Halloween Party 2008

Every year I throw the kids a little Halloween Party at our house. It's not a huge deal, they each invite 2 or 3 friends, and it's only for a few hours. I love planning it and decorating for it, and the kids get SOOO excited for it too. I never let anyone see the decorations or anything else until after school when the party starts, so they are always suprised!! Last year, we lived in a small house, and looking back now, I'm not really sure how I did it. But this year was different and so much better. The kids had a great time and this year I remembered to take pictures as well (I usually forget..)

So, the kids came in and saw the Halloween house all blown up, the "Caution- Enter if you Dare" tape, and "Halloween Party in Progress" sign. Fred had also taped over the house number, so all it said was '13'

You can't really see much of it, but you get the idea! The next thing they saw when they came in was the spider web that had their goody bags attached- they needed to follow the string to their bag. Normally I'd wait until the end of a party to give out goody bags, but it was very annoying with kids running through the living room with a spider web everywhere!!! So, we did that first..

Can you see Bella with some sort of yellow stick in her hand? Her feet are a blur because she was in full-on frenzy mode trying to figure out how to get through the safety gate and ruin the spider's web- which she eventually did. This was after she had repeatedly emptied ALL of the goody bags I had just filled!

Next was the best part.. we dyed the pool red to look like blood. At first I was nervous because I was afraid it would stain the pool red forever- but after a day it was clear again, and no harm was done- it was so worth it!

Of course all of the kids wanted to go swimming, but I said no only because I was so afraid I would be sending them home from the party with a completely different skin tone than they had when they arrived.

Next they did the standard 'Donut on a String' eating contest... which is always entertaining to watch. Will won but we're pretty sure he cheated.
Please click on this picture just so you can see Will's face... this is what I live with every day. It's like living with a caffeine-crazed monkey.

Then came my FAVORITE part.. having the kids put their hands into buckets of gross things. They all get really freaked out about it, but since this was the 4th year of me doing this, I think they were pretty sure they could guess what the gross things really were. I had Trolls Eyes (frozen cranberries), Werewolf Vomit (chocolate pudding with peas in it), Worms and Maggots (chicken noodle soup with dry rice in it), Bat's Wings (warm leaves of Romaine lettuce), Mummified Toes (peanuts in shells), and Witches Fingernails (dry crunched up pasta). I took them by 2's into The Autopsy Room that was only lit up with a black light and 2 blinking skeletons, and closed the door behind them. What they didn't know was that Fred was hiding in the closet, and when I said "Mummified Toes!" he jumped out and scared the crap out of them. Even my own kids had no idea Fred was home- we told them he was in Tampa. So, when I took Will and his friend into the room, Fred jumped out, scared them, and went back in the closet.. I said " Hey, Will- didn't Dad suprise you? You didn't even know he was home!!" And he looked at me dead serious and said "That was Dad?" As if it would be perfectly acceptable to have a complete stranger jump out of a laundry room closet. Oh, Will...

Anyways, the kids loved that part and it went very well. No one could guess what everything was.. Phew! Next we did the pinata, and then the kids played, ate pizza, and went home!

I was ready to die of exhaustion by the time everyone left, but when my awesome friend Tracy came to pick up her daughter, she offered to watch the kids so Fred and I could go out to dinner. She has no idea of how much I appreciated (and needed) a nice relaxing dinner and a few glasses of wine!! Thanks again sooo much Tracy!!
I hope that they kids had a great time and I can't wait to do it again next year!!!