Some how, I managed to nominate myself and a friend to be in charge of the Halloween party for the ward. Not sure why I thought this was a good idea, especially since I was out of town for 2 weeks of October, had company coming when we got back, and everything else that happens day to day, but we pulled it together. Last year, something was put together last minute, because no one else had planned anything. So, to make sure we had a good time this year, and our kids had somewhere to trick-or-treat, I nominated myself.

We decided that we would have a few contests: cup cake walk, costume contest, best chilli, best decorated trunk, and best carved pumpkin. We figured the pumpkins would serve as decoration around the room. Jameson had been bugging us to carve our pumpkin, and there was never a time we were all home to do it together that week. So, the day of the party, Jameson and I dug into our pumpkin during Ella’s nap. He wanted a mean face, so I tried. This was all I could come up with.

Jameson got ready, and came to the church with me to help finish decorating. We had set up most that morning, but can I tell you it takes twice as long when you have to decorate with your kids? Lauren and I tried, but every time we put something out, the kids would think it was so cool and move it. Not cool for us. We pretty much decorate the room twice.

Jameson wanted to be Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon. I looked and looked for a costume, and apparently, no one wants to be Hiccup. So, I found some material, and finished sewing the night before. Procrastination on my part. I found a green baseball t at Old Navy, along with brown sweat pants. Then, I sewed his vest (patterned after one of his Sunday vests) and boot covers. I just safety pinned those bad boys to the loops on his boots. I found the sword, helmet, and shield in the Roman section at the party store. I did have to make a strap on the helmet, because it was adult size. I think he looked pretty good, though.

A few pictures of the gym. We had a coloring station for the kids in one corner. We found non-scary Halloween pictures on the internet, and then copied them. I remembered you can make free copies at the library, so that’s what we did. You can make 75 copies a week for free. Awesome, right?  We had a cup cake walk in the other, which was a total bust. Who wants to walk for cupcakes when they can go to the dessert table and get 5? Plus, the little boys had been sword fighting in that corner and torn up all our papers taped to the ground. I did paint some wooden balls and put them in the bingo roller. Then the who ever was standing on the coordinating color of the ball got to get a a cup cake. At least that’s how it was supposed to go.

For the tables, we made the pumpkin jars. We mod podged tissue paper to them, and then I cut out faces in vinyl. We placed a piece a scrap book paper underneath them with a few spider rings, and ta dah! Cute center pieces. 5 tables and pumpkins that glowed and 5 had stuffed pumpkins. The candy stuffed pumpkins were for the winners of the contest.

We ended up trick-or-treating from room to room, because it was raining outside. Surprise, surprise. Kevin and his brother, who was here for some training, did an awesome job decorating their room. They even tied candy to a string to trick all the little kids who tried to grab it. Cruel, but funny. We ended up with tons of food, and much more desserts. I thought the night was total chaos, but we got lots of praise for such a great party. It was nice to know others thought it went so well, because I had a different view of the night. But that’s how it is, right? The person in charge knows what didn’t go as planned.

At the pumpkin patch the week before, I picked up corn stalks and hay bales for decorations. Then I found out no hay in the church. So, they sat right when you walked in. I tried to have the kids take a picture. Here is Hiccup and his dragon.

We had a successful night!