October 25, 2008 - A beautiful night for a party...

We had a wonderful group turnout for our annual Halloween party. We saw friends and relatives that we haven't seen in much too long. Everyone had fun and ate lots of treats. We had some very adventurous kids and a few that were a bit put off by the spooky creatures inhabiting our yard - by the end of their stay, they were quite at ease with everything though.

I love seeing the kids in costumes! We don't dress in costume ourselves - not because we don't want to join in the festivities but because some children would be too scared if we were scary looking. I think that having us look normal helps them relax a bit.

We have a couple of structured activities and then we let the kids be kids. Running around in the darkened yard, playing tag and socializing. The first thing we do is hand out treat bags and let the kids explore the house and yard, then we make caramel apples.

Randy is in charge of activities - I spend my time getting things ready for the Pinatas. We have 2 pinatas - one for the little kids and one for the big kids. I love watching Randy with the kids - he is so patient with them and so much quicker than I am! I have failed to get out of the way of the swinging pinata stick in previous years so I get to take pictures now. This year we had some really excellent batters. Caelia and Lera both enjoyed this activity but Lera looked confused when all the kids descended on the scattered candy. She figured it out quick though!

Another favorite game is our Bite a Bat game. This was my answer to replace the bobbing for apples game. Disgusting game - not to mention too cold for Minnesota. Our game involves hanging a row of sugar cookies (shaped like bats) from strings suspended from the ceiling. The kids attempt to eat the cookie without using their hands. Whoever finishes their cookie first, gets to pick a prize.

I will post more photos of the house later this week. We need to use a special camera to take the pictures of the house in the dark. I may get a few of the girls in their costumes (fingers crossed). They refused to wear them for the party. I didn't want to push it too much because I think this was a bit overwhelming for Lera especially. She disappeared for into her room, popping out occasionally to swipe grapes from the bowl on the treat table but became more socialable when the kids had thinned out a bit. Caelia waited for the end of the evening to liberate an apple for herself