Halloween Card and Decorating

Last weekend, when we didn't have snow on the ground,  I begged, as usual, for Amelia to don a cape and mask and head outside.  I had a good idea for a Halloween card. 

I used the app Color Pop to secure the color only on the pumpkin.  The over exposed photo I used on the envelope as I loved it for its' spookiness.  Took a half hour and voila, our 2020 Halloween Card.   

So happy to be back in our home to once again decorate properly.  Since we weren't having a large Halloween Party, I didn't go too crazy. 

Our house layout changed too, so I had to rethink where things could go.  Of course, the head I made so many years ago, had to be front and center. 

Our new furniture piece we bought at the rental fit perfectly where the old bar and glass shelving used to be.  It has a few shelves down below that I could scatter a few halloween items.   Above are a few of our Lego Creator sets that just seemed worthy of putting out.  These I rebuilt after they all fell in the earthquake ... so they mean something even more now.   Now of course, they have been invaded by black and orange spiders.

The cauldron is waiting for Amelia to dig into.  When she was about 4 I started a Halloween Advent.  Each day in the month of October, she digs her hand in and picks out one thing.  I post every other year on her YouTube channel: Amelialand all 30 prizes.  I empty it out for our Halloween Party and substitute the party prizes, but throw everything back in after that.  She loves it and every morning says "cauldron time". 

A few of our favorite blankets share with a few more Halloween visitors.

Used the floating hat at the rental and I found a new place for it here at the house.

Our China Cabinet that miraculously survived the earthquake received a bit of decorating as well.

 

Our new wood stove holds a kettle of bones and Amelia's chair, that I don't think she can even fit in anymore, is home to some Halloween items as well.

This little guy has been our Halloween greeter for years and years.  Always love having him/her come out of the box at Halloween.

Finally, the hand is relatively a newbie in our Halloween decor.  Found a good place for it. 

We figure trick or treating outside with distance is a safe event this year.  Amelia doesn't eat much candy and will have some on hand when she returns from the Oct. 31st festivities and place all her collected candy in a bag for later consumption.  Will post on the days events!  

Halloween Party of Two

Considering the circumstances, our annual Halloween Party would have to be adjusted.  One friend and everything outside.  Snow hasn't fallen yet and I didn't want to push our luck at delaying any further.  So, on a cloudy Sunday the Halloween Party for Two would begin.

No fancy foods this time just pizza, individually bagged chips and drinks.  I had to make up for the lack of creative foods by making the games VERY interesting.  

They both received a small bucket with a few surprises, the beefier prizes were in the cauldron that they would have to put their hand in and grab.  EVERY kid who has been at any of our parties knows they will all get the same prizes at the end.  The funny thing is that regardless of their knowledge of this they still want to be the first to dig for the prize!  

Since rain wasn't out of the question, I decided to do the two scavenger hunts first.  One was finding pumpkin eggs around the house. 

The other was a scavenger hunt with clues that they had to work together on to find the pokemon balls.  One was hidden at our next door neighbors house and the other was at our neighbors down the way.  

I think they loved it.   

There was a unicorn piñata....

Eating an oreo cookie without touching it challenge...

Zombie skittle eating...

Ring around the pumpkin ...

Nerf gun ghost shooting...

and candy corn bingo...to name a few. 

With each, they got an opportunity to reach into the cauldron for a prize!

It was a 5 hour day of fun and catching up with the plan to see each other again on Halloween night.  

More Halloween adventures to come.