was sung to with the karaoke machine. The kids had a great time running from house to house, getting all the goodies. When we got back to the house, they played and sorted and shared the candy. Everyone stayed till about 9 pm and when they left, A and E declared it the best Halloween ever!

The only thing I would change for next year is to not do the haunted house, just use all the parts of it for decorations. At least until the kids get old enough to do it themselves. It was a lot of work for me, which I don't mind, but I did spend a lot of time putting the girls off until after the Halloween party, so I could do it all. I am trying to simplify so I don't have to do that very much. C was a great help, getting the kids out for the day, so I could finish up everything, and biting his tongue instead of discouraging me and my plans.