Trunk or Treat

It's trick-or-treating, only you decorate your trunk and bring the party to one single location. The girl's school has done this the last few years and they've had a blast. Here's what we came up with this year.


By the numbers:
1 Raven
1 Strobe Light
2 Rats
2 Jack-O-Lanterns
3 Halloween costumes
12 Floating Eyeballs in a jar
60 Creepy Peepers Mix candy
102 Fruit Roll Ups (minus the 1/2 dozen Moe ate the other morning)
210 Assorted Hershey Candy (minus what Moe ate the other morning - I found her with a pair of scissors and the trunk or treat loot on the floor of the mudroom. Empty wrappers discarded)

One party, one school party, two nights of boo-ing and trunk or treat down. Two school parties and trick or treating to go. Oh and I learned my lesson. I'm pretty sure the candy is all put away where Moe cannot reach it.

Carving pumpkins the old fashioned way

Today we carved pumpkins. I took the old fashioned way of using a knife to cut faces and fingers to scoop the guts out. I even let the girls draw their faces as opposed to using a pre-made template. Husband on the other hand, while free handing his pumpkin, took the man's way of carving. He pulled out his dremel tool and attachments and proceeded to buzz away at his creation. He's such a show-off :P Can you guess which one Husband did?

Halloween not so long ago

And since I posted about Halloween from my childhood, I thought I'd post about the girl's Halloween's to date.

2002

It was just Einey this year. We made her a costume of a monkey - which turned out more like a mouse. Husband wanted to add a vest and a fez and an organ grinder.

Einey had her first trip to McDonald's this night.

2003

Here is Einey and Meenie. We wanted matching costumes, so I made the ladybug bug sewing spots on a red dress and adding wings from Old Navy. The sunflower costume was made from a snowsuit, felt and lots of hot glue.

2004


Here's is Einey, Meenie and one month old Moe. Since I was very pregnant and not at all in the mood to make costumes this year, we let the girls pick. They chose a dog and a cat costume. I did make them the cute collars they are wearing with colored ribbon and little tags. The tags had their names on one side and phone number on the other side. So naturally, I made Moe a mouse. We used gray sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt then pinned felt ears and a rope tail. She was so cute!


2005


This year, the girls balked at matching costumes. We made Einey's cowboy costume. Meenie wanted to be Jo-Jo so we brought her a costume. And somehow, Moe was a cave baby. I made this costume as well (which I still love) without a pattern. The fuzzy warm material was a pain though. Husband was a pirate and I threw on an old prom dress as a princess for a Halloween party.

2006


Back to matching costumes. My MIL (she's great!) made the girls these matching princess costumes. They are one of few items that are not in the general dress up area. Husband was a knight and I was a queen. We dressed up to go trick-or-treating and for Mystic Aquarium's Sea Scare. Coincidentally, the family we trick or treated with for a few years, their children were a princess, a king and a frog.

2007

Hodge Podge again. Einey went as a witch. We found this awesome witches hat (another item not for general destruction - it's hanging on the playroom wall well out of reach) and then found a great fairy costume to go with it. Meenie was Dorothy for the sole purpose of getting the much converted ruby red slippers. And Moe was a pirate princess. It took forever for her to choose a costume.

2008


This year, the girls picked their costumes. Einey is a ninja. And instead of the little face mask, she insisted on the full ninja mask (not pictures). Meenie is a geisha girl, otherwise known as queen of the ninjas. We tried to get Moe to go as something similar but it was a no go. It took her forever again to choose a costume - she wanted to be a Disney Princess. We finally found the costume she wanted - a gold (non-Disney) princess costume which she proudly calls her Belle dress.

Halloween's long ago

Gearing up for Halloween this year brought back a flood of memories from Halloween's of long ago (okay not really long in the grand scheme of things, but still 20+ years). I remember many of my Halloween costume's growing up being handmade, or thrown together from items we found. It was always fun to create our own costumes. While I don't always make costumes anymore, we do try to make them every other year or so for the girls. I also remember trick-or-treating being a grand occasion - where I would go with my siblings and nieces and nephews and sometimes friends. It was always a blast. We'd set out in a neighborhood area with pillow cases in hand. By the end of the evening, those pillowcases would be full. We'd even get handmade items - cookies, popcorn balls and from one house, at least one year ice cream cones.

But here are some memories that really stick out.

