Halloween Watch pt 5 - the final round up

Wow. Halloween 2010 is over. That was quite an experience.

And actually it was good. It was fun. It wasn't anything at all like the Halloween I've avoided before in the UK.

On Friday it was Melchett's school's Halloween disco. The school hall was packed with families dressed up and having fun. Melchett went as Hermione Granger going to the Yule Ball. I went as Nymphadora Tonks (but don't call me Nymphadora!)....or should I say Nymphadora Lupin? Sorry no pics of me, but Melchett looked like this:

 

Actually, this was taken on Halloween itself - but she wore it both nights. She adored the curly hair I gave her with my heated hotsticks and even at one point suggested I should do for her most school mornings........yeah though!

Saturday and Sunday we had a really fun family weekend - we bought candy to give out from Sweeties, which I told you about in a previous post and the girls decorated out front garden:

 

Goth Child put up spiders webs whilst Melchett made pipe cleaner spiders and flies to suspend in the webs:

 

And we carved pumpkins, the girls LOVED scooping out the mushy stuff in the middles:

 

Yep, really loved it:

 

But once the gooeyness was removed, then the real concentrated effort could begin:

 

The rest of the weekend we spent watching some of the Halloween themed family movies on the telly cuddled up under duvets including Ghostbusters, Hocus Pocus, The Haunted Mansion, Mask and for some reason Evan Almighty (not sure what that had to do with Halloween but it was probably that went down best with all of us).

Mr Devyne then made his superb Shepherd's Pie whilst the girls got dressed ready for trick or treating:

 

I was pretty proud of these dresses. Melchett's was a whole $9 (£5.61) from my favourite charity shop but was made for age 12 so I had to cut off the sleeves, cut about 3 inches off at the shoulders to make the bodice shorter, cut new arm holes and sew the sleeves back on.

Goth Child's was an even more satisfying $2 (£1.25) for two dresses (again from the charity shop) - I used one formal black crepe dress for the base and cut the satin bits out of the other one to make a flouncey longer hem she wanted and Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen like cuffs:

 

Unfortunately you can't see her raven companion perched on her fingers there. Would it surprise you that one of her favourite authors at the moment is Edgar Allen Poe? No, I thought not.

Then almost as soon as it was dark, we went and sat outside with large bowls of mini kit-kats, treat sized bags of M&Ms and tiny individually wrapped gummy Sponge Bob Squarepants Crabby Patties (which I have to say were by way the favourite all night with our trick or treaters).

We reminded the girls of the rules (advice) their schools and karate instructor had given - only go to houses with all their lights on and whose front gardens clearly indicated they were in a Halloween mood (which to be honest in our neighbourhood was virtually every other house), not to go inside any houses, never take anything not wrapped, NOT to eat any candy or chocolate until they got back to us and we could check it...and we insited that Melchett for one night at least listen to her big sister who would look after her.

But to be honest, we needn't have worried - there were so many families and children just walking up and down the street they tagged along with a big group that had several very little ones with them. It was like one giant street party (yes, I am aware how very lucky we are on times like this when we can sit outside without coats) with mums, dads, grandparents and children all dressed up in their wonderful Halloween costumes. And those who weren't trick or treating sat out on their driveways ready with candy.

Yep, it was fun....and very possibly I might get even more into it next year....I've already picked up quite a few half price decorations in the sales, so next year you might even see pics of our garden decor in Halloween Watch 2011!

 

You might also be interested in these previous posts:

Halloween Watch pt 1 - stuff you can get in supermarkets and why I don't get Halloween being a Brit

Halloween Watch pt 2 - front garden decor

Halloween Watch pt 3 - getting the costume right

Halloween Watch pt 4 - decorations getting bigger and scarier