Halloween 2012

I started to write a Halloween post and it was too jumbled. So I'm re-writing it and breaking it down into sections.

COSTUMES
I started asking the boys about costumes back in July or August. Being that I'm not crazy about store-bought costumes, I figured I should start planning in case they picked something complicated. The first time I asked what he wanted to be, Owen replied "A pumpkin." He said that Logan wanted to be a pumpkin too. And his answer never changed. I was hoping he'd want to be something fun and unique, but no. Chris and I chose to not steer him in another direction. This was the first year that he would be choosing his own costume, and we didn't feel okay talking him out of it.

My mom volunteered to sew their costumes. And she did such a nice job that suddenly I wasn't so upset at the pumpkin idea after all because the costumes were cute. Owen even chose the expressions (he wanted his to look surprised and Logan's to look silly). I cut the pieces from heat-transfer vinyl and ironed them on.

So thank you for the costumes, Mom. The boys loved them and received so many compliments. And they were the only pumpkins that we saw that night :)

DECOR
A lot of people in our neighborhood go all out for Halloween, including us. I go with a "haunted mansion" type of theme. We put scene-setter sheets up on the porch, lots of black netting, lots of orange and purple lighting, fog, sound effects, graveyard, ghosts and goblins.

It's a lot of fun putting it together. One neighbor (a cop) created a crime scene at his house, complete with his patrol car's strobes aimed at the house and lots of crime tape. Another neighbor had horror movie soundtracks playing and was jumping out at people. Our neighborhood decor is awesome!

Here's part of our graveyard:

TRICK-OR-TREATING
We're in a somewhat rural area, so our neighborhood is a popular place for families to bring their kids. We have street lights and sidewalks so it's a nice, safe spot for trick-or-treating. It's totally insane.. there are literally hundreds of people walking around our otherwise-quiet little neighborhood. It's a lot of fun to be out amongst the crowd.

Owen's a seasoned trick-or-treater of course, but this year was Logan's first time really understanding it. In the days leading up to the 31st, we practiced saying "trick-or-treat" and reminded the boys to say "thank you". Logan was a little shy at the first couple of houses (doesn't help that one of our neighbors answered the door in a freaky mask) but he warmed up. Actually, he became quite aggressive with the doorbell ringing. He'd elbow his way up to the doorbell and if someone didn't answer immediately, he'd start knocking and ring the doorbell again. It was so funny!

We went up and down a few streets until the boys' baskets were too heavy. We stopped by the house to empty them. Chris had to leave for work so I took the boys out to finish up on our street. They were exhausted at the end of the night!

THE HOUSE
My mom came up to help hand out candy while we took the boys out. She knows that Chris and I like to experience these things together with our kids, so she's always willing to come help with the candy. She lives on a dead-end street with hardly any trick-or-treaters, so our house is a little bit of a change for her. We ended up with roughly 250 kids this year. Last year we ran out of candy at 150. Glad I was better prepared for this year.

CONCLUSION
Another fantastic Halloween season! The decorations have been put away and we're starting to think about Christmas. Yes, in the first week of November. I'm getting started early this year because this month and next are going to be busy!