Sunday, October 31, 2010

BOO!

You know, for the longest time I didn't like Halloween.  I hated the focus on the candy and scary stuff and how kids are indulged and that kids closer to college than elementary think it's okay to knock on my door and get free candy.  But my heart of ice must be melting a bit because now I just think it's . . . well, adorable.  I mean it's so fun for kids to dress up, and as long as they have the right perspective and aren't ungrateful, greedy sugar monsters I think we're good.  I'm not a big fan of the skanky outfits (I'm looking at you, moms wearing black spandex with a little white poofy ball on your butt, oh and you 12 year olds in bustiers?  gag me), but there's a certain magic about holidays with kids and there's only a small window before the magic is gone - and I'm on the bandwagon until the magic is gone :-)  

So for the few weeks before Halloween Ellie and I talk about what she wants to dress up as.  As always?  Princess.  Ugh.  For about the fourth year in a row.  I am so done with that costume.  I tried to convince her that dressing up as a box of popcorn would be cute but she wasn't buying what I was selling.  Well it just so happens that Jordyn & El watched the new Karate Kid at our Thursday night Miller Nights and she watched Mulan on Saturday morning.  So she decides she wants to be Mulan Princess.  I agreed since that was at least something different.  While looking for Mulan I found this adorable Ninja Girl costume for $10!!  And Ellie was on board!  I immediately called daddy to let him know how proud of his girl he should be.  We were pleased as punch with this new direction.  

So we're all costumed up and ready to go?  Our first activity was with my SIL Laura; we grabbed the kids after school on Friday to Trick or Treat downtown on Main Street.  It was kind of fun to be together as a community and to see all the little shops I had no idea existed (Hello adorable little yarn/knitting shop and little bakery that carries Reed's Dairy ice cream).  
The next day we had trunk-or-treat at the church.  Primary picked up the activity just to advertise and organize it, and we were instructed to keep it simple.  No problem here :-)  We were done in 30 minutes!  We called up Jon & Laura to see if we could go ToT with them, and they were on their way to their Trunk or Treat, so we just met them there.
There were several things that stuck out to me about this year's Halloween.

#1 Darik was able to come Trick or Treating with us for the first time in 5 years.  Last time he got to come El was 6 months old in a peapod outfit!  So I was VERY very happy about being able to have a holiday together as a family.  He did come straight from a ISU football game and as soon as TorT was over he headed back into work for a few hours to finish up, but I was very grateful to get a few hours out of him :-)

#2 thing I learned?  NEVER, ever, EVER match my outfit with Ellie's.  All day Saturday all I heard was, "It's no FAIR!  Your headband is cuter than my headband!  Your shirt is cuter than my shirt!"  Blah blah blah over and over again.  I finally told her she's stuck in her room and can't come out to get candy unless she puts away her grumpies and stops talking about it.  She came around but it was not pleasant getting there.


Last year my family had a BIG Halloween party where we did a spook alley in the garage and had Brooke's friends over for a party downstairs while everyone else played games upstairs.  I decided it is a fabulous family tradition; so I organized a dinner of brains and eyeballs (baked spaghetti) and then assigned everyone to bring a side dish and to bring a game that EVERYONE can play - kids and adults together.  This was definitely one of the funnest parties we've had.

First game?  A relay race transporting M&Ms on a tiny little straw.  Somehow 3yo Chelsie killed at this one.
Next up?  Putting a cracker on your head and getting it in your mouth by ONLY moving your face muscles.  I think we pulled this idea from Minute to Win It.  We decided more of these games are in order on family nights!
Of course no Halloween would be complete without my mom's homemade potato donuts (spudnuts - so incredibly delicious).  I love how Ellie looked at the kid, thought they were chumps, grabbed her donut with her hands, pulled it off, and went and sat down in the corner to enjoy her spoils.  Only after she saw that everyone was actually having fun did she decide to try it again.


This was the game I brought - bobbing for apples.  The kids went first and were so timid - not getting their faces wet and just trying to grab the apples by the stems.
And then it started getting a little crazy when the adults started jumping in.  No hesitation.  Afterwards my makeup was running down my face and my hair was insane - I looked like a druggie, but all for a good cause :-)


Of course we had to make sure to get pictures of everyone.  We have 8 of the 11.5 grandkids in town and all of them here are girls.  Sure makes all of our activities giggly.  And screechy :-)


Thanks Miller Family for the best Halloween Partay evah.  See you next year! (if we're still living here, that is)

2 comments:

  1. What a fun party! The adults never participate in games and fun at our parties. I'm totally planning something like this next year!

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  2. Thanks for making me bawl my eyes out as I see how much fun you guys had without us there to enjoy it. Jake keeps telling me he wants to move to Idaho! Looks like you guys had a blast!

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