• When I was around 4, I remember getting sick and throwing up in my aunt's neighbor's driveway. We were in the back of a truck filled with hay.
• When I was around 6, I remember walking up to a door with my niece. She opened the screen door, and it opened opposite of what most doors do, resulting in me falling off the step and hitting my head on a Virgin Mary statue.
• In second grade, I remember sleeping over my best friend E's house. We carved pumpkins that night (it was a few days before Halloween) and I remember roasting the pumpkin seeds. It was the first time I had roasted pumpkin seeds.
• In fourth or fifth grade, I remember as the year I worked on a pumpkin farm. Okay, so maybe it was only one day and I wasn't paid but in anything except a pumpkin and some squash and gourds. And while there was quite a bit of pumpkin picking from the fields, there was also quite a bit of debauchery mixed in as well.
• When I was 16, I remember sitting in the back of my brother's truck with not-yet-Husband and a goat. Yes a goat. Not-yet-Husband and I were holding the goat that we were transporting from my aunt's house to my brother's friends frat house for a Halloween party.
  

What are your memories from Halloween from your childhood?

I can't find any embarrassing pictures from my childhood Halloween's, so if I can find time Tuesday, I'm going to try and make a trip home to search through picture's at my mom's house. Be sure to check back and see what I can find. Also, I've got a whole slew of Halloween related posts ready for the week, so check back each day!

A tad chilly...

This is what one of the million 19 pumpkins from Halloween looked like yesterday:

I'm not sure why they are still hanging around outside, but I think it's time to pluck them and add them to the compost pile. I did finally pull the Mums (and while I was going to add them to the compost heap, I noticed that despite lack of water for over a month and freezing temps, they had new growth, so I trimmed them back and they are currently residing in the basement). I did finally get some poinsettia's for outside.

After Halloween Wrap-Up.....

Here are a few things I learned this year:

1) It's nice to be able to see the kids while trick-or-treating. This delayed time change made that possible.

2) Never give a little pirate a sword. Even a foam sword. They will use it to hit their siblings, other kdis and little furry animals.

3) When traveling in a group (7 kids and 4 adults) never expect the bigger kids to wait for the younger one's. They know whats going on and the faster you get them done, the more houses you can hit.

4) Never buy your 6 year old daughter a 3 foot long wig. It will not stay on her head and end up being carried half the time.

5) Teach your kids to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" not "Trick or Treat, small my feet."

6) Let them know that Halloween is the only time it's acceptable to see bloodied body parts all over someone's lawn.

7) Never leave the temp. tattoos out overnight. You will wake up with kids who have tattooed their faces AND water all over your floor.

8) Teach them to disregard that the other 364 days of the year, they are not allowed to talk to strangers, let alone take candy from them or ring their doorbells.

9) Never leave the candy down. You will wake up to kids who have fed themselves breakfast already.

Above all, have fun and get candy.

Spooktacular Jack O'Lanterns

Here are the picture's of the Jack O' Lantern's I promised.

Togepi

Manaphy (front and side)

Jack Skellington
(as Einey just informed me, "but Mom, it's not Jack Skeleton, it's Skellington". And here I just thought they were having a hard time pronouncing Skeleton.)

Zero

Pre - Halloween

Growing up, I remember Halloween being a one night affair.

This year, we started with a Halloween Party thrown by my father-in-law's work. There was a haunted house, pumpkin painting (because we now have a patch of 9 painted pumpkins - one more due on Wednesday - and three carved) and snacks. Tonight, we attended their school's Halloween party. It started with pumpkin painting and make out own treat bags. Then we listened to the principal read a story and the kids paraded around the gym. And then, then it was time for the fun.

The fun being the trunk or treat. Trunk of treat was a new experience for us, although I had heard of it in the past. About 25 parents decorated the back of their car/truck/vans and lined them in two rows. The kids then proceeded to trick or treat at each vehicle. The kids had a blast - seeing that it was all their friends and it was safe since there were no moving vehicles to worry about. Oh and since we haven't had the time change yet, it was still light out. Moe, oh Moe got it all figured out. She realized once we were done and standing around the back of the van, she could walk up to the vehicles next to ours and get more candy. And then the next one and the next one, until we realized what she was doing and brought her back. But then, once we weren't paying attention, she could do it again. Didn't she do this last year? Maybe it's because she has yet to develop a conscience?

Tomorrow night we have a night off and then Wednesday is the big day. It includes two - yes TWO - separate school Halloween parties with trick or treating through the classrooms (because they didn't get enough candy already) and then the real deal at night.

The candy, oh the candy. I have enough candy to give an army cavities. I even went through and tossed ALL the candy in their candy box (stuff sitting in there from Christmas and beyond) to make way for new candy. The box is now already filled without the big night complete. And this box is anything but small. The good thing is, it all gets combined before they can lay claim to certain types of candy. Now I am just sure I'll hear "can I have candy" a million times a day.

And if that wasn't enough, we got Spooked tonight. Spooked is when a friend leaves a bag of candy on your doorstep, rings the bell and then runs. I'm pretty sure I know who it is but now have to find time to "spook" three other people. It should be easy enough with the mountain of candy we got!

Oh and the pumpkins, I have to say, Husband managed to pull off the Pokemon pumpkins the girls asked for. Pictures tomorrow as I am too tired to post them tonight.