Halloween round-up

The week of Halloween is normally one of the busiest of the year for me. I feel like I've just jumped a huge hurdle, and I welcome November with open arms. There is simply too much to say about my past week, so I'll try to summarize and thus spare you the details that would run on too long, much like this sentence.

We had so much fun with our costumes this year. I never buy costumes new- it's so expensive. I also like the creative element in hunting out costume pieces in thrift stores. Sarah chose to be a beautiful witch, and she loved the face painting pattern we did on her. Her favorite part of the costume was the sparkly black tights. Very cute.

Matthew chose to be a vampire, and he LOVED the red-lined cape. His favorite part were the vampire teeth, and indispensable part of the attire.

Daniel asked me for a bed sheet with eye holes cut into it. He was so sweet and  particular in wanting the bedsheet ghost outfit, but I thought he'd get frustrated when the eye-holes moved. I found a great ghost costume that he really loved. The little tendrils would trail on the ground behind him, adding to the ethereal look.

I finally had the chance to wear the ball gown that has been haunting my closet for months. It was really fun. I wore a gold necklace pinned to my head in place of a crown. It was so fun to stroll around arm-in-arm with Nathan. We had several people ask for pictures- even little girls wanting a shot with Beauty and the Beast. It was really fun.

It is a tradition for our family to eat out at a restaurant after attending his work Halloween party. We love Tex-Mex food, so we went to Chuy's (if you ever visit this area, you simply must try out this restaurant, particularly the Chuychanga!). It is so fun to be dressed up in public. More people asked for pictures at the restaurant, and Nathan obliged.

The next day was our ward party. (A ward is what we call a congregation in our church.) I was on the Activities Committee, so I took the children up to the church early to help set up for the party. The children were in heaven- the bouncy house obstacle course was already set up when we arrived, so they played on it all by themselves for 2 hours while the adults decorated and set up tables. It was the perfect setup- I had been worried that they would be bored.

Unfortunately I don't have pics from the ward party since I couldn't find my camera. There were several carnival games with prizes. The tick-or-treat doors game I made was pretty popular for the tiny children that were too young for the other games. Nathan wired up sound effects for each doorbell. The monster mansion had rattling chains, creaking doors, monster moans, and ghost wailing. The witches house had bubbling cauldrons, screeching cats, and a cackling witch laugh. The Pumpkin Fairy's home had chimed doorbells and magical wand sounds. The graveyard had owls hooting, ravens calling, wolf howls, and wind whistling through the trees. It was so much fun!

I had been a bit stressed before the party since I had been sick earlier in the week and didn't get everything prepared that I was supposed to. We were in charge of baking prizes for the chili cook-off and pumpkin carving contest- but we ran out of flour. I couldn't make pumpkin bread, and didn't have time to let a pumpkin pie set before the party, so in desperation I pulled out a couple loaves of homemade bread from our freezer. (We make 4 loaves of bread twice a week. I freeze them until we are ready to use them, since they don't have any preservatives.) I wrapped them and topped them with bows of raffia. I was surprised that the winners were excited about the bread. I had thought they might be disappointed. I was very flattered that they were so enthusiastic about taking home Kingsley Bread.

The trunk-or-treat was so much fun for the children. I was so glad they had the chance to trick-or-treat. We didn't go trick-or-treating this year on Halloween since it fell on a Sunday. Instead we had a festive dinner with fun foods. We had a family join us and we made bean dip with spider webs piped on top with sour cream, cheese fondue with bread and veggies for dipping, and pizzas dressed like little mummies. The drink was really fun- it was like swamp slime with fish eggs in the bottom. The eggs were tapioca pearls that had been boiled with food coloring. They looked exactly like caviar. It was really fun to eat it! Our friends made Jello blood worms, which were a big hit.

On Saturday I had worked most of the day painting for a private party hosted by a mulit-millionaire. It was my first time in such a house. This was the biggest party I've ever seen- a full size carnival for the guests. There were bungee-jumping, rockclimbing, giant hamster balls to run in, laser tag, giant video games, bouncy houses, and a full collection of a dozen real carnival games with prizes. The catering was amazing, and it was fun to have my car parked by the valet. Can I just say that the costumes were out of this world? There is too much to share all my impressions of this party. I had prepared myself for spoiled kids with a huge sense of entitlement, but I was delightfully surprised. All the children were very courteous and well-spoken. It was actually the best gig I have ever worked. There weren't lines, so I was able to take the time to make the patterns amazing. A lot of adult women wanted to be painted- and those are always my very favorite clients. It was SO fun, and I hope I will be called back again next year. There was only one drawback- I couldn't hand out any of my personal business cards, since this booking was procured through my agent. I could only hand out his card. What a bummer. There were so many people asking for my information at this gig- and they would be fantastic clients. Ah well.