Happy Halloween everyone and boy was it ever this year! For the last month and a half or so it has been all Halloween, all the time for us around here and though it has been a wild ride, we are not sorry to see it go! In a word we are both exhausted and looking forward to the shift that this lovely season provides as we all begin that magickal slow down towards winters stillness.
I decided early on, to take on the Annual Halloween Bash at Raine's school this year and have been planning, shopping, emailing, talking, baking, flyer producing, and setting up for what seems like forever! It went pretty well, with about 250 people showing up that night. The kids all dressed in costumes got to trick or treat to each classroom door and them report to the gym/cafeteria for games, contests and prizes. They all seemed to have a blast and I will definitely be doing this again next year with just a few modifications. One of the main events this year was a giant indoor leaf pit (awesome right?). It was supposed to be set up on a 12x25 ft heavy duty tarp that covered gym mats and be surrounded by hay bails and decor to "keep" the leaves in. Well, we ran into a huge problem while setting up the night before, when we were informed last minute (grrr), that there was a kid in the school with a severe hay allergy and that the hay had to go! Now I would not have minded this so very much if I had not sent out several flyers, and preapproved it through the principal several times during the weeks prior! An allergy however is still an allergy, so we scrambled to call the hay man back to pick them all up pronto and then proceeded to sweep, vacuum, and mop every hay dust particle from the place late into the evening. The day of we ended up just piling the leaves into a corner of the gym and letting the kids go wild. Yes, there were leaves everywhere and it was quite a cleanup, but the kids a blast and that's all that matters.
Another idea I was crazy excited about was my harvest bowling alley! I lined three lanes with cornstalks, used festive colored 2 liter soda bottles for pins, and had a harvest basket filled with pumpkins and gourds at the start of each lane for the kids to bowl with. It came together great and looked fantastic! The kids loved it and seemed to be having a ball, as a side note though, I think we will switch out the real pumpkins and gourds next year for fake ones because they started to break apart midway through. Gym balls were brought in as a back up to save the day and the kids played well into the night.
A few of the other things we offered that night were...
Mummy Wrap
1.Pin the nose on the Pumpkin (middle)
2.Helium Balloon Ghosts, Goblins, and Jack o Lanterns (right), the kids got to pick the color balloon they wanted and then sit down on the floor with it between their legs and use a sharpie to draw a spooky face on it. This was neat because not only was it an activity, but they got to take their balloons home at the end of the night.
3. Professional Face Painting (left), we have a lovely teacher at the school that volunteers to do this for certain events. She is also a professional clown.
4. Cake Walk (Will do a separate post for this!)
5. Witches Brew (Above). We filled this giant cauldron with apple cider and a little green food coloring and dropped in 25lbs of dry ice. The kids faces at a smoking punch were absolutely priceless! Action shots to follow at a later time.
(My lovely little bride of Frankenstein)
Fun and festive music and a costume contest rounded out the night and after an impressive clean up by all we were off to fall happy and exhausted into our beds!
