Halloween

It's Halloween! It is always fun to have traditions and holidays to celebrate with my family.

First up we had our ward trunk or treat. The youth were in charge of creating a spooky "Sleepy Hollow" themed hallway for kids to walk through on their way out to the trunk or treat. I took charge of it and I'm not really a fan of Sleepy Hollow, but I read a synopsis and was able to get some great ideas with which I could work with. I love doing things like this because I can envision it in my mind and I love seeing it come to life.

First, I worked with my old counselor in young women's because I knew she would have a lot of the things that I would need to keep my budget down and she is always good to work with because of her creativity. The first area of the hallway was inspired by the Old Dutch Church in the story that has a graveyard. The old fence was something Nate found on the side of the road, then I painted the church (which I spent more time that I should have but it turned out so good!), and then I painted a few gravestones to go on the walls and then my counselor had gravestones that the youth were able to add more paint and moss to them. 

Then the second part was in the story there is a bridge that if you cross then you are safe from the Headless Horseman, so we had a bridge that Nate got scraps from wood and created for me and we used fabric and twinkle lights for the water under it. Then I got 20 pumpkins for the youth to carve for the pumpkin patch for the kids to wander through. I painted some cornstalks and extras pumpkins for the wall.

Then the last inspiration was from the Van Tassel mansion. The youth cut out some bats that we used all throughout. I cut out the carriage from a black tablecloth and painted the Van Tassel sign.

I painted the spooky mansion and then we created old, dead trees out of brown paper. We just added a few pumpkins and other details to add to this room. I had some young women come help with set up in the morning and then I got the rest done in the afternoon. It turned out perfect! I really love how it all came together and it was a fun creative project to work on.

This year our trunk or treat was a tri-ward one and it was successful though I felt there were too many people for the meal part. Everyone had a great time! McCall was Rapunzel, Baylor was a butterfly, and Paige wore a blow up unicorn costume. I actually didn't even end up going out to the trunk or treat. I had to stay in the hallway and let people through, and then as soon as everyone went through I worked on cleaning up so we weren't there too late. Nate was supposed to hand out candy but he ended up getting roped into helping clean up the gym and then came to help me, so we brought home a very large bag of candy. :) Paige was amazing and led her sister through the trunk or treat and they each came home with a large bag of candy.

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins. It was a fun family evening, and I love how traditions connect us together. McCall drew her own face on her pumpkin and Nate helped her carve it. She had no interest whatsoever at all in touching the guts of the pumpkin. Baylor pretty much carved her pumpkin all by herself with a little help getting all the guts out. Paige of course carved a Benson Boone inspired pumpkin and I just found something simple online to try out.

Baylor touched the gut but her face says how she really felt about it. :)

McCall loved getting seeds out with the spoon, and we tried to get her to just reach her hand in, but she never touched the guts with her hands.

All finished!

These two had lots of opportunities to dress up. First with the trunk or treat and then for school on Halloween. For Baylor's school, they could dress up as their favorite character, and she picked Rumi from KPop Demon Hunters. She used what clothes she had and the hair made it perfect and she loved it. For Paige's school, they were supposed to dress up as something that starts with the first letter of their first name, so Paige picked a pretty princess. She made the tutu the night before and she looked perfect.

 

My parents arrived on Halloween morning and will be here for a few days. The day was spent getting everything ready for the Halloween festivities and a birthday and baptism the next day. We had our traditional sandwich dinner and then it was time for trick or treating. For trick or treating, the girls were the cutest fruit- Paige as a pineapple, Baylor as a strawberry, and McCall as a watermelon.

The Keene's joined us for the very rainy night of getting as much candy as we could. It was a very wet night, and the kid's costumes were covered by coats. Oh well! Baylor and McCall didn't last as long, maybe next year, but it was nice that my parents could take them back for a bit so Nate and I could go until Paige was done. The girls got lots of candy and it was a successful night despite the rain.

Happy Halloween!