Hooray for Halloween

Today kicked off our official Halloween season. After church we headed to Then there were two... 's house to have a final planning meeting for our playgroup's Halloween bash next week. I think it's going to be amazing! With 4 year olds, we are beginning to feel quite the experienced moms - ha ha. To be fair, we have done a handful of these gigs, beginning when these little ones were just starting to walk.

We are expecting about 20 families so we want to be organized, and so far we are right on target. Here's our rough plan: Families arrive and kids play at various stations including pumpkin bowling, apple bobbing, arts and crafts and the standard bounce house. Then, we will do whole group activities like freeze dance to Halloween tunes and "Witchy Witchy" (see bottom of post for directions). Group games will be followed by dinner. After dinner, we'll do a mummy wrap activity, a practice trick or treat, and finally a parade around the neighorhood. The party will end with a Halloween Hunt in the front yard, with whatever 'treats' we have left. Then it's 'adios!' (Except for those of us cleaning up). All that in about 2 1/2 hours or less! Should be a great time.

The pictures at the beginning of this post are from today's Halloween party. We left the 'planning get-together,' and drove straight to a friend's Halloween spooktacular. I was so thrilled with both my NEW CAMERA and the decorations that I couldn't resist snapping a bunch of pictures and posting them. Besides the gorgeous decorations (these pictures actually do not do them justice), and the yummy treats, the highlights of this party were the bounce house (even Paige, a non-Tigger, hopped in - once the crowd cleared), the crafts table and multiple pinatas. Next up - our school's Halloween walk-a-thon and Carnival Friday night.

"Witchy Witchy" Directions: The 'witch' (ideally wearing a witch hat, and usually a grown up for the younger set) stands at one end of the yard with all of the children standing in a horizontal line at the other end. Children call, "Witchy Witchy, what time is it??" The witch chooses any time (except 12 o'clock, or midnight), such as "4 o'clock." Children must take that many steps (4) forward. Then the children ask the question again. Play continues until the children are very close to the witch. (The witch will often tease, by saying 'One clock' a few times at the end, so the children are verrry close.) Finally, the witch yells, 'Midnight!!!!!' Makes a scary face and chases children back to the starting line. Once the game is clear, children take turns being the witch, and play continues until each child has had a turn.