Ghosts of Halloweens Past (part 2)

We have a few activities that go on during the Halloween party aside from the costume contest. Almost everyone brings a pumpkin and we all sit around in the studio carving and making a huge mess. If the weather is not too warm, the carved pumpkins generally last until Halloween night. After we're finished, we light them all on the front steps or out on the deck. This is the point in the party where I really start to wonder why I spent so much time worrying about cleaning the house.




One of our more unusual activities is the weed maze/scavenger hunt. You're probably familiar with corn mazes. I don't have time to grow that much corn, but the weeds in the back 5-6 acres of our property grow pretty darn tall and they work just fine for making a maze. So every year Dan goes out a few days before the party and mows an elaborate maze for our guests to run through. The first one through the maze wins a prize. However, there are also little trinkets hidden in the maze and the person(s) who finds the most also wins a prize. Megan and Andy are our scavenger hunt experts. I think they've won every year. They have flash lights that attach to their heads. Dan waits at the end of the maze to see who comes out first and I usually run around with the guests to make sure everyone is doing okay. Most people seem to enjoy the weed maze, but I never know if they're just going out to humor me or not. I always welcome people to stay behind and watch from the windows if they want to, but they all end up out on the deck racing to the starting line anyway. I don't think Troy and Mindy are big fans of the maze, though. Troy usually waits with Dan at the end and Mindy does her Mindy-thing, whatever that might be at the time. In the picture below, she is miming the dog. (Squamettes- do you recognize the giant flash light that Dan is holding??)








Ususally, there is also some small disaster that happens at the Halloween Party. As I said, I skipped the BIG party this year, but I did invite the immediate family over to carve pumpkins. We mowed a mini-weed maze (photos to come) for the nephews and while we were outside, Engine knocked over Erin's Pampered Chef baking dish and it shattered all over the floor. She had brought over turkey meatballs and Engine, who much to his dismay lives with vegetarians, goes a little crazy when he smells meat that is not cat food. He couldn't help himself. In the confusion, I did not take a picture of this inicident. BUT I did capture this from 2006.... Dan was VERY concerned that year about the number of children that would be attending. Something was bound to get broken, ruined or otherwise destroyed with multiple young goblins running wild in our house. Well, not one child managed to do any damage. EXCEPT for my husband, who thought it would be really interesting to see if he could throw his friend's slimy, plastic fake heart up in the air and get it to stick to our ceiling. It stuck. It also STAINED. To this day there is a faint, oily blob shape on our ceiling in the livingroom. I love Erin's face in this picture.