Happy Halloween!!!

Last night we had a bunch of friends and their kids over for our first ever Halloween Party.  Everyone was to come dressed up, and everyone did!  That made it more fun, I think.

This post probably won’t help very many people this year, but maybe next year.  I just figured since I worked a bunch on this party the last couple days that I’d post about it since I was doing it anyways.

Banner from Wal-Mart and bats made using the Country Living bat template, that also have adorned my front door the past two years.

The best part of the last couple days is how involved my kids were in the whole party planning.  While the boys were at school, B and I made some of these popcorn balls for party favors.  There were a total of 25 children and 16 adults.  I saw these Jell-O popcorn balls last year on Pleasant Home right here.  You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry right now (if you keep mini marshmallows in stock like we do, I suppose!).

While I wrapped them all up (after D was out of school), B and D hung out on the table with me.           

The boys and I decided that we wanted to turn their (tiny) room into a Haunted House.

This was tricky, since we had a very small space to work with.  We kept things simple and chose just a couple main things that we wanted in there.  First, we used this awesome folding thingy that my Dad gave us a few months ago to help things flow around the room rather than just go into their room and have no direction.

After walking past the webs you see above, the gummy rats were in the pathway to scare you. 

I bought a phantom at Walmart for only $10.00 and hung it on their dresser.  It really did add a lot because of the spooky sounds it made.  It shakes and the eyes glow red. 

We had to get an orange light!

This coffin was not my idea.  My sister and her family threw a fabulous Halloween party and she had seen an idea online to make a coffin and have the “body parts” inside it to feel.  She can’t remember where she saw it, but I did a search.  I couldn’t find many pictures, so I just did what she did.

I just draped some cheesecloth over it to make it more spooky looking.

My sister had spray painted some boxes, and they were smart to use both sides of the box.  Since mine would be sitting on my kids’ bunk bed, I could only use the one side, but as long as I used small bowls it still worked. 

After spraying the boxes black with Krylon (the cheap stuff just doesn’t coat well), I let it dry and cut holes with a serrated knife.  Then I taped a square of felt above each hole.  Make sure your bowls of body parts are far enough back that the felt or napkins or whatever you use don’t get stuck on the bowls so they can see what they are feeling.

Most of these were the same as what my sister used in the coffin at her party.  Here is what they all are:

Cauliflower:  Brain (I didn’t even bother steaming it—it was still disgusting)
Popcorn Kernels and Candy Corn:  Teeth—including the vampire teeth that are the candy corn
Peeled Tomato:  Heart
Cooked pasta:  Guts
Dried assorted pasta:  Bones
Carrots:  Toes

The BEST part is that my boys hid under their bunk beds and scared people right as they were feeling the toes.  It was so much fun to practice what they would do the night before!

I will try and upload a video (I’ve tried about 5 times now and it’s won’t work.  I get so frustrated with blogger sometimes!).

Some action shots:           
It was potluck so everyone just brought a cooked pizza, some drinks and a spooky treat, appetizer, or salad.

I bought some dry ice and poured in some fruit punch.  By the end of the night it was delicious because the ice turned it all slushy.  Yum!

The tablecloth.

And some deviled egg eyes.  Idea found on Family Fun.

Some of my friends brought some stuff to do the fishing game where they throw over the string with the clothespin and they throw back a prize or candy.

So I’m seriously looking like I’m about to fall asleep, but you can see my thrift store find for my hippie dress in this picture. 

D was a doctor, C was Night Fury (from How to Train Your Dragon), B was a poodle named FiFi, my hubby Dillon wore his Ghillie Suit he wears hunting, and I was a hippie. 

Another friend brought a bat puppet craft for the kids to do, then they watched How To Train Your Dragon while the adults tried to play a game.

It was loud and of course with that many kids a bit crazy at times, but we had a blast!  I’m still undecided if this will become an annual event–it really was fun to plan!