Halloween Plans

Trick or Treating Plan

Halloween is a holiday where I am a little bit torn about whether to celebrate it or not.  I mean, it's all eeeevil and stuff (channeling Dr. Doofenshmirtz here). When I was growing up, we went out and trick-or-treated when we were little. When we got bigger, we spent time at the "Halloween alternative" activities at church. When Will was born, Robin sent him a tiny ninja costume for Halloween and the boys have dressed up ever since.

2006 - Tiny Ninja

2007 - Rejected Ninja Hat

2008 - Tourists

2009 Blue's Clues - Blue and Periwinkle

2010 Ninja and Dinosaur

2011 - Dinosaur and Blue Angry Bird (before the over-commercialization of Angry Birds)

This year, I wanted to make it easy.  So I began my campaign to convince the boys to buy COTS Halloween costumes.  No sewing necesary, just put it on and go trick or treating.  We were so close.  Alex decided to be a shark and Will decided to be a criminal.  I am not sure how they came up with these ideas exactly, but they were decided.  Until....

One night we were going out to dinner.  It was a bit chilly.  I let the boys wear my hooded fleece.  They decided that they were both going to wear it together.  Hence was born the two-headed-monster-plan.

Will created a monster mask, Alex decided to wear his "red eyed tree frog" goggles, Will wanted his face painted blue, and they upgraded to Dan's larger black hooded fleece.   The result:

As you may imagine, it is very difficult to walk around with your brother while wearing the same coat, no matter how big it may be. This led to the shortest trick or treating trip ever. We didn't even finish our block! The boys were exhausted by the effort. Not even the promise of more candy could encourage them to go back out.  They did, however, enjoy handing out candy to other kids.

Earlier That Day - Pumpkin Patch Scam

We have had a busy couple of weeks, so hadn't gotten around to getting a pumpkin to carve.  So, we went today, October 31st and realized that Pumpkin Patches are such a scam.  You have to pay $17 for a medium to large pumpkin, $4 per child for 10 minutes of bouncy slide, and $7.50 to take any of our own pictures on-site.  Unfortunately the boys bonded with a lop-sided, $17 pumpkin.  Fortunately, the credit card reader on the check out guy's phone wasn't reading my credit card.  We left and were able to find a same-sized pumpkin at the grocery store for $6 and a bottle of merlot for $7.  The ad genius who came up with the idea of putting cheap wine next to the Halloween candy was... genius! 

Even Earlier that Day - Halloween Potluck

And for the Halloween Potluck at work today, I brought severed fingers, courtesy of the recipe provided by Jo who has a fabulous kid/self organization course.

Creepy, but oddly tasty.

Happy Halloween!