Halloween 2011

I can’t let this last Halloween go unblogged. (my iPhone changed that word to unclogged….shouldn’t let that happen either). It was epic! (Halloween, that is, not the unclogging)

We told Andy that since he was now 13 he is too old to go trick-or-treating. Sad times for a minute until we suggested he have a big party with all his friends.

I am kind of a Halloween junkie ever since I was a child and the sisters, neighborhood friends and I used to put together a big Halloween spook alley every year. It was a big stinking’ deal. We worked on it for weeks, invited all the neighborhood kids, and even made some money every year! One of the best memories of my childhood. So, we suggested to Andy something similar, but different.

I decorated the house within an inch of it’s life this year….. Here’s proof.

We decided to make a big spook alley in the garage. We worked on it all week. We put up large pieces of fabric to act as walls that people could follow around the alley. Then added lots of black lights, and filled the ceiling with spiderwebbing. We had some white ghostly figures that we hung up that glowed in the black lighting, and even had one fall from the hole in the garage ceiling when people walked by. Bill and I created a “crime scene” with a man (dummy made out of Bills old clothes) who got pushed off a ladder and broke his neck. But, Bill’s piece de resistance was the laser he just had to buy. I admit, it was cool. Add to that lots of creepy music, shredded garbage bag entry ways, a touchy/feely gross table, and we had ourselves a pretty great spook alley.

Marne and Leanne in the "Laser Room"

In fact, we decide to open it up to the whole neighborhood!! We took all Andy’s friends through it first, then took their picture with the big camera set-up, then the party went back inside. While Andy and his friends partied in the house, Ethan and Josh stayed outside and let all the trick-or-treaters go through, and gave them their treats and the exit.

The Whole Party!

It was a hit. All the dads loved the laser. “…that is cool, man,”…. and all the kids liked the dark, spookiness. We even had moms and little ones go through. It was just the right combination of not-tooooo-scary and “totally cool”.

Ethan and Josh had a blast out there running it. It was their ,”best Halloween ever!!”.

The boys even heard about it at school the next day……. “Hey, did you go to that cool house with the spook alley? That was awesome!!”

Meanwhile, indoors…….Andy and his friends were treated to the best Halloween feast ever (not to brag or anything).

 

 

Then they watched old episodes of “The Twilight Zone”, made carmel apples, and even ran around the neighborhood in their bare feet. (please don’t tell their mothers, I didn’t know about these shenanigans till it was too late and it wasn’t a warm night).

Marne and Leanne even came over to help us with crowd control at the party. Leanne added her special touch with a “pill” the kids could suck on that made everything you put in your mouth taste super sweet. You could eat a jalapeño and it would taste like candy. That was pretty cool.

To sum it up, it was the best Halloween ever!! We will definitely make it a tradition… I think…..it was a lot of work.